Regina Girten

I was ordained as a Deacon in the United Methodist Church in June of 2018. I have worked within the UMC for 13 years. I served as a Youth and Children's Director for 8 years. Following my time in student ministry, I worked in missions and outreach for five years, coordinating and participating in mission trips to Cambodia, Sierra Leone, West Africa, South Africa and Nicaragua, as well as overseeing church partnerships with ministries serving people experiencing homelessness, children in foster care, feeding programs within our community and working alongside the school system to meet the needs of students, families and teachers. During that time, I also worked in the nonprofit sector in volunteer management for 5 years, serving as Volunteer Coordinator for Open Table Nashville and leading a team to mobilize 4,000 volunteers following a tornado that affected our community.

I oversaw and mobilized the Long Term Recovery Group, Recover Wilson, in Wilson County, TN following the tornado in 2020 and initial volunteer mobilization efforts. During that time I was training by UMCOR and The Salvation Army in best practices in Disaster Recovery. During this work I received several community recognition awards and, as a result of this work, began developing The Volunteer Network, which serves as a volunteer management space for our community.