Aussie, U.S. citizen, determined to help

When Australian native Kim Lunay visited Ohio in 1994, she had no idea that her future would include becoming a U.S. citizen and reaching out to others in the Miami Valley in some very important ways.

In her position as chairwoman of the Risk Taking Mission and Service Ministry at United Methodist Church in Bellbrook, Lunay, 41, is in charge of outreach programs and services to the community. Under the direction of the Rev. Terry Hecht, Lunay is involved in bringing attention to environmental issues with the Going Green for God mission that focuses on recycling, using green cleaning products and water conservation. Another aspect of her environmental mission is direct involvement in the community with the Adopt-a-Highway project that has UMC volunteers maintaining a two-mile stretch of Ohio 725 starting near the center of town and extending east.

“We’re really just education people,” said Lunay of Sugarcreek Twp. “Once a month, we meet to learn about an environmental topic. We also go to feed the homeless at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Dayton.”

Lunay grew up in Brisbane, Australia, where she attended a Catholic girl’s school and in 1985 graduated from MacKillop College, which was a high school. She studied business at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane and went to work as an accountant at a private CPA firm after graduating in 1988.

In the work place, she met her husband, Jim, a U.S. citizen, who grew up in Xenia, but had traveled to Australia after college and decided to stay for about seven years.

“He moved back to America when his dad died and then he started a business,” Lunay said.

In 1994, Lunay visited Jim Lunay, the owner of JCL Equipment Company in Xenia, and then maintained a long-distance relationship with him while she worked in Canada. The couple got married in 1996. They have three children: Arden, 9, and twins Simon and Julian, 4, who attend the Bellbrook UMC preschool.

Lunay works part-time at JCL Equipment, volunteers as the Sugarcreek PTO treasurer and is also a level 2 Reiki healing practitioner. She co-administers the “hippymom.com” Web site, an online support group for women and is active in bringing awareness to human trafficking and slavery as part of Hecht’s efforts at Bellbrook UMC, efforts which include making a trip to Tijuana, Mexico to visit orphanages for the children of prostitutes.

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