2021 Hometown Heroes

Page 26 2021 Hometown HEROES Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS May 27, 2021 CONTINUED u While there, they visited a developing Christian school and held a VBS type program with the children. Dr. Boatman said they also met and interacted with the mothers. O’Donohue began to connect with the people in Tapadany and sense there was something special there. O’Donohue had been assessing God’s call in her life for a long time and Dr. Boatman said she soon realized her giftedness could somehow meet the needs of the people in Tapadany. O’Donohue then began to invest in ministry there. Though the village school they visited had been started in 1995, it needed an administrator and more formal organization. When O’Donohue got back to Lincoln, she began organizational work to check what it would take to legally operate a program that would build up the school. She also began filing paperwork to help coordinate projects in Tapadany. Children of Pokot Education (COPE) was developed because of the great need O’Donohue saw. COPE soon became one of her priorities. Lincoln Christian Church soon commissioned O’Donohue to a special missionary ministry. Initially, Lincoln Christian Church was the sole supporter of the COPE ministry and the Encouragers Sunday School class gave money to support the school. O’Donohue was already one of the supporters for the school when she made her first trip to Africa.