The shack was no bigger than the Rev. Dr. Cinda Gorman's dining room. There were no windows in the sitting room, only two wooden benches and a table.

        Three boys slept in the top bunk; the bottom held their clothes and schoolbooks. A daughter slept in the cooking hut a few feet away from the house.

        Yet this Kenyan family opened their door to the Rev. Dr. Gorman during her visit to Africa in February. They shared a dinner of corn, peas and potatoes mashed together. She helped the kids with their English homework — but had a hard time when it came to math percentages.

        The Rev. Dr. Gorman lay in a woodshed in the pitch black of night and thought about the difference between want and need. She thought about the family's excitement for their new home, built by Habitat for Humanity next to their mud shack. It is 11 feet by 24 feet, with windows and a concrete floor — and it's all this family wants.

        So the Rev. Dr. Gorman decided to do what she does best.

        She would lay the groundwork for a return trip to Kenya. She plans to organize a two-week mission trip for Habitat for Humanity volunteers from Greater Cincinnati to travel to Africa and build more homes. She expects the planning may take 18 months to two years but she has faith the trip will happen.

        The Rev. Dr. Gorman is a leader who sets projects in motion. She connects people to programs. She encourages them to believe they can do more together than they can apart. She sees a need and finds a way to fill it.

        Then the Rev. Dr. Gorman steps aside to tackle the next challenge.

        Again and again, the Rev. Dr. Gorman has established programs at her church, Westwood First Presbyterian, and in her community that thrive and grow.

        Seven years ago, she began Westfed Habitat for Humanity, a cooperative between churches in the Westwood area who pooled volunteers and money to build houses for low-income families. The group is building its seventh home.

        A couple of years later, she saw the need for a community food pantry. She's never bagged the groceries but she found a group of people willing to run the program. Today, it's open the last two Thursdays of each month for families who find their food has run out before their next paycheck comes in.

        At Halloween last year, the church threw a party and kicked off its latest outreach, Kidz 'Hood, an after-school program for neighborhood children. Three days a week, 30 kids come to the church for crafts, games and tutoring instead of going home to an empty house.

        On Wednesdays, the Rev. Dr. Gorman brings Molly, a golden retriever. Two weeks ago, the dog came dressed in a feather boa and a tutu, and the kids loved it.

        “It's embarrassing to be nominated (for Woman of the Year),” the Rev. Dr. Gorman insists. “I just saw the need, got the right people together and then stepped aside.”

        She learned in college not to sit idly by, to make the most of each day. A roomate died in a car accident, muscular dystrophy took the life of a cousin, and she went to the funerals of several people important in her life.

        “We have to make our days count,” the Rev. Dr. Gorman says, “because we don't know how many days we have.”

        She married her best friend, Steve Gorman, in 1974. Together they traveled to Michigan, when she served her first church and he planned to be a drama professor. He soon changed his mind and started seminary.

        At their next church, in Champaign, Ill., the couple shared the ministry, each working part-time at the church and raising their two sons.

        They served in San Diego for eight years, and adopted a daughter, Jillian, when she was 7.

        Then the family moved to Westwood in 1991. Steve and Cinda are co-pastors, alternating Sundays at the pulpit and sharing the duties of ministering to their flock of 650.

        Since her arrival in Cincinnati, she has established numerous programs to make her community a better place.

        “Sometimes people see a need and don't think they can do it alone and don't think about doing it together. If you put the right people together, there's enough skills and volunteer time to make something good happen,” the Rev. Dr. Gorman says. “I just plant a lot of seeds.”

The Cincinnati Enquirer's Women of the Year
Danya Karram
Francie Schott Hiltz
J.J. Johnson-JioDucci
Jane Lampke Bracken
Mary Frances Williams Clauder
Mauri J. Willis
Merri Gaither Smith
Sherrie Lou Noel
Sisters Mary Ann Fuerst and Alice Marie Soete
The Rev. Dr. Cinda Gorman
Past Enquirer Women of the Year