Kirk Arnold

Kirk is a retired elementary school teacher. He taught 30 years in the Independence, Missouri School District, retiring in 2014. Currently, he works part-time for the Kansas City Royals Baseball organization. Kirk grew up in St. Joseph, Missouri, and moved to Independence in 1985. He is married to his lovely wife, Lynn, who is retired from the United Methodist Church. They have two sons, Trent and Barrett. 

Kirk first traveled to Honduras in 1987 with Charlotte Ruoff and Paulette Baker Eubanks. He says, “was a wonderful trip and I fell in love with the country and the people. We traveled around the country and visited many areas that first time. The three of us talked about what we might do to help.” After a couple more trips, and with the help of Charlotte’s husband Norman, they developed the Friends United organization. Kirk became a founding board member, and since then has been very proud of the work the organization has done in Honduras. He made roughly 15 trips to the country and helped teach several seminars. He has helped with fundraising and other work for Friends United.  The organization has grown and changed, but always with the focus on helping teachers in Honduras teach – providing resources and ideas that have been successful with teachers in the United States.