About

Mrs. Gates has worked at PALCS in various capacities since July 2005.  She started a Leadership Group that meets monthly in the Pittsburgh office and is the coordinator of the Family Activities Network.  She has also led and worked with teens for over 40 years.    
Below is a summary of Mrs. Gates' travel and team service experiences.

2010
Traveled on a medical trip to Chichicastenango, Guatemala.  While the nurses on the team provided clinics with basic medical care to mothers and their children, Becky did art projects and games with the children.
2001
Trained and led a group of 25 teens and adults to the southern West Virginia to the town of Welch where they worked with FEMA to clean up after massive flooding in the area.
1999-2002
Trained and led teams of teens and adults to Chimaltenango, Guatemala to work at an orphanage.  The teams, consisting of 18 – 27 members, did painting and repairs during the day and activities with the children at night
1993
Led a team of 25 teens and adults to Krasnodar, Russian for a 3 week trip.  They joined with another team of adults from Great Britain, Canada, Poland, and the Ukraine. Students worked with local Russian teens and adults to produce a play that was presented for three evenings at the local civic center.
1991-1992
Co-led two separate trips to a Native American (Sioux) orphanage in Mission, South Dakota.  Each year their group of 35 – 40 teens was broken into three separate groups that did repairs to the orphanage itself, organized games and activities with children ages 4 – grade 6, or worked with adult leaders to create a video about Native American life.

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Mrs. Kendrick considers Guatemala to be her home country. She moved there with her family in 1968, when she was 2 years old. She experienced a variety of education models in grade K-8:  homeschooling, boarding school and correspondence courses. After attending a school in Guatemala City for grades 9 and 10, Mrs. Kendrick and her family moved to Philadelphia where she attended a private school for her junior year.   They moved again the following year to Ohio where she graduated from Boardman High School.
Mrs. Kendrick’s parents became fluent in Spanish and the Mayan dialect of Quiché when they arrived in Guatemala.  She speaks Spanish and understands Quiché because these languages were spoken at home. Since her father is a translator, retaining fluency in Spanish has been very important to Mrs. Kendrick. Throughout the years she has returned to Guatemala to do service projects with various groups, visit students who she supports financially, and visit lifelong friends. With her father returning to Guatemala in 2000, Mrs. Kendrick has a real home base there.
Mrs. Kendrick’s Pittsburgh connection began when she attended the Art Institute and met her husband, who is a native Pittsburgher.  They have lived there for over 20 years and have two sons, a college junior and a high school sophomore.  She has worked for PALCS since December 2006 and is currently an office manager of the Western Regional Office in Pittsburgh.

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Michael Evans works part-time for Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School as a Student Materials Associate. He is a twenty-one year old, full-time college student studying to become an English teacher. Michael is actively involved in his local church. He serves as a volunteer on his church’s youth ministry staff and is part of the Sunday morning music team.
Michael has participated in many humanitarian work activities. And has worked with various organizations including: Presents for Patients, Meals on Wheels, Salvation Army, Operation Christmas Child, Light of Life, and Convoy of Hope. Through Convoy of Hope, Michael has worked in orphanages and has distributed food in Kenya, Africa. In the summer of 2011, Michael will be working in orphanages in Cambodia through South East Asia Prayer Center (SEAPC).