Project Manager
Born in Olathe, Kansas - March 18, 1970 Jenifer worked in customer service and sales for US Long Distance Co. in Waco, Texas and transferred to the Dallas branch in October 1994. She married Larry Tooker on September 20, 1996. She has been Office Manager for Intermarc, their Manufacturers Representative firm since 2003 and is also currently Project Manager for Free to Be. “The creation of Free to Be is a simple but inspiring story for me. In 1998, Larry and I were driving home from a short weekend get-away and we were listening to a cassette of the greatest songs of America. It was emotional for both of us and Larry was brainstorming about how can we take the inspiring message of AMERICA to our young kids… because they just don’t get taught patriotism anymore. The message encompasses how lucky we are to be Americans, how we need to preserve freedom for future generations, and that our young kids must not take this all for granted. Larry described to me a film he saw when he was a senior in high school and still remembered it forty years later. He thought if we can make something that memorable about America, it will work. While he was driving, I was sketching different logos and sayings on paper - one being “Keep America Rolling” on the side of a semi-truck.Well, years passed, and September 11th happened, and one day in 2003 Larry said we are going to start this assembly program and that he was filling out the 501(c)(3) paperwork. After years of working on the script and finding the right producer, AMS Production Group, to develop this memorable video, Free to Be was now in schools beginning April 25, 2006. We were extremely lucky to have found our scheduler and presenter, Stefanie DeLaGarza, who is a wonderfully dedicated worker and has helped us grow Free to Be. Larry’s dedication and perseverance to this endeavor is one of a kind. During the making of Free to Be, the country was in turmoil and hit with an economic downfall which impacted our business as well. But his passion for this country kept him on this path to complete Free to Be. His patriotism is tremendous and very addictive. We are currently a 3 man team: Stefanie, Larry and myself. The program is designed for one person to travel and present the assemblies with help from a few volunteer students, but when I went to the first one, it immediately became my passion as well. Each school is different but they all have the same common denominator; these young students pay attention, and truly listen and watch the video and Stefanie’s presentation. I try to travel with Stefanie to every assembly to help her set up the equipment and to take pictures for our web site and records. My goal is to grow Free to Be into a nationwide program. With the help of enough donations, grants and corporate sponsorships, we will have Free to Be presenters in every state. I am so dedicated to this mission and am extremely honored to be by Larry’s side.” |