Celeste Edmunds

Executive Director @The Christmas Box International

Salt Lake City, UT, US

As executive director of The Christmas Box International, I understand what the children at The Christmas Box Houses are going through. I went through it myself. My biological parents were drug addicts, and my childhood was an ongoing cycle of police calls, fighting, and abuse. At a very young age I was taken from my home and placed into the child welfare system where moving every few months to a new environment became normal. By the time I was sixteen, I had lived in more than 30 cities. I view my childhood as a difficult but important growing experience. There were terrible things, but there were also caring people along the way who did what they could to protect and nurture me. I was author Richard Paul Evans’ assistant when he first founded The Christmas Box International back in 1996, and quickly became an integral part of its creation, helping to build and refine the original shelters for nearly a decade before transitioning into Corporate America. Working in the corporate world gave me valuable knowledge of a different kind, with experience in marketing, public relations, community giving, and team management. Combining both nonprofit and corporate experience, I feel uniquely fit to guide The Christmas Box International and am passionate about making a difference in the lives of youth and the child welfare system so that others may not have to go through the same experiences I did.