Ozarks Profile

Director of Crosslines, at 1710 E. Chestnut Expwy. Crosslines is the front-line ministry program of the Council of Churches of the Ozarks. For more than 29 years, Crosslines has provided emergency assistance to area families in need. Services offered include an emergency food pantry, free clothing bank, Thanksgiving food baskets, Christmas food baskets, toy store, children's and prenatal vitamins, disaster-relief supplies, coats, blankets, diapers, layettes, gas vouchers and bus passes. "Crosslines was formed when area churches looked for a solution to help alleviate the hunger problem in our area," Copling said. Currently the food pantry is sponsored by 31 "fish" churches (the term "fish" is taken from the Biblical story of the loaves and fishes). Each church sponsors one day a month, providing food to fill the orders and volunteers to package and distribute them. "Crosslines is truly a community program, as we rely totally on area individuals, churches, businesses and organizations for all needed donations," Copling said. "We receive no federal or state funding. This is a program of neighbors helping neighbors," she added. Crosslines serves more than 1,000 families each month. During the holiday season, Crosslines provides food baskets for more than 1,000 families at each holiday and provides gifts for more than 2,000 children at Christmas. Copling is a member of the Greene County FUTURES (Greene County's welfare-to-work program) Advisory Board, Springfield Homeless Services Network, Missouri Association of Social Workers, National Network for Social Work Managers, Project Share Steering Committee and the Community Task Force Work Force Development Coalition.

Age: 35.

No. of years in Springfield/area: Moved to the Springfield area from St. Louis in 1992. "I thought this would be a great place to raise my son," Copling said.

Education: Graduated from Pacific High School, Pacific in 1980. Graduated with honors from East Central Missouri College with an associate degree in computer information systems in 1992. She is now attending classes and seminars related to her work through the SMSU Continuing Education Program.

Early career: Started working at age 14 in order to save money for a car. Waitressed at St. Louis area restaurants until she was 21, when she became a manager of Calico's, a family-owned restaurant in St. Louis. That job gave her a taste of managing people and handling several tasks at once. She also spent some time doing factory work and checking groceries. "Everything I've done has prepared me for this job, although I may not have realized it at the time," Copling said. She financed her own way into college, saving for four years before getting back into school and graduating with honors in 1992. It was then that she moved back to the Springfield area, an area she had always loved, with her young son. She started as an administrative assistant at Crosslines, and became director in July 1997. She brought Crosslines into the computer age when she developed and implemented a computerized client-tracking system, which has allowed Crosslines to eliminate in-house duplication and work with other agencies to decrease abuse of services, she said. Crosslines is now on a paperless system the first of its kind in the state.

Current projects: "After the holidays is the time when we really settle down and catch up," Copling said. Crosslines is now working with the Greene County FUTURES Program to help with the welfare-to-work transition. "We are taking on things that the county cannot, and kind of bridging the gap and helping get people what they might need that is out of the ordinary," Copling said.

Best thing about her job: Copling enjoys the good feeling she gets from helping someone help himself or herself. "When you feel you've really helped someone, that's the lift you need to keep you going," she said.

Spare-time pursuits: Reading, spending time with her son, watching movies and going out to eat with him. They also get passes to Silver Dollar City each year. And, she "collects cats;" she now has two Humane Society kitties.

Family data: Single with one 10-year-old son, Trey, a fifth grader at Clever.

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