Kim (Berry) (90) Jones has always put her faith into action. The details of her day-to-day have changed, but her desire to live a life of substance has never wavered.
Post-college, Jones married her husband, Chris, and earned a position as director of marketing for Sharp Healthcare. After her son, Zach, was born, she established Canopy Marketing. When Zach and his sister, Brooke, born three years later, were very young, Kim ran Canopy Marketing as a part-time job, eventually growing into a small marketing company. For many years, she volunteered at her kids’ schools, at Journey Community Church, and with PLNU’s Alumni in Business Auxiliary as a leader and mentor to students. Jones joined the CJR staff part time in October 2015, and in 2017 sold her marketing firm to be the Director of External Relations and Development. In January 2020 Jones became the Director of the Center.
In 2013, Jones attended Donald Miller’s Storyline Conference at PLNU where she heard Bob Goff, author and founder of Love Does, speak for the first time.
“I walked away feeling a big shift in my life,” Jones said. “I tell people it was like changing lanes.”
Jones had always been drawn to serving people who were marginalized. However, she now felt a more specific calling to survivors of human trafficking. First, she began volunteering with Generate Hope, a nonprofit organization that provides housing, therapy, and education to trafficked women in San Diego.
Jones soon also connected with Dr. Jamie Gates, who was the director of PLNU’s Center for Justice and Reconciliation (CJR) as well as co-chair for research and data of the San Diego Regional Human Trafficking and the CSEC (Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children) Advisory Council.
“He was just starting to dream about a scholarship for survivors of trafficking,” Jones said. “For most survivors, college seems impossible. Many are suffering from PTSD and come from a background of poverty. But this was where PLNU could put a stake in the ground and do something to help. Jamie empowered me to join what was happening.”
Thrilled that her alma mater cared about human trafficking as much as she did, Jones jumped in with both feet, leading the crowdfunding campaign to get the scholarship off the ground and offering her marketing skills pro bono. As of 2021, three students have graduated with support from the Beauty for Ashes Scholarship, and four new students begin studies in the fall of 2021.
Jones has also now joined the CJR as program director, focusing on external relations development, while still maintaining her marketing firm.
“The absolute most meaningful thing to me is sitting in a room with the current students [who have received the Beauty for Ashes Scholarship],” Jones said. “I know their stories and what happened to them, and I am watching how PLNU is changing their present and their futures. They all say how cared about and loved they feel. For most survivors, there has never been anything that didn’t have a catch to it. It’s been interesting to watch them grapple with this — that this is a gift to them.”
The Viewpoint
PLNU's university publication, the Viewpoint, seeks to contribute relevant and vital stories that grapple with life's profound questions from a uniquely Christian perspective. Through features, profiles, and news updates, the Viewpoint highlights stories of university alumni, staff, faculty, and students who are pursuing who they are called to be.