Executive Board
The Executive Board is comprised of volunteer community members that either live or serve the people of Sunnyside. Their role is instrumental in guiding the coalition and staff in what Sunnyside needs the most in order to achieve its mission.
Rebeca Barrios
Norma Jean Rios
Norma Jean Rios is smart, strong, confident and independent. She is the mother of 3 beautiful daughters Tina, Amanda & Stacey. Her 4 grand-kids; Nevaeh, TJ, Cati, and baby boy Alaki are her pride and joy.
Norma likes spending time with her family, playing board games and especially Loteria for hours at a time. She fears spiders and snakes! “I’m proud of my daughters for I have raised them well and they strive every day to make me proud of their accomplishments.”
Norma Jean has received many recognitions from her community members; Yakima County, Homeless Connect, The Mid Valley Providers Consortium, YVCC, etc. Her volunteer experience includes working with Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center, Sunnyside School District, and Planned Parenthood as a Promotor De Salud. You bet you will see her at all community events!
Ed Gallo
Gallo serves as Young Life Area Director in the Yakima Lower Valley. Gallo was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States in 1996. He has been in youth ministry in the USA for the past 17 years. Gallo has served with Young Life for the past 7 years and has served in other organizations as a minister for 17 years, in different states. Gallo has previously worked in church planting, as well as Camp Director for Cityteam International in Santa Cruz California. In his free time, Gallo enjoys cooking and serving others. Gallo has been married for almost 10 years with Bethany Gallo a First Grade Teacher in the Sunnyside School District. They have two daughters named Sophia (7) and Annalise (4).
Marilyn VanOostrum
Marilyn works for Yakima Valley Memorial as a Nurse Manager for Nurse Family Partnership at Children’s Village. She supervises a team of 8 nurses, providing home visits to first time moms and their family. Marilyn loves working with young moms and babies, supporting them to be the best mom to their baby and set goals for their future. She also provides leadership at Children’s Village in the areas of Child Abuse and Neglect and Infection Control. She worked as a School Nurse at Harrison Middle School for 5 years, from 1999-2004, and enjoyed working with middle school students.
Marilyn grew up in Wapato, and moved to Sunnyside in 1985 when she married her husband, Henry. They have 2 grown children (Adrian and Analisa), who are both married and live in the greater Portland area.
Marilyn serves on various home visiting coalitions and boards, at the local, state and national level. She wants to assure that families receive the support they need as they raise their children. She believes parents are their child’s first and most important teacher. She serves as the Safe Church coordinator at her church, Sunnyside Christian Reformed Church, which helps equip the church in abuse awareness, prevention and response. She recently volunteered with Medical Teams International to provide free COVID-19 testing throughout Yakima County, focusing on underserved communities. She has served as a nurse with relief efforts after natural disasters, with the most recent being to Beaumont, Texas after Hurricane Harvey in 2018.
Marilyn enjoys cooking, reading, exercise and hiking in her free time.
Staff
Funded by federal and state grants, our staff ensures that the coalition is achieving action plans set forth by the community of Sunnyside and in compliance with grant requirements.
Blanca Hernandez
Blanca has been part of the Coalition since 2016. She loves her job, serving the community, and working with the fun amazing staff. Blanca graduated from Sunnyside High School in 2001 and is currently attending Yakima Valley College in Grandview. She is a parent volunteer at Outlook Elementary and is a volunteer Catechist for St. Joseph Catholic Church. Because of her love and passion for serving her community Blanca is excited to be part of the team. Blanca is married and has four wonderful children. Has a total of eleven siblings. She loves to cook, exercise, and is fond of farm animals.
Brenda Barrios
Brenda was raised in Sunnyside, graduated from Sunnyside High school, and followed her dreams by attending the University of Washington, Seattle. There she received a B.A. in Sociology, B.A in Comparative History of Ideas, Minor in Human Rights, and a Business Certificate. Her passion is to be involved in an established organization that is able to empower youth to reach their highest potential as individuals and develop a positive self/cultural identity so it is only fitting that she landed at Sunnyside United-Unidos! She currently advises the High School Prevention Club and is extremely proud of all her students who choose to be a positive leader or advocate.
Her experiences include traveling around the state of Washington as a YMCA Summer Camp Youth Counselor, giving a year of service through City Year in Los Angeles, and working with communities around Seattle & South Africa. She loves traveling, the performing arts, reading, hiking, and spending time with family.
Eveth Padilla
Eveth moved to Sunnyside when she was 5 years old and graduated from Sunnyside Highschool. She attended Eastern Washington University where she received a B.S. In Community Health, Minor in Communication Studies and a B.A. Certificate in Leadership. She enjoys helping people and learning. She followed one of her many dreams by moving to Uganda where she lived for a few months and educated the communities about HIV, Malaria and Nutrition. During her stay in Uganda she created one of her favorite memories which was integrating with a community, learning about the Bantu tribe located in Southwest Uganda, their culture, and their language. She also had the opportunity to learn their local dance.
She recently moved back to Sunnyside and is excited to work and grow with the community.
Here she is wearing a dress and headband made out of Kitange , which was hand made by a Ugandan seamstress. Kitange is a African fabric that is made up of different prints. This is one of Eveth’s favorite pictures.
Coalition Meetings
Sunnyside United-Unidos has monthly meetings which are open to the public! Come join us to learn more about what we do and what we're working so hard on.
Childcare & Translation available upon early request.
Information Here!