Wife, Mother, Advocate, Mentor, Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur, Writer, Beauty Queen

Sometimes, words DO say it all:

I am Not Ashamed From Where I've Come,
Once an Abused Child - Then a Young Woman With No Home.
When You Feel You've Reached the End of Your Rope,
Tie a Knot and Hang On - Through Faith There IS Hope.
I've Lived the Life of Which I Preach,
Therefore This Message to Everyone I'd Like to Teach...
You CAN Make a Difference and Help Another Cope,
Volunteer Where Needed and Replace a Life of Hurt With One of Hope! Ginny Meerman

For the past 21 years, Ginny has shared her life with her best friend and biggest supporter, Chris Meerman. She has four children (three sons and a daughter) who range in age from 16 to 25. She is also the PROUD Oma to not one, but TWO beautiful grandchildren...Bobbi Noel, who turned the big O-N-E on May 15th of this year and Brayden Nicholaus, born on May 14th.

Ginny is an entrepreneur who owns two businesses...an interior decorating company and a business management company. She began her pageant "career" in January, 2006. Ginny has held the titles of National Mrs. Maryland and Mrs. Virgin Islands United States. She has also placed in the Top 5 at three other well known state Mrs. competitions and placed in the Top 10 at the Mrs. United States 2007 Pageant!! She competed at the Mrs. International 2008 pageant as Mrs. Virgin Islands International in July, 2008 and most recently was selected the Ambassadorial Queen for the American Image system. It is her hope that her participation in these and future pageants will send several positive messages, not the least of which is that every person should pursue their dreams and have faith in God as He leads you down the path to fulfilling those dreams. Ginny knows, firsthand, what it means to dream - and to never give up hope.

It's been 22 years since Ginny and her two young children spent their nights sleeping in her car - homeless - and even longer since she was a child living through the terror of abuse. Even though her life has come full circle and she lives in a beautiful home, surrounded by a loving husband and her children, neither experience is far from her mind. Because she remembers where it is she has come from, and knows what it is like to live without love and to not be able to afford life's essentials, Ginny has dedicated herself to helping others and is a strong and proactive community advocate.

She works to help children and women who are in similar situations to what she, herself, has experienced. She is a specially trained CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) working on behalf of abused and neglected children. She is a veteran volunteer for Food Link, Inc. and sits on the organization's Board of Directors. Additionally, she is the founder of two non-profit groups, "Friends of FoodLink" (a Food Link fundraising and awareness group) and "HopeLink"(an organization that connects people in crisis to resources that can help). She mentors sexually abused teen-aged girls and at-risk youth in Anne Arundel County as well as other locations in Maryland and St. Thomas, USVI.

As a 16-year heart disease survivor, Ginny understands the importance of physical cardiovascular health and has adopted a "Living Heartfully" way of coping with her condition. Living Heartfully is making the conscious decision to eat a well-balanced diet, exercise regularly and maintain a heart healthy lifestyle, AND it's about living WITH heart! Approaching life with heart disease having a positive outlook creates an emotionally healthy heart - which is vitally important to overall cardiovascular health as well!! Ginny has recently joined forces with WomenHeart (the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease) to advocate and promote early detection, accurate diagnosis and proper treatment for women with or at risk for heart disease. She travels the country (and abroad) speaking about her experiences; sharing what it means to "Live Heartfully" and to also introduce the WomenHeart organization, hoping to inspire other women to join the fight against heart disease and its notorious status as "the #1 Killer of Women" - not only in the United States, but across the globe as well!

Ginny believes that God has given her blessings and that those blessings are meant to be shared. It is her mission to increase public awareness of and draw attention to the issues of poverty and the ongoing epidemic of child abuse and neglect in the United States and abroad, as well as inspire people to empower themselves to be their own biggest advocate in the fight against heart disease.

She is an internationally published author who continues to write (one of her favorite hobbies). Her latest prose is expected to be published in Autumn of 2009!

Other hobbies include extensive travel with her husband and family, carrying her "message" to people in the United States, the Caribbean and countries throughout Europe. She loves to garden, read and bargain shop too ;-)

Ginny believes that true beauty is a spiritual attribute that must lie within before it can be portrayed outwardly and ultimately should shine for all the world to see through the gracious and heartfelt giving of hope to others.