To fulfill New Bethany Ministries’ mission of supporting those experiencing hunger, poverty, and homelessness, a strong finance team is vital to ensuring we can best serve our community with the funding we receive.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, New Bethany Ministries has tripled in size, to be able to serve an ever increasing population. To fill the need, we have added new assistance programs and increased donor and federal funding. Pre-pandemic, the finance department consisted solely of current Director of Finance and Administration Tina Sargent, but the organization’s expansion required additional help.
Today, in addition to Tina, our finance team comprises Representative Payee Case Manager Lili Kelhart, Controller Lisa Myers, and Finance Assistant Kim Kressman. Motivated by their passion for helping others and their love of New Bethany, the team works hard to manage overhead, direct all federal grants, build and maintain donor relationships, and more.
As Director of Finance and Administration, Tina oversees facility operations and finances. Tina began her time at New Bethany 21 years ago as controller before taking up her current position in 2021. She’s proud to be part of an organization that supports those in need and is responsible for providing benefits for staff and clients alike.
“I enjoy providing our staff with great benefits and our clients. We cannot take care of others if we do not take care of ourselves as well. I have so many stores I could write a book, but it would have to be fiction because no one would believe it. I have been blessed with Executive Directors and board members that believe in me and my ability to manage funds according to our needs. I love that I can do what I like and still provide services to people in need through the programs we offer,” says Tina.
Lisa Myers’s focus as New Bethany’s controller is financial guidance. She works to manage accounting, payroll, and donations and oversees financial strategy development. Hired in May of 2020 in a temporary role as grant administrator in response to the pandemic, she advanced to her current position full-time the following November. Lisa is grateful for the opportunities she’s had to lead in developing some of New Bethany’s procedures and enjoys her work’s impact on the families she helps serve.
States Lisa, “The increase of new resources at New Bethany has provided opportunities and the freedom to use my administrative, analytical, and organizational skills to project managers to track and report on New Bethany activities. I am thankful that I could help develop our Housing Assistance procedures and recently had an opportunity to conduct three separate full-day training sessions for our Housing Assistance and Finance staff. This was a new experience for me which I really enjoyed and hope to be able to do more of in the future.”
The newest member of our finance team, Kim Kressman, started at New Bethany in January 2022. She maintains our organization’s financial reports and performs internal audits to ensure our client records are accurate and up to date. In her role, she enjoys learning about the different assistance programs that New Bethany offers and working behind the scenes on each program’s funding and reporting processes. Kim loves New Bethany’s team environment and witnessing how each department works together to achieve the same goals.
With over twenty years working at New Bethany, Representative Payee Case Manager Lili Kelhart helps clients of New Bethany use their benefits strategically to cover current and future expenses while advising them on how to properly save unused benefits to get them back on their feet. Reflecting on her experience working at New Bethany, Lili says, “What I most enjoy about my work is helping others, making a positive change in my client’s lives, and being there for them during their ups and downs.”
Much of the success behind New Bethany’s impact on the community is thanks to our finance team’s hard work and dedication. Reflecting on the team’s evolution since 2020, Tina expresses her appreciation for her coworkers, saying, “I am excited about our growth over the last several years. Lili, Lisa, and Kim are wonderful to work with, and we could not do all the programs we do without the whole team.”
