Kathy Headlee Miner, Founder, Mothers without Borders (picture, www.fnp.ae/blog)
Women and Adversity:
Kathy Headlee Miner
Founder, Mothers Without Borders
Kathy Headlee Miner remembers a woman in Mumbai, India, infected with the HIV virus asking her, “Who will care for my children when I’m dead?”
That question was the impetus for Miner to incorporate Mothers Without Borders as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the year 2000. She wanted to be able to tell women, “I will help you. We will help you.”
From the time she was a child, Miner had a desire to help people in need. It was then she made the fervent intention to continue throughout her lifetime to help those suffering, especially the children. She was working with an agency in 1990 when she learned of the great number of Romanian children in orphanages. She asked if she could organize a group of volunteers to go there to help. When they agreed, she gathered volunteers and raised funds, so that in 1992 the group arrived in Romania to be with the orphaned children, primarily to read to them, play with them, and feed them. That was the ground floor for Mothers Without Borders, although Miner didn’t think at that time she’d form any bona-fide group.
She continued to volunteer and organize projects through other organizations until that fateful day in Mumbai. She believed she had to provide assistance to those in need throughout the world and decided to narrow her focus. Instead of trying to help all people in every way, she chose to limit her assistance to helping children. The MWB mission statement says: We offer hope to orphaned and vulnerable children by nurturing and caring for them as if they were our own.
Although the organization’s regional headquarters is in Zambia, it gives assistance to those in developing countries and works with the local community to be the most effective ion alleviating the suffering children endure. the plan to provide enough education and recovery so the children can reintegrate into their home areas and become productive members of society.
Miner credits her father, who believed in community service, with instilling in her a desire to help others. She was born in Richfield, Utah, August 15, 1953, the third of nine children. Her father was in the military so the family lived in Germany and several other places while she was growing up. She attended Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City, Utah, but couldn’t decide on a major so didn’t finish. She married and had four children and later adopted a girl from Romania.
She was a single mother until she married Phillip Miner in 2007, 19 years her junior. The couple live in Utah.
More Information:
Kathy Headlee – Utah Business 2022 Women of the Year – YouTube
Meet Our Team – Mothers Without Borders
Headlee Miner, Kathy – Utah Women’s Walk-Honoring the Women of Utah – Utah Valley University Digital Collections (oclc.org)
I featured Miner in my ebook, Women and Adversity, Recognizing 23 Notable Mothers. It is available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
