About KIDS COUNT — Our Staff
Margie Hale — Executive Director
"One generation of children, born as they should be born, loved as they should be loved, nurtured as they should be nurtured, and educated as they should be educated, could bring about the millennium."
— Mrs. Hallene Dick, Kindergarten Teacher
Margie Hale's favorite quote just happens to come from the kindergarten teacher of KIDS COUNT founder, Gaston Caperton. Now deceased, Hallene Dick's lifelong hope for the children of West Virginia kept her in the classroom until the age of 88. A similar determined spirit has guided Margie Hale's 32-year career as one of the state's leading child advocates.
Margie has been Executive Director of KIDS COUNT since its inception in 1990, but she had distinguished herself as a leader in the health and human service field long before joining the organization. You might even say community service was a family ethic. Margie's grandmother helped low-income families at a neighborhood center in Huntington, and her mother was a high school math teacher. Margie continued the family tradition at a young age by teaching children how to swim. Then, she trained low- income women to help them establish a day care center, directed an after-school study center in Texas, taught Bible school with children in rural West Virginia and provided psychotherapy to young children and college students at West Virginia University..
Prior to joining KIDS COUNT, Margie served as West Virginia's State Day Care Director, the Director for West Virginia's White House Conference on Families, Associate Director of Community Council of Kanawha Valley and Director of the Women's Health Center of West Virginia.
At KIDS COUNT, Margie has continued to distinguish herself as a tireless champion for West Virginia children. Under Hale's leadership, KIDS COUNT has become the leading source of data and information on the status of West Virginia's children and has taken the lead on a number of important projects on behalf of the state's at-risk kids. Among those was the extraordinarily successful DAY ONE initiative, which brought valuable information on brain development to parents while they were still in the hospital with their newborns. That project is now being administered by the West Virginia Hospital Association. More recently, Margie has guided KIDS COUNT in efforts to increase the number of accredited child-care centers in West Virginia and bring awareness of the importance of early literacy to parents, caregivers and policymakers.
Ms. Hale also is active in a number of child advocacy and steering groups, including the National KIDS COUNT Steering Team, Cross Coalition's Legislative Action Team and Partners Implementing the Early Care and Education System (PIECES) for West Virginia. She has long been a leader in the effort to assure quality in the training and certification of West Virginia social workers. After studying social welfare in Germany and Sweden, she was appointed by Governor Rockefeller as a founding member of West Virginia's Board of Social Work Examiners. Margie is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Developmental Psychology from Marshall University and a Master's degree in Social Work from West Virginia University.
One of Margie's child advocacy mentors is West Virginia businessman and philanthropist Lawson Hamilton. Hamilton is widely known for his extraordinary financial generosity on behalf of children. But what Margie admires most is his persistent and unending hope for West Virginia's children. Of Hamilton, Margie says, "He does not give up; he knows we can make a difference." That same steadfast commitment to a better future also guides Margie Hale's work as Executive Director of KIDS COUNT.
Pam Folden — Assistant Director
"People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built."
— Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt's strength of character and practical words of wisdom inspire KIDS COUNT Assistant Director Pam Folden and typify her own back-to-basics approach to helping West Virginia kids and families. Before joining KIDS COUNT some 11 years ago, Pam admits she had not given enough thought to the issues facing at-risk children. Yet, her mother's example of raising seven children in rural Eastern Kanawha County and her own experience as a mother gave Pam a strong foundation on which to build her work as a child advocate.
Pam has an extensive background in office administration, both in the public and private sectors. She did not enroll in college until her late 30s but went on to earn her Bachelor's Degree in English from West Virginia State University in 1993. Her writing, editing and proofreading skills have become essential to the KIDS COUNT mission, which often requires the communication of complex information about children to a wide range of audiences. In addition, Pam is responsible for office administration, maintaining KIDS COUNT's extensive clearinghouse of child development materials, and managing a large database of child advocates and supporters.
Pam admires child advocates and supporters who work together to help West Virginia children have a better life. Her vision is for every West Virginia child to have an equal chance to reach his or her potential, and she believes raising the income level of the working poor and having access to family supports would go a long way to having happier, healthier kids. As KIDS COUNT's Assistant Director, she is playing a key role in the collaborative efforts now under way to bring West Virginia closer to that vision.
Laura Gandee — Director of Communications
"The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children."
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The way America treats its children — especially those living in poverty -- is how Laura Gandee measures the nation's success. And after 18 years in public relations she is thrilled to be using her communications expertise to help improve the lives of the children by whom she measures America's morality.
Laura's distinguished public relations career began in 1988 with the first election campaign of Governor Gaston Caperton. After serving as the campaign scheduling coordinator for the Governor's wife, Laura joined the Governor's staff as his Deputy Press Secretary. In that role, she developed public relations strategies for high-profile projects like "Capital for a Day" and the First Lady's Arts & Letters Series. After five years in the Governor's Office, Laura joined the West Virginia Medical Institute as the organization's first Communications Director. During her five years at WVMI, she developed successful social marketing projects for the Medicare populations in West Virginia and Delaware, and produced an award-winning public access television program. In 1998, shortly after ground was broken for the Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in Putnam County, Laura left WVMI to become the Communications Specialist for the Toyota project. At Toyota, she developed and managed the company's corporate philanthropy efforts and planned several major celebrations, including the First Engine Ceremony and the Plant Dedication. In 2002, Laura left Toyota to become the Director of Client Relations for the Charleston law firm Spilman Thomas & Battle. At Spilman, she directed the firm's advertising strategy, the development of a new website and a major update of the firm's corporate identity package. Prior to joining KIDS COUNT, Laura served as the Communications Manager for the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences, where she developed public relations strategies for the center's season performances.
Since joining KIDS COUNT in March of 2004, Laura has coordinated the development of a successful social marketing project aimed at improving early literacy practices; created a successful marketing strategy for the 2005 Early Childhood Development/Economic Development Forum; developed a communications strategy for a major public policy campaign, and spearheaded major updates of the organization's website, logo and annual Data Book. She says her vision for the children of West Virginia is that all of them — regardless of their socioeconomic status — enter school ready to read and succeed. In Laura's mind, this is the key to our children's success and to the future of our state.