Our Board
Shannon Dewey
I am a Mom of 4 and all of my children have dealt with health issues, from easily manageable, to life altering. I’ve been living the Special Needs parent life for over 20 years now.
I am the office coordinator for Embracing Hearts Healthcare, a proud sponsor of The iCARE Foundation. My passion is helping people, especially those in the Exceptionally Abled Community. My focus extends not only to families with children but also to those with adult members. Disabilities don’t end at 18 or 21; support is needed at every age.
When I first became a Special needs Mom, I was so lonely. I had no one to talk to. No one to explain to me what programs were available to help my family and others like us. I just bumbled by the best way I could. When my 4th, and complete surprise child was born and then we realized that he was Intellectually disabled and had numerous other health issues, I was devastated. And I was truly lost. I started a Facebook blog for my child called “TheAdventuresOfCarterKnox” just to update family members, and honestly to help me work through my feelings. So many people reached out to me to tell me that my words had an effect on them. That I either helped put their feelings into words, or I helped them understand more of the realities of Special needs parenting.
No one is out there chasing down Special Needs families to help them. And I decided I wanted to change that. I spent 2 solid years feeling the Lord calling me to this program, this ministry, and finally all the pieces came into place, and with the help of our amazing board, iCARE was born. My life’s calling is to help other families like mine travel along this journey.
Brittany Arrington
Treasurer and Board Member
Sarah Newman
Hello, my name is Sarah Vaughan Newman, I am married to Rusty Newman, and we have 2 sons Dayne (17) and Peck (10). I have worked in Special Education in the public school system for 11 years and am the 7-12 self-contained special education teacher for Lincoln County Schools and teach at Loyd Star Attendance Center. I love working with exceptionally abled students. It is my goal each year to help them grow to their full potential along with helping them learn the skills necessary to be as independent as possible. So, in my class we do a lot of fun things geared towards life and career skills. We cook, clean, practice shopping, following the steps to complete orders and of course go on fun field trips often so we can practice the skills we are learning along with our social skills!
Working with special needs students and their families every day I see firsthand the challenges they face due to the lack of resources to assist them along with the families not being made aware of the resources that are available. Our area also has a huge lack of recreation and entertainment possibilities for special needs individuals. Just having access to parks and playgrounds that are handicapped accessible and fenced in to prevent a child from eloping would be amazing for these families. Having something as simple as somewhere safe and fun to play is not just an option for some of the children in our area. These children cannot even participate in recess at times because most of our local schools do not even have playgrounds that are accessible to wheelchairs and if they are there is no playground equipment made to meet their needs. I am extremely excited to be part of the ICARE team and I plan on using the knowledge and experiences with educating special needs children to add new insights to the ICARE board and I cannot wait to help them work on some of these issues to make my student’s lives better along with other individuals with unique needs.
Please keep your eyes and ears open for exciting news from us as well as ways you can help the ICARE Foundation make this world a better place for our friends and family with special needs.
Kendra Jenkins
Kendra Jenkins is a native of Brookhaven, MS and is an active member of the community. She holds a Bachelor’s of Music Education from Alcorn State University, a Master’s of Music from the University of Mississippi and is currently a Ph.D student at UM. She works as a band director, and is a Specialist in the 41st Army Band. Kendra is a church musician and teaches private lessons to students in the community.
Kendra credits her mother, Mrs. Ida Jenkins who is a retired Exceptional Ed teacher, for her sensitivity and understanding of people who learn and experience the world differently. Over her extensive teaching career she has worked with many students with exceptionalities, but did not realize the depth of the challenges children with disabilities face until her two children were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
In an effort to assist others seeking information regarding Autism, Kendra started a social media page called “Rii-Play”. “Rii-Play” is dedicated to educating and informing others about Autism Spectrum Disorder to promote awareness and acceptance. In addition to information, Kendra shares her personal experiences as a single-mom parenting children on the spectrum, hoping to provide encouragement and insight to others.
“Teaching music is my gift and passion but teaching others to be kind is my calling…not just for my children, but for others just like them.”