Seattle's Child

Your guide to a kid-friendly city

Unsung Hero: Sheree Cooks, mom of 3, community activist, lifelong learner

 

Seattle's Child is proud to once again sponsor the Unsung Heroes being honored in February by the Department of Children, Youth and Families Strengthening Families Washington.

Nominations are accepted from around the state and and include biological parents, grandparents, foster and adoptive parents. Some volunteer at local schools; some have started nonprofit organizations; some mentor others in their communities. All honorees are true heroes: outstanding caregivers doing important work on behalf of children.

 

Sheree Cooks

 

Sheree Cooks of Tacoma embodies the protective factors that build and draw on the support networks that create and sustain healthy communities.

First of all, she is the mother of three beautiful children ranging in age from elementary school to almost in college!

Sheree had a bumpy start as a mom. She was raising her children solo when her middle daughter, at only 2 years old, was diagnosed with cancer. Sheree kept on loving and mothering her back to health, living in the hospital when need be, as she gave birth to her third child. Through all this she was working as an early childhood educator, the field in which she earned her AA.

Sheree keeps that learning journey going for herself, her family and her community as a family and community engagement advocate. She has been on the Tacoma PTA, is a graduate of Jane’s Fellowship Class 7 with the Russell Family Foundation, and is the first black commissioner for the Sustainable Tacoma Commission. Most recently Sheree helped open Tacoma’s Eastside Community Center, where she directs Little Neighbors Child Watch. In her spare time, Sheree is an advocate for racial justice and has started a nonprofit, Eastside CAN Community Action Network, to bring the issue of environmental justice to her neighborhood.

As one part of her nonprofit, she leads nature walks and art activities for families who live next to Swan Creek Park but may not have felt comfortable venturing in on their own.  Sheree is an unsung hero!

 

Nominated by: Ellen Zito

 

More Unsung Heroes

Go here to read about all of this year's honorees.

 

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