Life’s theme for Tonja Couch has been service.

Out of college, she landed a job at Marian College in Indianapolis as director of community ministry, where she created a program to connect students with service opportunities. It’s still active today.

She then took her skill sets to Bartholomew County as director of 211, a free service that connects Hoosiers with help and answers from thousands of health and human service agencies and resources in their communities.

She then returned to her hometown of Seymour to be executive director of Jackson County United Way, which fights for the health, education and financial stability of every person in the community.

Now through her job as branch office administrator for the Edward Jones Adam Jackson office in Seymour, she participates in quarterly community service projects.

For all she has given back over the years, Couch recently was recognized by Girls Inc. of Jackson County as its 2022 Girls Inc. Champion.

“While I am honored, I don’t like standing in the spotlight,” the 39-year-old said during the Girls Inc. Celebration Gala Champions Ball on April 23 at The Pines Evergreen Room south of Seymour.

“However, I am accepting this award on behalf of the strong roots my family, my church, United Way and this community developed,” she said. “When Dr. Amanda Dick (president of the Girls Inc. board) asked me about my role models, I had a list of over 30. I sure am blessed that so many people have poured into me through my life.”

Growing up in Seymour, Couch attended St. Ambrose Catholic School and St. Ambrose Catholic Church, and she began going to Girls Inc. in third grade when the building was on West Second Street.

She has fond memories of the cooking classes, crafts and relationships she developed with other members and the staff, but she joked that she didn’t do well with the dance and gymnastics classes.

“I just loved the atmosphere that it provided and the opportunity to learn about myself, learn about friendships that weren’t within my school … I got to meet different people who were walking different paths,” she said.

So what was it about Girls Inc.? The total experience, Couch said.

“It was having adults who were pouring into my life who I didn’t know but cared about me anyway,” she said. “It was being able to have those relationships with other girls that I may have had more in common with than girls in my own class and just being in a place where you could be a kid and explore and learn things. It was all of that wrapped up that made it a really special time.”

After graduating from Seymour High School in 2001, Couch went to Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, and earned a degree in theology.

She originally wanted to become a youth minister or campus minister, but she got married in 2005 and they lived in Crothersville, and her first job was at Marian.

“I connected college students with service opportunities. It was a passion that I grew at Xavier, and it was work I loved,” she said. “At that point, (the students) were nearly peers. What I saw happen there and what I loved about it, it was faith-based there. Marian is a Catholic college, Xavier is a Catholic college, so I was able to use my personal experience and bring it along.”

She implemented the STARS, or Students Taking Active Roles, program with a close friend who was a work study student for her.

“Every Friday afternoon at about 3 p.m., I would get 12-passenger vans at Marian, stuff it full of kids and go out and do a service project,” Couch said. “We talked about whatever social issue we focused on that day, and every week, it would change so they have a variety of experiences. The intention was that they would get plugged into one of those places that they had done a one-shot visit with.”

The result? A community was built around it, and the students really wanted to serve with one another and liked the variety of experiences, she said.

“They are still doing it. I think that’s the really cool thing,” she said.

After a year and a half of commuting from Crothersville to Indianapolis, Couch wanted to find a job closer to home.

She did direct client work for Quinco for three months and then worked for Jackson County United Way as an administrative assistant from March 2007 to October 2008, program coordinator from October 2008 to September 2010 and added AmeriCorps program director until July 2011.

She then worked for United Way of Bartholomew County as 211 director until July 2012 when she returned to JCUW as executive director.

“I knew serving was important to me and figuring out how to help our community was important to me,” she said. “It was a natural fit for me to come back.”

Couch served as executive director until January 2021.

“I would say it’s the honor of a lifetime,” she said, noting leaving that position was the hardest decision.

“Now a year out seeing that the board and staff have maintained chasing after a bold goal to support 1,000 struggling families to financial stability, I know the work was right, I know we invested the right amount of time to get to that and that others, whether it’s the board, the staff, the community at large, know that and know they are eight years from potentially changing the face of the community,” she said. “That is overwhelming.”

That’s what a community can do when people come together, she said.

“If the last two years (during the COVID-19 pandemic) have taught us anything, it’s that we need to be supporting and rallying and championing to get to a different end,” Couch said. “It is not about who is sitting in the leadership position. It is all about who the leader is engaging.”

In her job with Edward Jones, Couch is able able to maintain her service mindset.

That longtime characteristic was noted by Bethany Daily when she suggested to her fellow Girls Inc. board members that Couch be nominated for the Girls Inc. Champion award.

They not only saw what she did at United Way. It also was the example she set for young girls in the community. That aligned with Girls Inc.’s mission: Inspiring girls to become strong, smart and bold.

While introducing Couch at the gala, Dick shared Couch’s favorite quote, which is by Lao Tzu: “Go to the people. Learn from them. Live with them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. When the best leaders leave, when the work is done, the tasks accomplished, the people will say we have done this ourselves.”

In her acceptance speech, based on the Girls Inc. mission, Couch first shared how strong roots have taught her five things: Be faith-filled, be family-centered, demonstrate a strong work ethic, lead a community-focused life and surround yourself.

Second was smart connections. She said being smart means to be a lifelong learner. When she was at United Way, they had community conversations with members from all walks of life and listening sessions with community partners’ boards and staff, governmental and civic leaders, employers and the organization’s own board and staff.

“To be able to listen strategically, make connections and then energize and engage people to create new community connections was the honor of a lifetime,” she said. “Being smart, to me, means ensuring I’ve utilized others’ greatest gifts and talents to bring about lasting community change.”

Third was being bold. She first encouraged men to give the girls and women in their lives respect, whether in their home, church, workplace or board meeting.

“Women, just like men, have experience, ideas and knowledge,” Couch said. “Allow them to ask questions, challenge the status quo, step into leadership and generate solutions, just like you allow other males in the room. … Men, please stand up to other men who aren’t creating safe spaces for women to be collaborative. Men, be bold for the girls and women in your life.”

She also encouraged women to be bold because other women are watching their example.

“Ensure that you are unapologetically sharing your experiences, asking hard questions, demanding a seat at the table and working together to solve challenges,” Couch said. “Do not keep your thoughts to yourself. Your opinion matters and will create new opportunities for your friends, sisters, daughters and all of the young ladies who are served by Girls Inc.”

Everyone at the gala was celebrating an organization that inspires all girls to be strong, smart and bold, and Couch encouraged them to live the example they celebrate and financially support.

“At the United Way Worldwide Leadership Bootcamp in 2015, I was challenged to develop a four- to five-word mission statement we wanted others to know and remember us by,” Couch said. “As we stand eight years from a bold goal to ensure 1,000 struggling, working families are financially stable, let this community engage in this mission to ensure ‘Together, we made it happen.’”