Jenny Mills, a South Portland resident and the executive director of Limitless Child International, travels to India about every four months on behalf of her newly founded children’s charity, which is focused on improving the quality of life for children living in orphanages and impoverished communities. Mills has also begun working with the South Portland School Department to get local children and families involved with her charity. This past school year, for instance, students and staff at Dyer Elementary School partnered with Limitless Child on several projects.
One of those projects was a fundraiser, held at the end of school, which involved a team of students working with Dyer art teacher Margaret Burman to create crayon hearts made from recycled crayon pieces and Lego heart necklaces, which were then sold, raising $450 for Limitless Child.
Mills, who has worked in the public health and international adoption and humanitarian aid fields for more than 20 years, founded Limitless Child last year with her husband, Tom DiFilipo. The couple has one adult daughter and one who will be a freshman at South Portland High in the fall. The household also includes two cats, two parakeets, four chickens, one dog and a fish. Mills added, “If my dreams come true, (we’ll also get) a mini-donkey and if Tom gets his way we’ll be adding a few pigmy goats.”
She and her husband have lived in South Portland for the past 15 years. She has a master’s degree in social work from the University of New England and also trained as a nurse at the University of Maine.
This week she spoke with the Current about Limitless Child and why she founded it.