Rita Blockman

Rita Blockman is a licensed social worker. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology in 1975 and a Masters degree in Educational Policy Studies in 1984. She began her career working with senior citizens as a Director of Volunteers for a private corporation serving older Americans and was also an instructor at a community college where she taught in the Program for Long Living. In 2008, Rita retired as a regional director of an international adoption agency after twenty three years of service. During that time she was selected by local media as one of the Top 20 Outstanding Women in East Central Illinois for her varied contributions to the international adoption field. She lives in Champaign, Illinois with her husband, Arnold, who is a state court judge. They have two children, Rachel and Jonathan. Rachel is a special education teacher and Jonathan is currently a project manager for a landscape design company in Arizona. Rita enjoys classical music, yoga and flower gardening in her spare time.

Kim Morin has many different interests such as container gardening, jewelry design, drawing and photography. Kim has always had an appreciation and awareness of the wisdom that emanates from those that have lived long lives. Her professional background includes social work where she served as a supervisor of a domestic violence shelter. Her work experience at the shelter included training prospective workers to appropriately deal with the issues associated with domestic violence and training women and children who have been victims of domestic violence. Kim has two daughters: Hannah works part time and attends a junior college. Danielle is working as a social worker and is also enrolled in a graduate school of social work. Currently, Kim has completed her certification as an instructor in a specialized yoga program based in Chicago, Illinois.