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Do Justice. Love Kindness. Walk Humbly.
Director: (614) 488-0681 ext. 106
Manager: (614) 488-0681 ext. 203
hearttoheart@FCchurch.com
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
Tuesdays 9am to 12pm
Thursdays 9am to 12pm
First Community South
1320 Cambridge Blvd. Columbus, OH 43212
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Staff Bio

Getting to Know You: Minister of Mission and Justice

By Staff Bio

Rev. John Girard

Rev. John Girard is the newest member on staff at First Community, as Minister of Mission & Justice.  John comes to First Community from Broad Street United Methodist Church where he served as Senior Pastor of the downtown church for the past three years.  Prior to that he served in a variety of United Methodist clergy roles in the Columbus metro area for two decades.

A ”second career” clergyperson, John worked previously as a licensed funeral director and embalmer in Ohio before recognizing a call to ordained ministry.  Funeral directing was never anything he dreamt of doing when he was growing up, though.  He really wanted to own a restaurant and be a chef, or a schoolbus driver.

Once a cat-owner trapped in a dog-lover’s body, John currently has no pets and no partner – providing all kinds of freedom to come and go with ease, allowing him to enjoy hiking, biking, cooking, reading, and indulging his Titanic, and tiny house obsessions.  John also enjoys watching documentaries and wombat videos in his free time.

A native of Granville, Ohio, John attended Hanover College (Hanover, IN), and received a B.A. in Business Administration.  John then attended the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, completed his state and national boards, and worked at funeral homes in Cincinnati and Columbus, before eventually attending and graduating from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (Northwestern University, Evantson, IL) in 2005.

Favorite color:  blue
Favorite food:  pizza and Chipotle
Favorite day of the week:  Sunday!

Getting to Know You: Administrative Assistant

By Staff Bio

Amanda Brofford

 

Amanda Brofford is the Missions Administrative Assistant at First Community.  This month she will be celebrating her first year work anniversary.  She manages data, acknowledgements for all generous donations to the Missions department and miscellaneous tasks to support Amy and Yohan.

Her employment background is varied; she has been a waitress, bookkeeper, records manager, and QA specialist to name a few.

Amanda is a lifelong resident of Grove City where she resides with her hubby Joel, twin teens Amber & Emma, Sophia the cat and Mr Cuddles an adorable fuzzy bunny.  Their oldest, Ashley (24), lives close by.

When not working, she can be found cheering her kiddos on at various band performances, volunteering at church, attending various music concerts or riding her bicycle.  The Brofford family enjoys walking in nature, traveling, watching comedies and true crime stories.

 

Editor’s Note:
Amanda is a part-time employee who spends part of that time working from home. When she is on site, she’s usually hidden away in her office diligently working. You may not see her around a lot but she is an integral part of the team. She is quiet and maybe a bit shy, but secretly hilarious. If you have not already, please introduce yourself next time you see her.

Amanda on her daily bike ride. Unless it’s raining, or snowing, or there’s an air quality alert, or…

 

Brofford Family. From left to right: Ashley, Amanda, Amber, Joel, and Emma. Nutcracker not included.

 

Mr. Cuddles, obviously

 

Sofia the cat

Getting to Know You: 2024 Heart to Heart Ministry Team

By Staff Bio

Volunteer Ministry Team Members

Andrea Keil

Andrea Keil

First Community Involvement: Andrea joined virtually during the pandemic in June 2020.

Professional Experience: Full time piano teacher for all ages.

Volunteer Experience

  • Currently volunteers with local non-profit music & music teacher boards.
  • Volunteered for Columbus Humane Society when they operated a pet food pantry, and continues to volunteer doing Cat Care.

Heart to Heart Involvement: Andrea has volunteered for about 3 years, and served on the ministry team last year.

Kevin Orsini

Kevin Orsini

First Community Involvement: Kevin became an FC  member in 2001.

Professional Experience: Works in IT auditing.

Volunteer Experience

  • Volunteers with Kiwanis.
  • Coached two daughters’ soccer teams, then ran clinics to teach other soccer coaches.

Heart to Heart Involvement: Regular weekly volunteer for approximately two  years, both in the drive-thru and doing MOFB pickups.

Dave Westman

First Community Involvement: Dave has been a member of First Community since 2021.

Professional Experience: Engineer by trade.

Volunteer Experience

  • Started as a volunteer, then worked for Reeb Ave Community Center, which housed about 12 non-profit organizations (including Mid-Ohio Foodbank for a while).
  • Volunteered with Harmony Project for 12 years.

Heart to Heart Experience: Volunteers with food pantry since 2022.

Carolyn Barger

First Community Involvement: Carolyn has been a church member since 1991, and even met her husband at Camp Akita.

Professional Experience: Started her professional career as a high school history teacher.

Volunteer Experience: Volunteered then worked for Honor Flight Columbus as Assistant Executive Director until the pandemic.  Continues to be very involved as a Volunteer.   

Heart to Heart Involvement: Starting volunteering about 3.5 years ago.

Getting to Know You: Heart to Heart Food Pantry Manager

By Staff Bio

Yohan Kim

Yohan Kim is the Heart to Heart Food Pantry Manager at First Community, overseeing operations, food donations, volunteer work, and client-facing activities. He will be hitting the 3-year mark as an employee on March 1, 2024, having started out as a volunteer, then moving on to part-time Volunteer Coordinator. His role has included transitioning the pantry into an effective operation during and after the coronavirus pandemic, which spread activities into multiple church buildings and 2 endpoints for distribution: Drive-Thru and Pop-Up Pantry.

Yohan has an eclectic background, having started out as an army brat in Kansas, Germany, and Oklahoma, before remaining in Ohio from age 4 onward, bouncing between Athens and Columbus (Northland and Eastland areas). He has a BA in Film Studies from The Ohio State University, plus a varied work history that includes US Hair, MAPFRE Stadium, and Half Price Books in Columbus, a photo company near Mansfield, as well as background acting and assorted entry-level film jobs during a short stint in Los Angeles.

When not working, he can be found at happy hours and music shows, reading at his favorite café, indulging in his lifelong cinephilia, walking a trail, working out, and being a dad to a black cat named Sirius. Being an avid fan of the horror genre, he runs a monthly book club called Attack of the Killer Tomes and daydreams about writing horror movies for a living. He also once produced and co-hosted a podcast about Korean films, which ran for around 50 episodes. And if his body ever cooperates, he hopes to return to the world of martial arts, whether it’s Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or just something fun out of love for the game.

on set

Sirius

on the job

Getting to Know You: Director of Missions

By Staff Bio

Amy Caskie

Amy Caskie is the Director of Missions at First Community. Next week, she will celebrate 10 years employed at First Community, though she has had many roles at the church. She was originally hired to be the Administrative Coordinator for Camp Akita, but quickly moved into the role of Administrative Coordinator for Missions. After some time in that role, she became the Administrator of Missions, and is now the Director. Her role includes oversight of all Missions, including the Refugee Ministry, Tri-Village Trading Post and Heart to Heart.

Amy grew up on the westside of Cleveland, Ohio, as the youngest of 4 siblings (or 6 or 8 or 15 depending on how you define “sibling”). Suffice to say, she has a big family. She attended high school at St. Joseph Academy. Amy then graduated with a BA in Art History in 2005 from the University of Dayton, where she met her husband, Jared. They were married on New Year’s Eve, 2007. After graduating, they found jobs in the Central Ohio area, first living in Powell, then Grove City, and now just a one-minute drive from First Community North in Columbus. They have two kids, Lucy (11) and Bennett (8) and two dogs, Beverly (6) and Harriet (5). Jared is an accountant and the kids are in sixth and second grade, respectively. Amy likes to say her hobbies include being a mom, making lists, and sleeping when she can. But in reality, she enjoys DIY, crafts, elaborate birthday parties and comedy (stand-up and movies).

Fun facts that you didn’t ask for:

  • Her top 5 favorite movies are, in no particular order: Mean Girls, So I Married an Axe Murderer, Tommy Boy, Office Space and Napoleon Dynamite.
  • Favorite color: purple
  • Favorite word: sandwiches
  • Her favorite foods include: cheese, pizza and coffee.
  • Favorite song to play in a crowded bar / her baseball walkout song: Mambo #5
  • Amy’s life mottos include: “Don’t take life too seriously”, “I’ll figure it out”, and “Why did I walk into this room?”
  • Her pet peeves include: things that are sticky, looking for things that are lost, and not being able to remember the word for the thing she’s talking about.
  • She has collections of: sunglasses (see above note about losing things), bird figurines, esp. chickens (against her will), and music boxes she inherited from her mother.
  • She has been keeping a list of actors she would cast in the movie of her life, should such a biopic ever come to be. This is in no way based in reality. The proposed cast list is at 75 people and the working title is “Moderately Abnormal: the Amy Caskie story.”
  • Amy’s best friend is coincidentally also named Amy, and has kids the same age as the Caskie children, which is very convenient.

Amy & Jared

Lucy & Ben

Beverly & Harriet

Amy & her siblings

The Amys