WS Chronicle

Melissa L. Smith will join the Shepherd’s Center of Greater Winston-Salem as associate executive director and director of the Faith In Action Care Program on January 1, 2024. She will fill the position currently held by Linda Lewis, who has held those positions since 2008. Lewis will remain on The Shepherd’s Center staff in another capacity. 

Smith obtained her undergraduate degree from Salem College and her masters in gerontology degree from UNCG. She has a wide range of experience in the aging services field. Most recently, she served on the staff of Senior Services, Inc. from 2011 until 2023, where she held numerous positions including director of Creative Connections, as well as director of Innovation and Initiatives.

During her time at Senior Services, Smith also assisted in planning and developing the new Intergenerational Center for Arts and Wellness, assisted with the Memory Connections Program, and led the Opening Minds through Art Program initiative. 

Smith’s time working at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine as the Geripsychiatric Outreach (GO) Program coordinator from 2005 – 2010 was the beginning of her extensive relationship with the Shepherd’s Center. She said, “I have been a friend and community partner of The Shepherd’s Center since my aging services career started in 2005. At that time, I helped coordinate the Geripsychiatric Outreach, or “GO” Program, out of Atrium Wake Forest Baptist, where a medical team saw elders who were homebound and living with a mental illness. Before we started to accept patients, we reached out to aging services providers across the county so that we could make referrals to them, and they could make referrals to us. Sam Matthews, executive director of The Shepherd’s Center, was the first provider we met with and, throughout my career and different positions that I have held, we never stopped making referrals to each other.”

Smith is very familiar with the services and programs of Shepherd’s Center, having served on The Shepherd’s Center Board of Directors in 2008 and 2009, and chaired the Faith In Action Program Advisory Committee from 2015-2017. 

Her long-time relationship and deep respect for the work of The Shepherd’s Center is what led her to apply for the position of associate executive director. She said, “When the opportunity arose to apply for, and then accept, this position, it was a no-brainer for me. I was in search of a position in a leadership role at a well-respected agency where I felt I could finish out my career, and this is it.”

Smith is already planning on how she can bring her vast experience in serving older adults to her new position at the Shepherd’s Center. She said, “Since the pandemic, the country has been dealing with a drop in volunteerism. One of my goals is to increase our volunteer base, especially by recruiting drivers to assist with transporting program participants to and from doctor appointments and the grocery store. I hope that we can do this by utilizing the many connections that I have made in the aging services community throughout my career, and by also increasing our social media presence.”

For more information on the services and programs of The Shepherd’s Center of Greater Winston-Salem, please visit www.shepherdscenter.org.

If you are interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities at The Shepherd’s Center, please contact Cheryl Lane, volunteer coordinator, via email at clane@shepherdscenter.org or by calling 336-748-0217.