A Day in the Life - Life Launch Program Manager Alicia Keathley

Alicia Keathley

is a mother of five and a passionate advocate for kids both inside and outside of her home. Alicia has fostered a total of 17 children from newborns to teenagers. She spends her days as our Program Manager for Life Launch in the Tulsa area but a lot of people don't really know what that means. Here's what it means; she is a gifted relationship builder and uses that skill to connect young adults with the services and people that will make their lives better, both now and in the long term.

Her favorite part of her job? Giving kids hope.

Here's what a day in her life looks like...

6:30 AM

A young man from my neighborhood usually comes to my house for a couple of hours before school starts. His parents have to work early so he hangs out with me and my kids before I take him to school. I love that my house is a safe and fun place where kids want to hang out.

7:15 AM

I take 6 kids to 4 different schools. The whole process takes more than an hour 🫠

9:00 AM

Assuming none of my kids are home sick from school (which happens a lot in the winter!) I head to the office and catch up on emails, texts, and voicemails. Thankfully, Stand in the Gap is a family-friendly place to work, so everyone is understanding if I need to work from home with a sick kid.

10:10 AM

I set reminders to text with my contacts at our partner organizations. I try to text one per week so I am staying in touch with everyone. These partnerships with places like Phoenix Rising, Life.Church, Care Portal, and Tulsa Boys Home help me recruit young adults to work with and volunteers to come around them. Partnerships have been pivotal to making sure we are serving these young adults (and volunteers) well.

10:45 AM

I get a text from a young adult that I haven’t heard from in a while. She was going to be on a team in the fall but her work and school schedule was a bit complicated so I wasn’t able to launch her quite yet. She seems to have settled in so now I will be looking for mentors for her.

11:15 AM

I put a Care Portal request in for mentors. Care Portal is a hub for physical and relational needs to be met within the churches! We can post on there the city the young adult lives in and also what kinds of mentors would best fit the young adult’s life. It’s been such a helpful tool for recruiting mentors.

12:00 PM

Sometimes I like to just show up at Phoenix Rising (or another partner) with lunch for a couple kids that I’m working with there. It’s important to me to make sure that those guys see me, but also that the staff sees me every once in a while so we can continue to build our relationship and they don’t forget what we offer these kids!

12:45 PM

While I’m out I get a text from a team that’s out at the Gathering Place hanging out – pics like this and teams like this make my day!!!! I love seeing my young adults having fun with their mentors. A lot of our young adults don’t get out much besides going to school so it makes me happy when I see them smiling and having fun.

1:30 PM

I’m back to the office for a second to catch up on team notes. I try to call teams regularly to check in and update my notes to make sure we are doing everything we can to make these teams successful.

3:30 PM

The school pick up run begins!

5:30 PM

Soccer, gymnastics, homework, and repeat

6:20 PM

I get text from a young lady we are working with about getting her driver’s license. This is the kind of need that we don’t meet directly. But I know her mentors will be up for helping her practice to pass the test. We talk through the process so she knows what steps to take and I suggest she bring it up as a goal at her next Life Launch small group meeting.

8:30 PM

One of my Life Launch kids texts me about his graduation, I tell him that me and his team will be there cheering him on. His graduation isn’t until May but he wants to make sure we will be there for him. I remind him ‘of course we will all be there!!’

Our young adults thrive knowing that we are here for them. And I enjoy being on the other end of that phone encouraging them and making sure that they know we are here. That is what gives them hope and it’s the highlight of every day.

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A Day in the Life – Life Launch Program Manager Alicia Keathley