Staff Biographical Information
Stacy Welk - Executive Director
Stacy Welk is the Executive Director of Wesley-Rankin Community Center. Stacy describes herself as a product of Wesley-Rankin. Stacy’s rich history with Wesley-Rankin spans a period of over 16 years during which she has served as a volunteer, teacher, community advocate, student educator, and an innovative leader.
In 1990, Stacy came to the center as a youth in need of direction and a place she could call home and feel safe. She found a place in a tradition-rich community where family loyalty and love are priorities. Wesley-Rankin provided a means for Stacy to grow as an individual and to achieve many distinctions. In 1993, she was honored to become Wesley-Rankin’s first Bridge to College student. She attended Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. As a college student, during summer breaks she returned to Wesley-Rankin and was the summer mission coordinator as well as the summer day-camp director.
Stacy was awarded a bachelor’s degree in Inner-Disciplinary Studies in 1997. She returned to Dallas to begin a career as the Coordinator of Student Programs and Resources for Cedar Valley College, a sister school of the Dallas County Community Colleges. During this tenure, she was awarded a district leadership development award for her innovative programming.
From 1998-2001, Stacy served on the Board of Directors for Wesley-Rankin Community Center. As a board member, she served as Secretary and a community advocate.
In 2001, Stacy moved to Kansas City where she was the Coordinator of Student Activities and New Student Orientation for Longview Community College, voted number one community college by Time Magazine and the Princeton Review.
Stacy returned to Dallas in 2003 to assume the position of Wesley-Rankin’s Executive Director. She describes this experience as “coming home.” Since accepting this position, she has been recognized twice as a “Community Champion” by ExxonMobil. Stacy continues to tirelessly work with the community that she calls family to empower them, as she was, to realize their full potential.
Stacy is a member of Suncreek United Methodist Church, where she volunteers her time as a youth sponsor. Stacy appreciates that Suncreek, much like Wesley-Rankin, takes pride in their inclusiveness and their ability to provide a loving environment for church participants. Stacy is also a member of the National Institute for Leadership Development, the Dallas Junior League, the United Methodist Association, and an attending member of the West Dallas Chamber of Commerce, and West Dallas Coalition.
Irma Flores - Women and Families Program Director
Irma Flores has served as our Women and Families Program Director since 1989. This full-time position includes responsibility for the Teen Parenting, Sewing, and Catering programs.
Irma worked for the Dallas Independent School District for 16 years before she was hired at Wesley-Rankin. Growing up in West Dallas, she participated in several programs at Wesley-Rankin throughout her life. Since the 1950s, she felt that her heart needed to be at Wesley-Rankin. It makes her feel good being at “home.” Irma has three grown children and three grandchildren, who have attended Wesley-Rankin’s daycare, Summer Program, and other special events at Wesley-Rankin.
Irma has responsibility over many programs at Wesley-Rankin. She worked many summers coordinating the Summer Program. In 1989, she started working full time at Wesley-Rankin as the Director of Women and Families Programs. In 1990, Irma began Wesley-Rankin’s Teen Parenting Program. At the beginning, there were only six participants. The program increased to 15 and now has about 25 participants. The program meets every Monday night and provides a forum for young parents to improve their life skills to become active and productive parents.
Irma also oversees Wesley-Rankin’s kitchens and sewing facilities. In that capacity, she arranges catering events, spearheads the annual Mother-Daughter Banquet, Fall tamale sales, and the Senior Citizen’s Sewing Circle. Irma sees that nutritious meals are prepared every day for the senior citizens program, after school, and summer camp programs. In 2005, Wesley-Rankin served over 41,000 meals and should top 48,000 or more in 2006.
When she is not at Wesley-Rankin, Irma enjoys spending time with her family, her grandchildren, and vacationing with friends and family when time permits.
- Facilities Director
Position Open
Maria Pintor - Director of Community Outreach
Maria’s involvement with Wesley Rankin goes back to 1972 when she first arrived in Dallas. She is proud to say that she is a product of Wesley Rankin. While in high school, Maria volunteered at the center. Prior to joining the Wesley-Rankin staff, Maria worked for Catholic Charities for five years doing immigration work. In 1987, she was offered the position of Administrative Assistant at Wesley Rankin. An offer she says she did not think twice about taking as it afforded her an opportunity to give back to the community.
At Wesley Rankin, Maria has worn many hats – helping with GED classes, teaching ESL, and starting the Los Altos Community in Action group to increase community involvement. Maria has been at Wesley-Rankin for 19 years and currently is the Director of Community Outreach. This position consists of working with parents, community members, and local community agencies. She serves on the board of Project Transformation and Cara Mia Theatre.
In 1997, Wesley-Rankin became the first agency to become involved with Stand for Children, a children’s advocacy organization. Maria launched the first Stand for Children event in Dallas in 1997 and is proud that Wesley-Rankin is celebrating their 9th Annual Stand for Children Event. In 1999, Maria started the Care4Kids program, a program that encourages parents to become more involved with their children and has greatly increased the number of parent volunteers at the center.
Maria is married and has an elementary school age son who has also grown up coming to Wesley-Rankin and was baptized at Nueva Esperanza UMC. In her spare time, she enjoys volleyball and dancing.
Norma Rangel - Administrative Assistant
Norma was born in McKinney, Texas and raised in Dallas. She attended Bishop Dunne High School for two years, graduated from Adamson High School in 1978, and attended El Centro and Cedar Hill College, where she studied for an Office Assistant certificate.
Prior to assuming her full-time role at Wesley-Rankin, Norma had the privilege of working part-time with Rev. Kathleen Baskin at Nueva Esperanza UMC as Administrative Assistant. Norma worked for Raushcer Pierce Refsnes, a stock firm as an Internal Auditor and Legal Coordinator for six years. Norma also worked for Blue Cross and Blue Shield as an Administrative Assistant for nine years. Dedicated to service in the Dallas area, Norma Rangel joined Wesley-Rankin Community Center as Administrative Assistant on June 21, 1992.
She has been married 24 years and has a 17-year old daughter, Rebecca, and a 20-year old son, Rene. Norma’s children have grown up attending programs at Wesley-Rankin. They started in HeadStart and were active in after school, summer and youth programming. Rene, Jr. graduated from Sunset H.S. in 2004 and has been working for John’s Printing Company as an Advertising Designer. Rene also works part-time for Jim Marvin Collection as a Salesman. He is interested in a career in architecture. Becky is very active in sports and was just elected Vice President of her Senior Class at Sunset High School for 2006-7. She is also involved in the Decathlon and is ranked 8th in her class. She plans to attend El Centro College for a couple of years and then attend TWU and study Nursing. Spending quality time with her family is very important to Norma and she enjoys sharing time with them.
Norma also shares her compassion with others and impacts the lives of many children, youth, families, and senior adults in West Dallas. Norma is career-oriented, works well under pressure, skilled in dealing with all levels of people, and willing to accept new challenges and responsibilities. In her spare time she loves to just sit down, watch a movie, and eat popcorn.
Kathy Stutesman - Development Director
Kathy Stutesman began her association with Wesley Rankin in 1989, when she responded to an article in the Highland Park UMC newspaper (The Tower) that requested volunteers for the Monday Night Tutoring Program. She became such an avid volunteer that she was asked to join the staff to set up Wesley-Rankin’s first computer learning center. Kathy was Director of the Computer Learning Center until January 1992 when she left to join her husband on an overseas assignment in London. She returned in 1995 to accept the position of Director of Education and Technology. As Director of Education, Kathy created adult educational programs in the areas of GED, computer literacy, ESL, and educational computer curriculum for children. Kathy became Director of Programming in 2003.
Kathy holds a Masters of Arts in Teaching from UTD and has authored two educational websites that provide her a virtual classroom presence throughout the nation. She eagerly shares her expertise in using computer assisted learning and has taught graduate students the art of incorporating technology into lesson plans. From 1997-2002, Kathy served as Vice President of the Dallas Computer Literacy Board. She served on the Executive Committee of Dallas Healthy Start from 1998-2000, and has been a representative on several local school Site Based Community Decision Committees. Kathy is currently a member of Wesley-Rankin’s Bridge to College Scholarship Committee where she acts as spokesperson for new applicants.
In 2006, Kathy began serving in the Development Director position. As Development Director she helps plan and create funding opportunities for Wesley-Rankin. She also enjoys speaking with groups to acquaint them with Wesley-Rankin and sharing the many wonderful stories she has experienced over the past 15 years.
Prior to joining Wesley-Rankin, Kathy was owner and President of a small retail culinary arts business in Preston Center East. She was a guest contributor to both the Dallas Morning News and Times Herald Cooking sections and a featured guest chef for the Garland Symphony Orchestra League and the Dallas Home and Garden Show. She was President of the Merchants Association and enjoyed creating fun publicity events for fellow retail merchants.
Kathy is a native Texan. She grew up in San Antonio, but calls Dallas home, having lived here most of her adult life. Kathy and her husband, Bill, of 29 years live in Plano. They attend Highland Park United Methodist Church and are members of the In His Steps Sunday School Class. They have two children, Holly, a technical recruiter in Austin, and Christian, who lives in San Antonio and works for CitiBank. Kathy enjoys traveling, spending time with friends and family, and “playing” on her computer. She is a history buff and enjoys learning more about local and Texas history.
- Special Events and Volunteer Coordinator
Position Open
Christina Wichert - Educational Coordinator
Christina Marie Wichert of Fairgrove, Michigan, Detroit Annual Conference, was commissioned as a young adult (US-2) missionary of The United Methodist Church on July 30, 2006. She will be serving for two years at the Wesley-Rankin Community Center. She joined the Wesley-Rankin staff Aug. 15, 2006. She will work with educational coordination for programming. “There couldn’t be a better time for her to come,” Stacy Welk says, explaining that Wichert will be filling an important role that the agency does not have funds to support with a staff position at this time.
Wichert is a member of First UMC, Plymouth, Michigan, and graduated in 2006 with a B.A. degree from DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana. She is the daughter of David and Janet Wichert, and describes herself as having grown up in a home where “the church and God played significant roles.”
