St. Madeleine Sophie's Center Elects new Board President, Sharon Esche-Irving

SAN DIEGO, CA, April 04, 2013 (Press-News.org) St. Madeleine Sophie's Center (SMSC) welcomed Sharon Esche-Irving as president this January. Esche-Irving's new title as Board President for St. Madeleine Sophie's Center took effect January 31, 2013.

St. Madeleine Sophie's Center serves adults with developmental disabilities through programs that build self-determination, interdependence, and life skills. SMSC has served adults in San Diego County for nearly 50 years.

Esche-Irving is no stranger to SMSC. Her sister has attended SMSC since 1997 and Esche-Irving began serving on and later chairing the Development Committee. Her volunteerism quickly turned her into an active Board Member in 2002, when she began serving on the Developmental Committee. In 2004, Esche-Irving became the Chair of SMSC's Haute with Heart fashion show fundraiser for three fashion show events. For the past six years, she has served on the Executive Committee, and for the past three as Board Vice President.

Now, as Board President, Esche-Irving has bright plans for the future. "I look forward to working with our Board Members and St. Madeleine's management team to execute the Center's newly-updated Strategic Plan, said Esche-Irving. "Our focus is to fully explore and expand current and long-term opportunities that sustain highest-quality programs for life for our special needs students."

Esche-Irving has served on all committees at SMSC and has even made time to a volunteer for several non-profit organizations including The Turning Point Home in San Diego, Beauty Industry West in Los Angeles, and The Professional Beauty Federation of California in Sacramento.

In addition to Esche-Irving's accomplishments as an active member of SMSC and work for several non-profit boards, she is also co-owner of Esche & Alexander Public Relations and BeautyPRpro. Her firm focuses on broadcast, print, and social media press campaigns where she represents several industries including real estate, investment banking, medicine, law, beauty and fashion, health and fitness, and more. Esche-Irving is also an accomplished and award winning newspaper journalist, magazine columnist, event producer, and published author. Her broad range of skills and talent have contributed to her success in all areas and will benefit SMSC in years to come.

For more information about St. Madeleine Sophie's Center, visit http://www.stmsc.org or find Sophie's Center on Facebook.

About St. Madeleine Sophie's Center:

St. Madeleine Sophie's Center (SMSC) is a non-denominational program helping nearly 400 people with developmental disabilities, their families and communities, discover, explore, and nurture their full potential. Located in El Cajon, California, 20 miles east of Downtown San Diego, the organization provides service to the greater San Diego communities.

SMSC offers progressive programs and services with a teacher-to-student ratio ranging from 1:3 to 1:8, including Work Activity and Supported Employment; Behavior Modification; Computer Lab, Organic Garden & Worm Farm; Culinary Arts; Aquatics; Aerobics, Fitness, Yoga and Dance; Sophie's Gallery Art Program (the first program of its kind in the region, it has three sites: SMSC's main campus; Downtown El Cajon; and NTC Point Loma); Music Therapy; Reading; Speech Therapy/ Sign Language; and a Senior Program for students age 50+ (the first program of its kind in the region). SMSC also operates its own fleet of 30 paratransit vans and buses that transport students to and from SMSC each day, to work sites and on field trips.

For more information on St. Madeleine Sophie's Center, visit http://www.stmsc.org.