Heather Gill

By: Makenzi & Tresann

Heather Gill grew up in a small town in South Dakota, the oldest of six girls. She grew up surrounded by older people willing to teach her and her young, single mother how to help others in her community. She always felt a responsibility to take care of the younger kids in town because of the small school room for kindergarten through eighth grade classes.

She moved to Ogallala in 1997 when her youngest of three sons was only a year old. It was hard for her the first couple years to find a connection in the community. She began to feel connected more when her sons started making friends with their neighbors." I think I felt connected because I felt responsible," she says.

With many passions, from her kids at youth group to encouraging those who are struggling, she loves to help anyone and everyone around her. "I love helping people see their own strengths, so that they know they are valuable."

She currently works for the Educational Service Unit 16, or ESU 16, supervising the Services Coordination Program. She gets to go into homes and help kids form birth to three years with special needs. She also helps parents who struggle supporting young kids. When asked if she enjoys her job even when bad situations are brought to attention she replied, "I’ve never met a parent who woke up one day and decided to abuse or neglect their kid."

She also runs the Radiant Life Youth Group. She says she enjoys working with all the teenagers, even though they are ornery. "I am most proud of my youth group," she says "because I have kids who come to my youth group that in a regular school setting are not out in the regular school population, but in my youth group they come and they are completely integrated and interacting with everyone else. I’m proud that the kids in my youth group take people like that under their wing." Her whole goal in her youth group is to build leaders. She hopes the kids there will grow up and be leaders in their community as well.

The last thing she was asked was if she felt like she was an Anonymous Extraordinary. She immediately replied "No, not at all." But this is the mark of a true Anonymous Extraordinary, someone who helps people in as many ways possible but doesn’t take any credit and still thinks they can do more. Heather Gill is definitely one of these rare people.