Michele Girault poses with Carrie, her lifelong friend.
For over 40 years, Michele Girault (’79) has worked with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, making a difference not only in their lives but also in leading change to help the community see them as valued individuals in society.
Girault learned the full spectrum of enhancing human lives from her degree in human development and family studies from Colorado State University. Originally, she thought she’d go into teaching, but when a friend called and said, “Hey, I think you might really like this work,” Girault’s plans changed to working with individuals with IDD in California.
“At the time, a majority of individuals with IDD were being institutionalized,” said Girault. “I think people with differing abilities have been so undervalued for so long. My degree gave me a broad base of all the different aspects of being human and where you can intersect to help other people.”
Forming lifelong friendships
Upon starting her career in California, Girault became fast friends with two individuals with differing abilities: Carrie and Duane. Duane did not have family nearby or a good support system. Over time, Girault became this to him – a friend, a mentor, and family. Carrie and Girault had a similar friendship that continued to blossom over the years.
After almost five years of working in California, one of Girault’s coworkers moved to Alaska and brought back beautiful pictures that convinced Girault to visit. At the end of her Alaskan adventure, she decided to move there. Hope Community Resources was Girault’s first place of employment when she moved to Alaska 40 years ago, and she currently serves as the organization’s chief executive officer.
“There’s a sense of open space and opportunity,” said Girault, “and what really pulled me into Alaska was feeling like one person could make a difference, and that still exists today.”
Duane was brought to Alaska by Girault and her husband and lived there for the remainder of his life. For many years, Carrie would visit for Christmas and other holidays, and together, they would travel and have wonderful experiences. Eventually, Carrie also made her way to Alaska where she currently lives, and is an active member of Hope Community Resources, where Girault works to help individuals with IDD.
To officially welcome them into the family, Girault and her husband were named legal guardians for both Duane and Carrie. The deep friendship changed both Duane’s and Carrie’s lives over the past four decades, and they changed hers. She has inspired many around her with this act of compassion and friendship.
A meaningful career helping individuals with IDD
Hope Community Resources is a nonprofit originated 55 years ago by a woman who saw a need to support children with disabilities. Today, it serves around 500 people of all ages and abilities who experience an intellectual or developmental disability, traumatic brain injury, or mental health challenge. It spans six different regions of the state. In the last year, Hope Community Resources has earned accolades with both the “2023 Governor’s Arts and Humanities Award” and “2022’s ‘Best of Alaska’ Assisted Living Business.”
At Hope Community Resources, Girault has worn multiple hats over her four decades – from program operations to public relations and human resources oversight and now, CEO, which she took on in 2020.
“I feel like when you’re passionate about something, you just kind of go all in,” said Girault. “Hope has given me decades of opportunities to impact individual people.”
Hope Community Resources has a set of 10 values that they live by. The top value for Girault is relationships.
“Living and being at Hope for 40 years, I have many long-standing relationships here,” said Girault. “We have incredible longevity with our staff, so you get to walk alongside each other for 10, 25, or 40 years. It’s a joy to witness someone’s life and know their history.”
Volunteering in the community
Adding to Girault’s already inspiring story is her volunteer work at a local animal welfare organization, Friends of Pets, which she joined in 1990 after a founding co-worker at Hope invited her to join the Board.
“Some women I knew were forming this nonprofit organization, and at the time, I was pulling strays off the streets to rescue them,” said Girault. “One of the women invited me to get involved, and it made perfect sense.”
Friends of Pets is a nonprofit that supports Anchorage Animal Care and Control to help find homes for animals that are ineligible for adoption because they are sick or have behavioral issues. Friends of Pets takes them in and works to rehabilitate them before finding them a home.
Today, nearly 7,000 rescued cats and dogs have been given homes through Friends of Pets. The impact goes further with the organization helping to pay for spay and neuter operations, covering medical bills for foster partners, and taking in pets of women staying at the Abused Women’s Aid in Crisis shelter to help people leave situations they otherwise would not leave and providing crisis aid for community members and their pets.
Girault has helped grow the organization to have a significant impact and has influenced legislative animal regulations along with the local animal control center practices.
Opportunities for students to work in Alaska
Another passion of Girault’s is helping students find their path to meaningful work. For Hope Community Resources, there are many opportunities for students to volunteer, intern, work, and find career opportunities. Over the past few years, Girault has worked to help CSU students find their way to Alaska. Of the 10 values of Hope Community Resources, Girault says ‘opportunity’ and ‘joy’ are perfectly directed toward students.
“There is an opportunity to learn what you don’t know about yourself and to experience some things that maybe are a little bit out of your comfort zone,” said Girault. “And then, in the course of that experience, there is incredible joy, being able to impact another person’s life in a small or a huge way.”
At Hope Community Resources, CSU students encounter a range of experiences with Hope participants including getting creative at the indoor art studio, and outdoor adventures of hunting, fishing, hiking, kayaking, and more. There are agriculture opportunities to work at a ranch north of Anchorage where four Alaskan native men live off the land and teach Hope participants and CSU interns about the work they do. Additional learning opportunities include Hope’s mental health clinic and a behavioral health program that supports individuals with autism.
CSU students can intern at Hope at any time of the year and applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Housing is also provided by Hope Community Resources. Girault hopes students will find their passion through working with this organization.
“This is the path I didn’t necessarily choose, but it chose me,” said Girault. “I feel very lucky, and I want to make this path easier for others to find. We are very open to designing whatever might work for students.”
Last summer, Abbey Ladegaard, a CSU student studying sociology, made the trip from Colorado to Alaska to serve as a community engagement specialist. She was hired for the summer to work in the discovery center, which is aimed at getting individuals with IDD out in the community. Her role was to plan weekly activities for individuals ages seven to 22 with IDD. Some ctivities included visiting the zoo and a musk ox farm, river rafting, and bowling.
“The experience really came down to the relationships I built with all the campers,” said Ladegaard. “It was a pretty intimate camp, and we all grew together, which was really cool to see that growth in them and in myself.”
Originally from Minnesota, Ladegaard said she saw a flyer in one of her CSU classes for an experience in Alaska. She’d always wanted to visit, and it was something she had never done before. After much planning and many conversations with family and Hope Community Resources, she decided to go.
“There was great communication with Hope, and Michele worked closely with me to ensure that all my needs were met before arriving,” Ladegaard said. “Doing something out of my comfort zone was really hard for me, but I needed that push, and I came back with a better understanding that I could do anything.”
Ladegaard has a concentration in criminology and criminal justice and is double minoring in women’s studies and the role in sustainability in peace and recreation. She’s also the vice president for CSU Best Buddies, which is a program that matches students in a one-to-one friendship with adults who have IDD in Fort Collins. Ladegaard says she is looking at plans to make her way back to Alaska next summer to work for Hope Community Resources.
“Without Michele’s flexibility or support,” said Ladegaard, “I wouldn’t have been able to have the best experience of my life.”
If you are interested in finding meaningful work with Hope Community Resources in Alaska, contact jobs@hopealaska.org or call Human Resources at 907-561-5335 or 1-800-478-0078.
The Department of Human Development and Family Studies is part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
