Description: Christine Glidden (Featured Speaker)
"Everything Matters"
In 2020 Christine Glidden received the "Service Above Self" award from the Albuquerque Rotary Club. In many ways that award encapsulates Christine's lifetime of service, spanning her career and retirement. As director of Employee Assistance Programs for Fortune 100 companies, Christine specialized in addictions and women's issues, caring deeply about mental health.
In retirement she served on numerous boards in various capacities as well as having the prestigious position of Honorary Wingman to the Kirkland Air Force Base, home of the Global Nuclear Weapons Center. There she provided an insider's view of the Base to the New Mexico community.
A pivotal life event came in 2014 when Christine founded, and now volunteers for, Women To Be, a 501c3 that distributes sanitary pads to women in the world, including Nepal, Zambia, Mexico and Native American Pueblos and tribes of New Mexico. These kits last 3 years and enable girls to stay in school and avoid early marriage. Through this group the King of the Bemba people of Zambia was hosted by Christine in New Mexico, meeting with dignitaries there. The result was an historic proclamation signed by the 19 Pueblos and the Kingdom, agreeing to support girls and their success in life regardless of their tribe or continent.
In 2019-2020 Christine led a Rotary team to complete a project to establish a sewing center in Dhulikhel, Nepal to employ refugee women to sew 5000 kits for some of the most remote and needy areas of Nepal. During Covid, she shifted her attention to aid the Navajo community. Through Women To Be, food, water, and essential supplies were provided to these native New Mexicans who have been hard hit during the pandemic.
For these services and many more, Christine has received numerous awards and honors. She and her daughter hiked Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2013. She has competed in over 160 triathlons, several times as SW Age Group Champion. She likes risk and is committed to being unpredictable in her life. Please join us in welcoming this amazing woman as our guest speaker this coming Sunday.