Meet Heather Hogue

This week's sister spotlight:

Meet Heather Hogue

Hidden in Plain Sight

Hidden behind the piano or the organ, you’ll find the lovely Heather Hogue. Now, you may think she’s a quiet and reserved sister in our Relief Society, but you’d be pleasantly surprised to learn the amazing depths of Heather’s talents and community advocacy for the poor and homeless in Utah Valley.

NOTE: This week’s spotlight is longer than usual because we’re highlighting both Heather and the amazing organisations she works with. She’s also shared some links for meditation aids as an added bonus for reading through to the end!

No place like home

Born September 20 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Heather spent her first 11 years living all over Arkansas before her father was transferred to Alaska. With his medical background as medical personnel (first responder and later trainer) in the Air Force, Heather’s dad played “doctor” to even her stuffed animals. Six years later during Heather’s senior year in high school, the family moved to Tampa, Florida. The drive from Anchorage to Tampa still counts as her favourite trip because it was amazing to see just how small the world was. Heather lived in Tampa just a short time before coming to BYU. Although she stayed in Utah after graduation, Heather still feels like Arkansas is home. Most of her family continues to live in the beautiful Ozark Mountains where her father’s family has lived for numerous generations. In some cemeteries even, Heather can count most of those buried as relations.

Music and so much much more . . .

Heather was already learning to play the piano from her mom by 5 years. When she moved to a new ward without an organist at 19, they asked her to learn to play organ. (Good news for us!). This led to numerous opportunities to play organ in the old Provo Tabernacle at Stake Conferences. And if you sit and listen to the postlude music, Heather always plays Hymn 168, “As the Shadows Fall,” as her final piece. Why? Well, the second verse is a prayer asking Heavenly Father to watch over family far away stating: “Father, please watch o’er our loved ones as the evening round them flows” which helps her feel connected to her family back home.

Heather’s musical talents extend to singing in acapella groups, writing music, and playing in a band (see pic). She even once had a job as a professional Karaoke singer covering music as diverse as Wicked to Stevie Wonder. Plus she’s also recorded on a bunch of albums, (e.g., Mountain Blue and the acapella group Impact), logging about 300+ hours of recording studio time. Plus, Heather plays cello and during college played in symphony orchestras and was president of the acapella club for 2.5 years.

Putting together a softball team? Well, Heather played fast pitch softball as pitcher from 6-18 years of age (plus intermurals in college although she wishes she had played varsity). She’s also served as screen writer on 2 short independent films. Today, to unwind, she enjoys the top down on her Pontiac G6 hard top convertible. (Yeah, you want a ride, too! I know what you’re thinking!)

Next trip? The incredible beach town Phuket, Thailand. Yup. This is happening.

Yeah. She’s pretty cool.

But she’s also real!

Don’t quit your day job. No, seriously don’t. People need you!

In her last semester at BYU, Heather worked as a receptionist part time at a soup kitchen. Quickly falling in love with the work, she abandoned her plans to pursue graduate work in Modern American English lit. Today, Heather’s life is dedicated to helping the homeless or those at risk of homelessness, the low income, including also those who are struggling with addictions, disabilities and mental health issues. In short, her career takes Christ’s teaching to take care of the poor, the naked, and the hungry seriously. To this end Heather works with two amazing organizations:

·       Food and Care Coalition as the Associate Director; AND

·       Share a Smile where she is the Executive Director.

Heather's Inbox at work. Dentures for low/no income
members of our community.

Most of us know about the Food and Care Coalition which provides help to low or no income families and individuals. But how many of us have considered the consequences of poor dental care? Here’s what Heather taught me: Share a Smile provides dental care for the homeless or those at risk of homelessness as well as those in extreme poverty. With only 3 staff members and dentists and hygienists who are all volunteers, this group focusses on helping to restore people’s smiles either via dental work to preserve their teeth or to restore the teeth they’ve already lost. So often the first response to dental care for the homeless or any others who cannot afford dentistry is to pull teeth. This action unfortunately has the unintended consequence that they have a harder time finding gainful employment. In short, poor access to good dental health all too often eliminates the ability for these individuals to have access to upwardly mobile options for the rest of their lives. With Share a Smile, no patient pays a dime. Instead, for each dental appointment, their co-pay is to provide 4 hours of community service to a group they are personally passionate about.

            Since both of these organizations are privately funded, it means that fundraising is critical via grants (she writes grants for Share a Smile) and private donations. Heather has been working on two major projects at both of her jobs:

March 25 is the 10^th Anniversary of Bowls for Humanity (Food and Care Coalition)

• Time: 5:30 PM-7:30 PM
• Location: Food and Care Coalition, 299 E 900 S Provo
• Admission: Free
• Pottery: $5 and up (includes soup and roll)

For this fundraiser, professional potters, college potters from UVU and BYU as well as junior and senior high schools donate about 1500 ceramic bowls. The public buys a bowl (starting at $5) and receives soup and a roll, too. This is Heather’s baby, and it serves as one of their largest fundraisers each year with money going straight to services to help the homeless in Utah County. Check out the links:

• https://www.facebook.com/events/1563747880604377/
• https://foodandcare.wpengine.com/bowls-for-humanity/
• http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/bowls-for-humanity-fighting-hunger-with-pieces-of-pottery/article_f7ad365e-5a74-54a9-972f-4ca87054b574.html  (This is an article the Herald ran last year about Bowls for Humanity.)

Bowls available for sale at past Bowls for Humanity. 

 I am going to put in a shameless plug for this. Let’s see how many ward members we can get out to Bowls for Humanity in a week and a half! I’m serious. Let’s support Heather’s awesome work on this fundraiser while helping our neighbours here in Utah Valley who are in need of the services at the Food and Care Coalition.

Share a Smile: Root Canal Awareness Week

During the week of March 28, the organization will be doing about 25-30 root canals and crowns for people who can’t afford them. Stay tuned about their appearance on Good Morning Utah that Monday morning to promote this great cause.

• http://shareasmile.net/what-we-do/what-makes-us-unique/
• http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/utah-valley-everyday-hero-provo-man-gives-people-back-their/article_ab766e81-5b2d-5e03-831d-90d663ac3f14.html

Lessons Learned

Working with vulnerable populations is a quick way to get over being judgmental and to start understanding that there are reasons for what people do and where they are in life. It has allowed Heather to open her mind to other perspectives by looking outside her own views of what is right and wrong to embrace people who don’t fit into that box with open arms. Her work is not easy, but in talking with Heather, which I hope you all will, you quickly notice her complete dedication to helping “the least of these” and to mourn with those who mourn, allowing her to develop strong opinions about how to help those struggling and dealing with mental illness, homelessness, etc.  She is energized by this daunting task, and it has taught her to move beyond seeing the world in terms of black and white, to seeing it for the full range of grey and colour that it is. Each of these are God’s children, Heather will remind you.

Applying Life Lessons to Help Others

Her compassion for those who suffer from mental illness is genuine and authentic. Because of her own struggles with depression and anxiety which hit her hard and held her in their grasp, she has been better equipped to help her clients because she “gets it.” She could not have otherwise understood their struggles without having first fought her own battle. This is such a great testament to the reality that our own trials can help us better serve the Lord and our fellowmen and women.

 “You are not a tree.”

Along the way Heather has learned a critical lesson that she shares with her clients: “You are not a tree.” If we are not happy, we must remember that we are not stuck. We have the ability and free will to move and find something that works. We need to choose and own our choices. We don’t have to stay where we are or be victimized; we need to stretch and grow, and move towards goals and ultimately out of bad circumstances.

Have Notebook, Will Organise

Heather is inspirational in other ways. Each Sunday she sets goals by making a to-do list which she colour codes from 1-5 based on priority. This has helped her not get stuck in a task. Her penchant for organization draws on Google Calendars, including their alerts and the daily to-do list she receives via emails. These originated as a way to cope with anxiety but she quickly learned she had a knack for it. So, if you have $1.50 for a notebook and are looking to get organized, yet another reason you need to get to know Heather!

Let Me Meditate on That

Heather is also passionate about meditation, especially 5 or 8 minutes of guided meditation during the day which helps her refocus and quieten her mind. Long enough to be effective, but not too long to lose work time.

Her picks:

• an app called “Relax Melodies Oriental” which also has courses for beginning meditation as well as ambient sounds: http://www.ipnossoft.com/app/relax-melodies-oriental/ for iPhone or GooglePlay. (Heather’s favorites are "Stop Procrastination" and "Limitless Motivation.”)
• http://www.fragrantheart.com/
• http://www.meditationoasis.com/

You’re an Animal

Sadly allergic to cats but needing companionship, Heather’s friend got her her first pet frog, Dax (bonus points if you caught the Star Trek reference!). She soon learned that they do better with companions which led to her adopting a second one. Today, her frog family has grown to four of these colourful fire belly toads who live in an awesome terrarium with a waterfall! (Some creatures get all the luck!)

Interfaith Scripture Study

Each week Heather does a shared scripture study with a co-worker (7^th Adventist) and step-mom (Southern Baptist). This week, their scripture was:

 Psalms 46: 1 “God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble.” 

Heather loves the different perspective she receives from these people from different stages of life and religious backgrounds. Despite the differences, they can find common ground, a key element of building relationships.

To Sum Up

Heather hopes that people will see her as someone safe, someone who is going to deal with them fairly and without judgment, and as an advocate who will get things done.

Take the time to get to know Heather and you’ll see she’s really a living example of these ideals! And talk to her about how you can get more involved in helping those in our community.

And don’t forget! See you at Bowls for Humanity on March 25, right?!