The Seven Deadly Social Sins

 

  • Politics without principle

 

 

  • Wealth without work

 

 

  • Commerce without morality

 

 

  • Pleasure without consicence

 

 

  • Education without character

 

 

  • Science without humanity

 

 

  • Worship without sacrifice

Gandhi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Board Members

Vice President John Conrad - - Licensed Certified Social Worker

John is coordinator of an employee assistance program at Bayview Professional Associates, a division of Alta Pointe Health Systems.  He has worked as a social worker and therapist in Mobile for the past 30 years.  John is married to Carol Massengale Conrad.  They have one daughter, a junior at Murphy High School.

John Doll - University of South Alabama, Retired

John, a native of Memphis, has lived in Mobile since 1973.  For 17 years he was the business manager of the Radiology Department at the University of South Alabama.  He has been on the Quest Board from its start because he shares his wife's concern for social justice.

Zippy Doll - Director of the Ministry to the Sick for St. Dominic Church

Zippy is a native of Mobile who went to college in Baltimore and then taught for two years in Mobile.  She has been Coordinator of Ministry to the Sick at St. Dominic's Church for 20 years.  Zippy also has been on the board since its inception.

Lenice Emanuel - Chief Executive Officer of the YWCA of Greater Mobile

Lenice has extensive background in grassroots community development work.  In 1999 she returned home to Mobile area and served as the director of parental and community involvement for the Mobile Area Education Foundation.  Prior to her current role with the YWCA, Ms Emanuel served as the director of grants and community development for the city of Prichard.

Jay Higginbotham - Author, Founder of the Mobile Municipal Archives

Jay has published twenty-one books, one of which, Old Mobile, won five literary awards, including the Gilbert Chinard Prize and the Alabama Library Association Award.  Higginbotham's works have been translated into seventeen languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Slovak.    He has appeard on CBS, NBC,  Radio Moscow and television stations throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America.  In 1993, he founded the Society Mobile-La Habana, which has becom an active sister-city organization promoting good relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

Secretary: Sr. Patty Huffman, D.C. - Campus Minister, Spring Hill College

Sister Patty is a Daughter of Charity.  She has a Masters Degree in Theology and in Christian Spirituality.  Patty is a member of the Joint Conference/Quality Committee of St. Mary's Health Center in Evansville, IN.  She served in the nursing field for seven years before moving into parish work and campus ministry.

Susan Johnson

Susan Johnson has lived in Mobile for over 10 years and is currently a social worker at a dialysis center.  She has 28 hears expereince in social work, primarily in health care.  Her social justice interests include promoting health care reform, pursuing adequate and affordable housing and advocating for tax reform.  Susan has participated in Alabama Arise through a former position at Providence Hospital.  She has also been involved in housing rehabilitation projects in Mobile.  Susan attends Springhill Ave. United Methodist Church and enjoys singing in the choir.

 

 

Christopher Knight - Assistant Federal Defender

Christopher Knight received his J.D. Degree in 1977 from the University of San Diego School of Law.  He is licensed to practice law before all Alabama courts, the U.S. District Court for the Southeren District of Alabama, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.  Mr. Knight has a broad range of experience in criminal trial and appellate work, both state and federal, and served as an Assistant District Attorney in this Circuit from 1977 to 1980.  He has also served as an adjunct professor in the Continuing Learning Department at Spring Hill College.

 

Jeremiah Newell - Director of Student Engagement for MAEF

Mr. Newell leads student engagement initiatives throughout the Mobile County Public School System.  His primary responsibilities are to ensure students' voices are heard  in public education improvement efforts.  He coordinates the Research Alliance for Multiple Pathways, (RAMP) a systemic dropout prevention collaborative.  Jeremiah is a native of Mobile and received his B.S. in Secondary Education/Language Arts from the University of South Alabama.  He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Philosophy in the field of Instructional Design and Development.

Mark Moberg, Ph.D. - Professor of Anthropology, University of South Alabama

Mark has been a faculty member in Anthropology at the Unviersity of South Alabama since 1989.  His research has focused on issues of globalization, rural socioeconomic change, and fair trade in Central America and the Caribbean.  He is the author of three books and numerous articles.  Dr. Moberg holds a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Iowa, and an M.A. and Ph.D from UCLA.  He describes his primary concerns with social justice as centering on U.S. foreign policy, peace issues, and global equity.

 

Emma Perryman - Non Profit Director

Emma is the founder and Executive Director of Emma's Harvist Home, a residential co-occuring treatment facility for women.

 

President - Rev. Ellen Sims - Founder and Pastor of Open Table: A Community of Faith 

After teaching English for 25 years, primarily at Belmont University in Nashville, Ellen pursued a call to pastoral ministry, receiving the M.Div. from Methodist Theological School in Ohio and ordination through the American Baptist Churches/USA.  She served as a campus minister and an associate pastor prior to founding Open Table, a progressive congregation in Mobile.  Her husband,  George Sims, is the provost of Spring Hill College.  Their daughter Georgia  is an attorney in Nashville.

Shirley Trainer - Vice President of the National Alliance for Mental Health and Retardation

Shirley has lived in Mobile most of her life where she raised six children, held full time employment and went to school in the evenings.  As a young adult she attended Twentieth Century Business College because it was the only insitution of higher learning that offered night classes at the time.  After graduating, Shirley worked as a typist for the Beacon but continued her education at Bishop State and got a degree in Business Administration.  Shirley was the first black to work in the License Commissioner's Office.  This was followed by 30 years with Mobile Housing Authority. Along the way she picked up a degree in business management from the University of South Alabama.  Shirley is an active member of Revelation Baptist Church. 

Treasurer Cathy Whelton - Director of Outreach Services for Providence Hospital

Cathy is a native of Montgomery, and has lived and worked in Atlanta and Houston.  She has lived in Mobile since 1981 and holds a BS in Nursing from UAB, and a Master of Science Degree in Health Service Administration.  She has been a registered nurse for 35 years.  Her current position is Director of Outreach Services and Diabetes Center at Providence.  Cathy is active in many community organizations and serves on the Board of Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy and Bridges to Better Heath.  She was named as one of 10 state-wide Alabama Hospital Heroes for 2009.  Cathy is an advocate for the poor and vulnerable. 

 

Director

S. Judith Smits

Judith is a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Agnes whose headquarters is in Fond du Lac, WI.  After graduating from Marian College of Fond du Lac she spent 18 years in classroom teaching.  During the summer breaks, Sister Judith pursued graduate degrees in Theology and Pastoral Studies and moved into parish work as Director of Religious Education and Liturgy.  Prior to becoming Director of The Quest, Judith spent ten years in social work with Catholic Social Services.