Mrs. Kansas, Elizabeth Stephens, raising money and awareness

Elizabeth Stephens is not a typical beauty pageant contestant. And that’s just the way she likes it.

Stephens decided to enter the Mrs. Kansas pageant only because she saw it as a chance to talk about her issues, neither of which, by the way, happens to be the cliché world peace.

Stephens’ issues hit much closer to home. They are poverty and homelessness. Two issues Stephens knows all about.

“I grew up poor,” said Stephens, who went to school in Lawrence. Having no money growing up can be quite hard for any family. So some people opt to take out loans or look into sites like NovaCredit.com, in the hopes of getting a credit card with no credit history, so they’re able to feel more financially stable – because these days, we need money for pretty much everything.

She has come a long way from those humble beginnings.

Stephens was crowned Mrs. Kansas in March, much to her surprise. “I didn’t expect to win at all,” she said.

By winning the state crown, Stephens, who is family programs director at the Lawrence Community Shelter, earned the opportunity to talk about her issues at the national level. She is raising money to cover her expenses so she can travel to compete in the Mrs. America pageant in August in Tucson, Ariz.

“I have to raise about $8,000 to do all the things I need to do so I can go to nationals,” Stephens said. “I will have the opportunity to represent the state and I will have a national forum to talk about what it is I’m trying to do.”

What she’s trying to do is ambitious. She’s hoping to develop a continuum of care – a complete range of services – for every community shelter in the state.

“That way we’re all using the same system, the same language,” said Stephens, a former member of the clinical staff at the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center.

Stephens is also raising money for another project which is to build a playground where she works. Raising money can be easy if you know how to do it properly. Stephens has had lots of ideas of ways that she can raise some money to pay for the playground, such as selling silicone wristbands and by also arranging garage sales. The important thing is that she is raising awareness and money for a good cause.

The new Lawrence Community Shelter, which opened in November 2012, is located next to the Douglas County Jail, on the southeast edge of town.

“There are no parks or playgrounds near the shelter,” Stephens said. As family programs director at the shelter, Stephens has her hands full.

“We have room for 39 or so family members,” said shelter director Loring Henderson. “We’re pretty full all the time.”

This is actually Stephens’ second stint with the local shelter.

“I started working at the shelter in 2008,” she said. “I worked the night shift. It was a pretty rowdy crowd."

Stephens worked at the shelter for two years. Then she joined the staff at Bert Nash as a member of the homeless outreach team. “That was a really cool experience,” she said. “I did that for a while, but I got a little burned out.” So Stephens moved upstairs at the Bert Nash Center, to the child and family services department. “The kids were great,” she said.

From there, Stephens moved to community support services, where she joined Linda Davis’ team.

“She is such an amazing person to work under,” Stephens said. “I learned so much from her.”

When Stephens’ old job at the shelter opened up, she decided to return to where she started, though it was a difficult decision to leave Bert Nash.

“I loved being on Linda’s team and I loved being at Bert Nash, but at the same time I felt such a strong pull to go back to the shelter,” Stephens said. “Everybody at Bert Nash was really supportive. They knew my heart was at the shelter. I took what I learned at Bert Nash and I took it back to the shelter.” Stephens calls Davis, her former boss, and Henderson, her current boss, two of her favorite people.

The feeling is mutual.

“Elizabeth was great to work with,” said her former team leader Davis. “We definitely miss her.”

Added shelter director Henderson, “It’s difficult work, but Elizabeth has done a great job and she works hard at it.”

Not long after returning to the shelter, Stephens was crowned Mrs. Lawrence. Then came the Mrs. Kansas competition in Branson, Mo. Fifty percent of a contestant’s score came from the interview, 25 percent from the swimsuit competition, and 25 percent for evening gown.

During the interview portion, a judge asked Stephens if she thought the swimsuit competition was sexist. “I said, ‘Well, yeah, I do,” Stephens said. To her surprise, she received a perfect score from the judges.

Stephens, 32, has three children, ages 11, 8 and 2. Despite winning the title of Mrs. Kansas, she doesn’t see herself as the pageant type. 

“I’m a newbie at this,” said Stephens, who bought the dress she wore in the evening gown competition the night before the pageant.

Stephens’ husband, Matt, who is a social worker, has been extremely supportive. In fact, he’s encouraged her to keep going when she wanted to quit.

“He was more excited about it than I was at first,” Stephens said. “It’s challenging, because there’s a lot of travel. So it’s tough for him. He gets to be Mr. Mom, but he’s incredibly supportive. There have been lots of times when I’ve told him I’m not sure I’m cut out for this. He’s like, you have to do it, because you’re doing good work.”

That’s what keeps Stephens going. It’s not about the glamour or the crown or the celebrity.

It’s about making a difference. It’s about her issues. It’s about helping families who are going through what she experienced growing up.

“That’s why I do what I do,” she said. “Because I’ve lived it.”