ANDREA FARIS ROBERTS

Founder & Executive Director

Chief Operations Officer

Head Innkeeper

An altruist in spirit with a servant's heart, Andrea is the bio mother of two teenage sons.  Her eldest, Reece, was born with Down syndrome in 2002.  Reece has been the inspiration behind the founding of two charitable organizations.  With her career expertise in marketing, sales and customer support,  Andrea founded the Reece's Rainbow Down Syndrome Adoption Foundation in 2006, which helped families adopt children with disabilities internationally.  In 2010, she was named People Magazine's Hero of the Year and presented with the Congressional Angel in Adoption Award.  In 2017, Andrea retired from Reece's Rainbow to begin A Mother's Rest.  Andrea is an out of the box thinker, and always seeks to  create innovative programs where services are lacking.  Her personal experience as a bio parent and in the adoption community lend to her innate understanding of the needs & challenges of many of AMR's guests.   The self-care and well-being of parents & caregivers who have loved ones with disabilities and/or chronic illness should be a priority,  not an afterthought.   With a passion for history, heritage, and bringing old things back to life, our theme at AMR is "Restoring History, Health, Heart & Hope".  A native Virginian, Andrea double majored in three years from the University of Alabama (1993) and currently resides in  Frederick, MD.

JENNIFER FOUST IWAN

Director of Communications

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SUMMER SAGE

CHAIR: Advisory Council

Summer Sage Received her Bachelor of Science from Skidmore College and a Masters in Communication and the Arts from Regent University. She was a family trainee in the Virginia Leadership in Education and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities post baccalaureate program at VCU. In 2018 Virginia Rural Health Association presented her the Ken Studer award for her work in rural advocacy and the development of the Rural Health Voice podcast. Her background includes work as the Executive Director of The Harrisonburg Rockingham Free Clinic, a Rural Outreach Coordinator with VCU’s University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities; The Partnership for People with Disabilities, Center for Family Involvement, Family-to-Family Network, and PEATC. A 2013 Partner in Policymaking graduate she currently serves on the state Medicaid Advisory Council, DOJ Settlement Stakeholder Council and formerly served on the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities, Virginia Rural Health Association, and the Region Ten Community Service Board.

JENNIFER LAW YOUNG

VICE-CHAIR: Advisory Council

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Jennifer Law Young is a photojournalist and an award-winning filmmaker.   Her photographs have appeared on the pages of news publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, Newsweek and Time magazines.    She is co-author of Rockbridge: A Photographic Essay.  Jennifer is currently the creative director of ionic interactive media, a boutique media creation company she founded in 2017 which is focused on design communication through motion graphics, web design, video production, data visualization, digital humanities, graphic design, photography, and visual memory products.   Previously, she was a Visiting Adjunct Professor and Multimedia and Technical Assistant at Washington and Lee University, and a multimedia specialist at Mariner Media.

Jennifer co-founded The Evans-McCan Group, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation dedicated to increasing awareness of the global community through the creation of educational documentaries and related multimedia.  Jennifer holds a BA in Journalism and Philosophy from Baylor University, an MS in Interactive Media from Quinnipiac University, and is currently finishing an MS in Instructional Design from Quinnipiac University.

Originally from Houston, Texas, Jennifer now resides with her husband Bruce Young, a WDBJ-7 journalist, and her two teenage daughters in Lexington, VA.

ELAINE HARDWICK

Advisory Council

Elaine Hardwick, of Elizabethtown, KY,  is a Caregiver and Mom to a daughter with selective mutism and Down syndrome as well as mom to 5 other children, 4 of them married, and grandmother to 2 grandchildren. She has also recently celebrated 40 years of marriage. Elaine and her husband are still actively caring for their daughter with special needs and working to help her use current therapy advances in the field of selective mutism to gain a much more independent life.

While raising and homeschooling her children, Elaine has served in various roles of  leadership and leadership support in many organizations.  Those included homeschooling support groups, Down syndrome support groups, churches, special needs adoption advocacy through Reece's Rainbow, and most recently, with A Mother’s Rest. Elaine has served in these organizations in Arkansas, Missouri, California and Kentucky.

Elaine has a passion for people with special needs. She takes particular joy in helping parents with children with special needs through education, support services, and advocacy. Her greatest reward is knowing that she has used her own experiences and education to, in turn, help others. 

A Mother’s Rest organization meets a need that Elaine has seen through the years as her role as a mom of a large homeschooling family and mom of a child with special needs. She feels it is a privilege and honor to be a part of supporting fellow caregivers to get the rest they so need and deserve.

BARB GLANOWSKI

Advisory Council

Coordinator: #SleepMatters Cruise

Barbara Glanowski is the Risk Management Lead Coordinator for one of the top retailers in the world.  She navigates escalated product liability claims and litigation.  In addition, Barb administers the Workers Compensation program for the New York State offices.  Barb works with attorneys and their staff, as well as insurance brokers and insurers on a daily basis.

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Barb was previously a Customer Service Manager at Blue Shield of WNY, one of the largest health insurers in the area.  Barb administered and supported new types of health insurance during her tenure.  She also served on a committee that brought the first PPO (Preferred Provider Option) insurance coverage to Western New York.  

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Barb is the adoptive mother of twelve (12!) children with special needs adopted domestically.  Sadly, Barb and her husband have had to say goodbye to four of those children as they succumbed to their very significant special needs.  They currently have eight children, all of whom live at home.

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Barb has studied Music, with a major in voice and a minor in piano, at Villa Maria College in Buffalo, NY.  She continues her love of music and has been able to sing in many churches at services, weddings, funerals and more.  

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Barb and her husband Dan, an LPN who stepped away from his career to use his skills as a nurse to care for their children, have resided in the Buffalo, NY area for their entire life.