The members our team are shown below, and consist of Mid-Columbia Parenting staff as well as those on our Board of Directors. We all share a common believe that the family unit is the backbone of our nation, and the foundation that allows our parents’ and grandparents’ values and traditions to be lived and then passed on to our own children and grandchildren. We also believe that the parenting philosophies and methods that our organization promotes are key to building (or repairing) loving parent/child relationships even through the teen years, resulting in successful children and adults.  Please consider joining our team (see bottom of this page).

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Mac Bledsoe

Mac is shown here with his wife, Barbara, his sons Adam and Drew and their wives, and his grandchildren. As President and Founder of Parenting with Dignity, Mac Bledsoe has traveled all fifty states speaking to parents in just about any setting imaginable.  Mac has the gift of communicating with young and old alike, and seeing the huge potential in ALL children.  Attendees at his Parenting with Dignity workshops laugh, cry, and come away with immediately useful insight.

Terry Buechler

Terry and her husband Don live in West Richland. Terry has presented the Bledsoe course for the last 12 years thanks to the sponsorship by the West Richland Police Department, so the survival of the program in this area is in large part due to Terry’s and WRPD’s efforts. She has also worked 22 years as a Civil Service Commissioner for the City of West Richland. Over the last 31 years she has continually owned and operated an in-home day care, and is currently taking care of the children of children she took care of decades ago! Terry and Don indicate that they are truly blessed to have such a large, loving extended family. Other activities include 11 years as a crisis phone line operator and member of the board of directors, and 8 years as a Lead Team couple for National Marriage Encounter.

Lori McCord

Lori, the daughter of Mel & Betty Schauer, credits them for many of her strengths and love of God. Lori has been married to Dennis McCord for 31 years and has two children, Ryan and Calli – the people that they have become count at the top of her list of achievements. She worked as a teacher and principal in Kennewick for 19 years, and she now works in the Richland School District. She has volunteered in the schools, at her church, with various local agencies, specifically with the area Young Life organization, serving on their board and helping where needed.

Lori first met Mac Bledsoe while she was a high school teacher. Mac’s honesty, integrity and philosophy made a very large impact on Lori and on the work she would do with kids. The Bledsoe philosophy was shared with many parents, friends and colleagues throughout the years and used to raise her two kids! She taught the Parenting with Dignity course at Columbia Community Church this past fall. Lori is a dedicated educator who loves kids and is passionate about helping parents find successful ways to raise their children to be productive, happy, well-rounded adults!

Mark & Kalleen Murphy

Mark & Kalleen Murphy of Richland are married and have sons Evan (27, in the Air Force) and Brian (13, an aspiring scientist and pianist!), and granddaughter McKenna (5). Mark has worked as a Scientist and Manager for 24 years, and his volunteer background includes Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America (Whatcom County) for 5 years, Catholic Family Chore Service for 4 years serving mostly elderly, religious education teacher and assistant youth minister for 3 years, and presenter of Bledsoe parenting workshops for last 6 years.  For the past 10 years Kalleen has been a stay-at-home mom as well as homeschooling Brian through the 5^th grade. Prior to that she was bookkeeper for Christ the King Church and School. Besides playing roles of Financial Manager and Board Treasurer, she currently is involved with Richland Seventh-Day Adventist and Jason Lee School with Student Food Boxes for needy children.

Mike Patterson

Mike is a pastor, educator and mental health professional. He is the Executive Director of The Emmaus Counseling Center in Richland, and also is an adjunct instructor at Corban University and Gather4Him Bible College. His current volunteer service includes serving on the board of the Columbia Basin Veteran’s Coalition , and serving on the start-up task team for Mid-Columbia Parenting. Mike was one of the main individuals responsible for the recent expansion of the Bledsoe program in the Tri-Cities. He and his wife Kathy raised three children here in the Tri-Cities. They are all happily married and Mike and Kathy are now blessed with three grandchildren! Mike had the privilege of teaching the Parenting with Dignity course several times over the past few years.

Outside Support/Dagnie Johnson

Hi, I’m Dagnie Johnson. I played a large role in helping Mr. Murphy and Mr. Dawes create the Mid-Columbia Parenting logo. I’m seventeen years old. I’m the youngest daughter of Joe and DeDe Johnson. I have one sister named Nicole who attends Washington State University in Pullman and, we have one cat and one dog. My lifelong dream is to become a graphics designer. It’s my single and absolute passion and I plan to take my dream all the way to the top. Once I graduate, I plan to go to the Art Institute in Seattle for a four year degree in graphics design. I want to own my own graphics design firm in the distant future, but for now I plan to work from the bottom up at an existing firm. Hopefully my dreams will become a reality but until then, I’m senior at Kamiakin High School..

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Join Our Team

The following are just some of the various ways in which you can assist us with our mission:

-  Finding new groups, schools, churches, etc. that are in need of Parenting Workshops

-  Assisting our Education Managers with setting up and running these workshops

-  Presenting these workshops on your own for small to large groups (we’ll help you get started)

-  Helping contact potential new sponsors

-  Helping research potential new resources for the website

-  Fundraising planning and/or execution

-  Hosting a Facebook page for Mid-Columbia Parenting

-  Providing content for the website

-  One of several website “Monitors” that we’ll need to ensure links are working, forum dialogue is appropriate, etc.

- “Events Page Manager”, who searches for upcoming family events in the Mid-Columbia and posts them on the website.