Shelia Harper, Volunteer Coordinator

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Shelia Harper is a native Georgian who worked at AT&T in the downtown office on Peachtree Street for over 31 years.  After retiring from AT&T in 2001, she found herself starting a new career in the insurance industry with State Farm the following year.  

In 2006, she moved to Daytona Beach to be near her younger sister, Sandy.  With her connections and influence, Sandy immediately got her a job as an agent with Mitchell Noel Insurance Agency in Ormond Beach, Florida.  After 10 years as an agent, she is now working part time in an administrative capacity.

She was called to invest in Ignite Hope long before it began with the adoption of her precious grandson in 2011.  It was truly a struggle for her son, Jeff, and his wife, Jacqui, to maneuver through the system with little or no guidance available to help them get their son to his forever
home. Shelia loves that with Ignite Hope, there is prayer, support, guidance, and resources available to all families beginning or currently enduring adoption or fostering journeys so that they don’t feel alone.

Shelia has four grandchildren, all of whom she loves very deeply. Two of her grandchildren are biological, and two are adopted. Her grandchildren’s adoption journeys greatly grew her faith and spiritual maturity in her prayer life. She has seen the importance of prayer during an adoption journey first hand, so she enjoys working with Ignite Hope to help others develop their prayer lives.

Shelia loves meeting friends at the beach for lunch and also enjoys caring for animals, so she has several pet cats and dogs that she lavishes her love upon during her free time!

Her heart aches for all of the children in the world who have never experienced a forever family or known how much God loves them. She loves Matthew 18:5, which states, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.”