Our dear sister in Christ, Cherylann Sammons was ushered from earth to heaven on Thanksgiving Day, November, 2018 where she lives forever in the presence of the Lord she loves.

Cherylann served as an advocate and researcher with She Is Safe (formerly Sisters In Service) before the nonprofit organization was officially formed. She joined the first research team to interview women in least reached countries to gain stories and insights for the InterVarsity Press book, Daughters of Hope.

The interviews with women who suffer to serve so captured Cherylann’s heart that she longed to help them. To begin, she formed a She Is Safe Advocacy Group in Castro Valley, CA, which continues its exemplary work to raise awareness and funds for Transformation Groups-India.

Once the nonprofit was established, Cherylann was among our first employees, serving as South Asia Director, then India Director and most recently as Transformation Group Program Director.

Cherylann was a cheerful and avid learner – drawing from local women leaders’ best practices for preventing abuse and slavery, while exalting Christ and strengthening leaders with insight and love. What she learned and shared with the She Is Safe family became our most powerful, replicable program: Transformation Groups.

Cherylann’s deep love caused her to shoulder the burdens that indigenous women leaders bear and endeared her to every leader and co-worker across the continents where She Is Safe works.

We can only estimate the far-reaching effects of Cherylann’s loving labors. Conservatively, the number of women, girls and families lifted is into the hundreds of thousands who benefitted over these nearly 20 years – and the waves of transformation continue into eternity.

Thank you for your love, prayers and support for Cherylann as she served, and for growing her legacy into eternity.

Michele Rickett
Founder & CEO

The Cherylann Sammons Memorial Fund

This memorial fund provides a way for you to go on honoring the life and ministry of Cherylann by funding the equipping of women in high-risk places to build lives of freedom and faith for a strong future – for this generation and the next through the program she helped to develop and lead.

In Transformation Groups, 12-20 women meet weekly under the guidance of a trained local leader to gain skills in literacy, income generation and business development, saving and lending, and abuse prevention.

You may give toward this fund by mail or by calling 877-552-1402.

Share Your Memories of Cherylann Here

When we remember Cherylann, we think of her sitting on the floor in a village home surrounded by a group of women. Not just any group of women – a Transformation Group. She knows these women and understands their challenges. It’s why she seems so at ease. It’s why she can laugh with them and cry with them, hold their hands and pray. And even though there are many cultural barriers that should separate them, she knows how to speak the language of love that binds them together. Even when she challenges them and asks hard questions about their saving and lending, the women let her into their world, drink their tea or coffee, and hold their babies.

Do you have memories of Cherylann? Please share your thoughts in the comment box below: