OUR MISSION…
Parenting is the most important job we will ever have, but it certainly isn’t an easy one. We are here to help!
Real Life Families is a 501c3 non-profit organization equipping parents with effective, loving, and creative teamwork tools for any real-life parenting moment. We are committed to helping parents build a close, positive relationship with each child and a strong family team.
If you want to change the world, go home and love your family. -Mother Theresa
WHAT WE DO…
Real Life Families strengthens and unites families through our Teamwork Parenting Approach. We provide:
- over 40 Teamwork Parenting Tools to use instead of yelling or punishing
- free parenting classes and seminars
- free resources (both online and in print)
- free parenting support groups
- coaching and other programs designed to support families
WHERE WE SERVE…
We are honored to serve wherever we are invited–churches, schools, preschools, work places, moms groups, small groups, libraries, homeless shelters, and other organizations, etc. Invite us to present and help us bring more team unity to every family!
Your home is your child’s most important classroom, and you are your child’s most important teacher. Real Life Families can give you the tools that set your precious “students” up for long-term success!
MEET OUR VOLUNTEER BOARD OF DIRECTORS…
Meet Christine…
Christine is the Founder and Director of Real Life Families. She is a Family Coach specializing in Parenting and Child Discipline and Bullying Prevention Education and works one-on-one with parents teaching teamwork tools and creative strategies to work with their kids not against them. Christine is also a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors and has an Advance Certificate as a Christian Life Purpose Coach helping people of any age find their purpose in life. With her Bachelor of Science in Education, she has had the privilege of teaching every age from preschool through adult–with the majority of her career teaching middle school science. Through Real Life Families, she volunteers her time developing parenting curriculum and teaching classes. She spends most of her time with her three awesome (and exhausting) strong-willed children and her patient (and polar-opposite) husband of over 19 years. Oh and her relationship with God keeps her sane and brownies make her happy.
Meet Tiffany L….
Tiffany is the Assistant Director of Real Life Families. She is a Human Resources graduate of the University of St. Thomas and worked in corporate HR for seven years. She has an entrepreneur husband and four children to keep her busy. She has a strong faith and a passion for hearing people’s stories and helping them to know they are loved and valued by God and others. Through Real Life Families, she helps raise money for our mission to strengthen families by volunteering her time selling donated items on VarageSale and helping plan our annual garage sale fundraiser. It excites her to help Real Life Families equip parents to raise their kids to be loving, courageous, and kind. She loves to bike, run, and play frisbee and she could read for hours if she had the time. Oh and she once fed her daughter breakfast from scraps her kids found in the car!
Meet Citlalli R…
Citlalli is an intern with Real Life Families. She is currently a junior attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is working on a double major in Anthropology and Global Studies where she is passionate about learning about the cultures in which we are born and the impact that has on our lives. She enjoys finding the similarities we all have despite our many differences. Through Real Life Families, she will be helping us plan our First Annual Family Fun Run as well as partner with us to teach classes as well as translate our resources and tools into Spanish. She loves being a part of an organization who emphasizes communication in the home, values the parenting differences in each family, and is dedicated to providing tools every parent can use when facing obstacles in raising their children. Oh and already she understands that in life and with our families sometimes things take an unexpected turn and the only thing we can do is breath, remain calm, and find a solution.
Meet Jennifer…
Jennifer has nearly 20 years of experience in the communications industry with many of those years serving with non-profit organizations. She lives in an RV with her family and travels around the country with her husband and four girls. Luckily, she owns her own online graphic design business Designs on the Go! Through Real Life Families, she uses her gift of creativity and lends her talents in design to create our logo and other promotional needs. And she really enjoys helping area families to go after God and grow stronger together. She has a black belt in Taekwondo and enjoys setting goals and accomplishing them. Oh and she once fed her girls cereal for dinner three nights in a row.
Meet Valena….
Valena is an Organizational Leadership Graduate of Lincoln Christian University and serves as the Outreach Minister at Windsor Road Christian Church focusing on community and church connection. She is married with three children and always keeps it 100% real. Through Real Life Families, she uses her 15 years of experience with community engagement to connect us to more families. She has a passion for mint chocolate chip ice cream, Starbucks, knitting, her secret baking business, and Jesus. Oh and once she rushed out of the house forgetting all of her kids at home and didn’t realize it until she asked them a question and wondered why they didn’t answer.
Meet Jen….
Jen has a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Illinois. She is also the Early Childhood Director at Windsor Road Christian Church. Through Real Life Families, she has a strong passion to help families connect and grow with God and one another through life’s many stages. She wants to help families find the freedom to take off their masks and learn to be real with each other about how hard parenting really is. She loves all things Disney and her husband and three children would rather be at Disney than any other place on Earth! Oh and she admits that her house is never truly put together and she would rather make cards than clean.
Meet Rachael…
Rachael has a Bachelors in Business and is a certified Doula and a Childbirth Educator through Gentle Transitions-–providing childbirth education, birth and postpartum doula services, professional breastfeeding help, and more to families in the Champaign/Urbana area. Through Real Life Families, she enjoys meeting and serving new families and appreciates the opportunity to encourage families right where they are in this crazy parenting journey. She is married with three children and loves traveling, exploring, and going on adventures with them. Oh and sometimes to get some space, she will go to the YMCA, drop her kids off at childcare and have a cup of coffee in the library.
Meet Rick…
Rick is the Treasurer of Real Life Families. He was a middle school teacher for 33 years teaching math as well as science and computers. He has served on a credit union board for 25 years and he has been serving on the financial board for his church for eight years. He has been married for 49 years, has two grown children and five grandchildren, is a native to Champaign, and wants to see families in this community thrive. Through Real Life Families, he volunteers his time keeping track of our financial transactions and creating detailed reports for each board meeting. He enjoys golfing, boating, fixing or building things, and spending time with his family. Oh and even when most other families had cable, they only had 4 channels and his kids had to go outside and turn a huge antennae to change to another channel.
Together, we are building better families and changing the world.