NEW CEO ready to put the ‘family’ in Alaska Family Services

WASILLA — R.O.C.K. Mat-Su (Raising Our Children with Kindness) founder Desiré Shepler recently became the CEO of Alaska Family Services.

She plans to take her history of public, community collaboration and passion for children and families with her as she settles into her new role.

“I think it’s a value we all share, especially here in Mat-Su where we do tend to be community minded. We want strong families and thriving children,” Shepler said.

Shepler’s first official day at AFS was July 26. She replaced Donn Bennice who retired as President and CEO after 17 years.

She’s no stranger to the organization. In 2003, she worked there as a practicum student while she was working toward her associates in applied sciences in human services at the Mat-Su College. She said that she worked in the domestic violence shelter which had a profound impact on her.

“It really shaped my passion for kids and families,” Shepler said.

Shepler said that her time at AFS helped set her on a path for the rest of her college career. She went on to get her master’s in public health with an emphasis on maternal and child health. She said that she’s been building her career around trying to make things better for children and their families.

She’s worked at places like the Children’s Place in Wasilla and the Alaska Island Community Services in Wrangell. While at AICS, she was the social service administrator, overseeing the behavioral health office.

“That was a great opportunity to really see how behavioral health intersects with so many of the issues families face,” Shepler said.

Shepler said that was also one of the first times she got to see how partnerships with different organizations improve the overall impact. She learned the value of community collaboration firsthand.

She said that she carried that revelation over to the Mat-Su Health Foundation when she founded the collaborative group R.O.C.K. Mat-Su (Raising Our Children with Kindness) in 2014.

“We all had the same vision for our community so taking that idea of bringing things together and finding commonalties and all of that really worked in creating R.O.C.K.” Shepler said.

R.O.C.K. operates under the MSHF, “joining together to promote family resilience and reduce child maltreatment” according to their website. R.O.C.K. works to improve the lives of local children, from social support programs to influencing systems that directly affect families across the Valley. Their ultimate goal is to eliminate child abuse in the community.

Some of the original 18 partners that formed R.O.C.K. Mat-Su include AFS, CCS Early Learning, Set Free Alaska, school district staff and the Sunshine Community Health Center.

“So we had a really diverse group of partners,” Shepler said.

Since then, R.O.C.K. has grown to over 30 partners. They range from substance abuse organizations to early childhood education.

Shepler was raised in the Mat-Su Valley and she’s familiar with the booming population’s growing pains, such as drug and alcohol addiction and domestic violence.

The MSHF conducted a community survey to gauge community health needs in 2013. Shepler said that the number one community goal was “all children are well cared for and safe.”

While many people may argue over how, why and what to do, Shepler said that one thing everyone can agree on is this: wanting the best for all the kids in the community.

“Achieving that outcome has to happen in partnership. That’s bigger than one agency could do or one sector could do,” Shepler said.

That’s why she founded R.O.C.K and that’s why she moved on to AFS, a bittersweet ending of one chapter and exciting new start to another era. She said that some of the things she’s most excited to bring to AFS are her skills and experience building effective partnerships.

“… the opportunity to build new partnerships and figure out how Alaska Family Services can better work with our other community agencies and systems in Mat-Su to really increase our impact in the community,” Shepler said.

Alaska Family Services is an accredited, endowed, nonprofit agency that offers a range of programs in Palmer, Wasilla and Southcentral Alaska, from domestic violence support to drug and alcohol treatment.

Their main office is located at 1825 South Chugach Street in Palmer. They can be reached at 907-746-4080 or toll free 866-746-4080. Their website is akafs.org

For more information about the Mat-Su Health Foundation or R.O.C.K Mat-Su, email admin@healthymatsu.org or call 907-352-2863

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com