The April 2023 Dnangels volunteers of the month are Robin Bowen and Linda Grinnell.
Robin Bowen
Early to bed, early to rise .. that’s our Robin Bowen. Assistant Research Team Lead Katharine Saunders says, “Robin gets so much research done on a case in the morning before I can even drag myself out of bed! Robin is very present when she is assigned to cases and always has insightful questions and excellent suggestions. She is good at building a rapport with clients and is also a skilled and dedicated researcher, I am so glad that she is part of our team.” Associate Director of Administration, Kelly Grace Hickey, says “What can I say about Robin? I knew I liked her from the beginning! She emailed DNAngels asking for us to help her with a family mystery – or rather to confirm her suspicions. It didn’t take very long for me to follow her trail and I was seriously impressed with her mad skillz identifing people and obituaries – she confessed to having been in collections and I immediately saw that she would be a wonderful asset to our research team.”
Case Manager Rachel Kiley Trout’s comments need to be sung to the Ghostbuster’s theme…” If you’ve got 1 shot, and you need to know. Who you gonna call? Robin Bowen!! Robin has certainly earned the well deserved reputation as being our go to gal for reaching out to people for needed information. She has a real knack for reading people and uses just the right individualized approach that each person requires to disarm them and loosen tongues. She has been the conduit for getting key pieces of information in many cases.”
Cindy Billingsley, Assistant Team Lead for Intake says that she hasn’t had the pleasure of working with her directly (yet!) but has seen Robin do “amazing things” and Founder and Executive Director, Laura Olmstead says, “I appreciate Robin’s help on many of my cases. We work different schedules and she is very quick to ask what she can do for me while she is available. I appreciate her for giving what she can.” Robin is our early bird, often up to greet the dawn. She raises and shows Golden Retrievers, is a wife, mother and fantastic sister – and will hunt you down if she’s of the mind to identify you!! Robin also loves quilting ad spending time at her happy place, Hancock Fabrics. I better wrap this up because we’ve already kept Robin up past her bedtime to honor her!!
Linda Grinnell
Always willing to cheer on her fellow Angels, and researchers, this month we are going to cheer for DNAngels biggest cheerleader. Researcher, Angel, Inake Specialist, Linda has it covered!
“The more I work with Linda, the more impressed I am. When Linda joined the Intake Team I was pleased by her dedication to learn the screening process. Her commitment to the team was quickly evident, and she is now one of our top screeners, even xwith her also working cases as an angel! But what I love most about Linda is her heart. She is compassionate, giving, and kind. We are blessed to have her on our team!” says Assistant Intake Team Lead Cindy Billingsley. “There just aren’t enough words to say how much Linda is appreciated! Says Intake Team Lead Enjoli DeLeon, “Her willingness to learn and work is amazing! And she is lightening fast at picking up those screenings!! We are blessed to have her on our team!”
Founder and Executive Director, Laura Olmsted describes Linda as a “sponge” because she always asks good questions to expand her knowledge. She also talks about Linda’s caring heart, saying, “It hurts Linda as much as it hurts all Angels to have to put a case on hold and she really tries to unlock every corner of the DNA mystery before giving that news to a client.”
“If you look up the word teammate in the dictionary, you just might identify a picture of Linda next to the definition. She is willing to step in and take over on a case whenever another Angel needs to step away. She has demonstrated her altruism and adaptability, on more than one occasion, when I’ve thrown her into one case, only to switch things up a moment later. Linda is not only a valuable asset to our organization, she is also a true friend to many of us”, says Case Manager Rachel Kiley Trout. Assistant Researach Team Lead Katharie Saunders says, “I see Linda in her capacity as an Intake Specialist, more than as an Angel. I always know that when I take a case where she has done the intake, that she has treated the client with compassion and patience – often a lot of patience! – as she guides them through the procedures for getting their DNA and Tree set up with us. I am sure that as Angel she extends both of these qualities to her own clients to support them as she works their cases. She is a wonderful asset to our DNAngels family.”
If you didn’t know, Linda Grinnell, can trace her lineage back to the Revolutionary War! Originally from Indiana, she now lives in Texas with her husband, bringing her midwestern honesty and friendliness to the wilds of the Southwest! She is a Phi Theta Kappa, having earned her Key in 2013.
Volunteers of the month – March 2023
