Jake Stum, People for Care and Learning, Featured in National Magazine
Cleveland, Tennessee–Jake Stum, Director of Programming and Development for People for Care and Learning, is one of “40 Under 40 Changemakers” featured in the latest issue of Rejuvenate magazine.
Stum
For People for Care and Learning, a nonprofit, non-governmental organization that provides humanitarian aid to Southeast Asia, Jake Stum, 37, is the man behind event development and vision. In addition to speaking engagements and leading trips to areas of Southeast Asia (especially Cambodia), Stum has planned and executed the organization’s fundraisers including donor events, running and cycling events, and golf tournaments. Motivated by a calling to serve, he also co-chairs the Long-Term Recovery Organization, which provides financial assistance and counseling to people who have experienced significant loss or damage to property. (There were major tornadoes in the Cleveland, Tenn., area in the last two years.) He also chairs the Mayor’s Coalition on Care, which brings together local nonprofits to help families in need. That’s enough to keep someone busy, but Stum is also working to complete his Ph.D. in organizational leadership at Regent University by the end of the year, and he’s recently adopted a third child with wife Merica.
“Jake Stum is a master of motivation, ministry and making a difference,” says Kevin Brooks, public relations and conference management, for Church of God International Offices, who nominated Stum for 40 Under 40. “He is a relationship builder, a meeting planner, a world traveler and a motivating force in the world of NGOs and charitable organizations. His work, his skills, his talents and his travels put the rest of us in awe.”
Dream Job: “What I’m doing now. I feel like I’m called to be a voice for the voiceless and help those in need… If I could do that for the rest of my life, I’d be a very happy man.”
Career-Changing Moment: “I was on staff at a local church as a pastor, and I took over the responsibility of the international missions department. Going and seeing third-world poverty up close and personal was career- and life-shaping for me. It was the moment I decided that I’d like to do that kind of thing every day of my life.”
Inspiration: “Seeing self-sacrifice and humility lived out.”
What Drives You: “Figuring out how to help children in the world without parents. Our organization does a lot of stuff, but the thing that drives me most is our kids in our children’s homes.
Most Proud of: “My family: My wife Merica; adopted son Dosen, 6, from Ethiopia; adopted son Visnay, 7, from India; biological son Luke, 10; and newly adopted daughter Aida, 1, from Ethiopia.”
(Source: Rejuvenate Magazine)
