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| Meredith Cooper |
Meredith Cooper was one of the first professionals in Austin to become certified in the emerging field of Child Life Support, a rigorous process with interdisciplinary training to develop a friendly and family-centered approach to serving children hospitalized with chronic or long-term illnesses. She began working with Children’s Hospital, first as a Junior League volunteer, and then as the first pediatric oncology child life specialist at the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. But recognizing another need, she shifted her focus to children with a family member experiencing a catastrophic illness. In 2001 she joined with Missy Hicks to co-founded Wonders & Worries, an Austin-based non-profit to offer services to children of cancer patients. Since then Wonders & Worries has helped over 1,000 children in families affected by illnesses ranging from diabetes to Alzheimer’s. As Executive Director for the past two decades, Meredith is widely admired not only for her compassion and abilities as a healer but her administrative savvy and fundraising talents. Meredith is married to Duane Cooper, a financial adviser at Wells Fargo Advisors, and has three grown children, Ross, Kristen and Caroline. She is proud of her family’s tradition in Girl Scouting—her mother Caryl was her troop leader and both daughters were Girl Scouts.
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