By Martie Thompson
editor@floridanewsline.com
KD Bender was born and raised in Binghamton in upstate New York. She met her husband, Chris, when she was 15 on a marine biology field trip to Montauk on Long Island and they’ve been together ever since — true high school sweethearts. KD has a degree in mass communications from Boston University and a master’s degree in higher education leadership from the University of Florida. She currently works as a substitute teacher in St. Johns County and serves as the co-coordinator for clothing for HUGS St. Johns, a local volunteer organization with a mission to raise awareness throughout the county about student poverty and work closely with school counselors to ensure these students have access to clothing and food. She and Chris live in NW St. Johns County and have two children: Zack, now a student at Bryant University in Rhode Island; and Zoe, a senior at St. Johns Virtual School. They have two dogs, Kai (a husky rescue) and Browny (a retired greyhound rescue).
Q: How did you come to live in Florida?
A: After Chris and I graduated from college, the University of Florida offered Chris an opportunity we couldn’t refuse: a fellowship master’s and PhD program in Coastal Engineering. So we moved to Gainesville, where we lived for four years. While there, I also obtained my master’s degree while working in the office of the university registrar and for the office of admissions. By the time we left, I was the assistant director of admissions for the university. In 2003, when Chris graduated, we visited a coastal engineering firm in Jacksonville and didn’t look back. We moved here to St. Johns County.
Q: What positions have you held since you’ve lived in St. Johns County?
A: Well, first I took a break to raise our kids. I went back to work when they got older and was an assistant teacher at a local preschool. Then I went on to substitute in St. Johns County and work as a paraprofessional at Julington Creek Elementary. Now I’m back to subbing and I also work part time virtually for the University of Florida.
Q: How did you get involved with HUGS St. Johns?
A: As our kids got older and needed me less and less, I started looking for a way to be hands-on with helping others. I saw a social media post for HUGS and reached out to Brette Reiman. I asked what she needed. So, now along with Karen Burke in Ponte Vedra, I am the co-coordinator for our clothing program.
Q: What is the clothing program and what do you do as co-coordinator?
A: Counselors and St. Johns County schools, as well as our partner agencies, let us know when they have a student in an emergency need of clothing. We have a warehouse in St. Augustine where we organize and store our donated clothing. So, when we get the call, we have volunteers who pack a duffel bag with shoes, new socks and underwear, and a week’s worth of gently used clothing. We also include toiletries and sometimes school supplies. We work with the counselors so that each student receives items they are excited to wear and that they feel comfortable and confident in. So far this school year, we have packed more than 250 duffel bags and expect to pack and deliver more than 600 by the end of the school year. As co-coordinator, I schedule the volunteers and also make sure we have drivers who deliver the duffel bags to the schools.
Q: What else does HUGS St. Johns provide?
A: We also stock a food pantry at 22 St. Johns County schools. We sponsor HUGS Clubs at a few of our high schools who help us by holding food and clothing drives. We’re getting ready for our No Hungry Holidays event, where we provide the breakfasts and lunches that students would normally have at school over the winter break.
Photo courtesy KD Bender
KD and Chris Bender
