Phimpa was born in the country of Laos during a time of intense turmoil and great hardship. She was 19 years old when her family had to leave absolutely everything behind and seek asylum in the United States. She remembers arriving here in 1989, just two weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday, facing that most unimaginable opportunity to start over in a new country, language, culture, reality… and she did.

Over the years, Phimpa’s endeavors to build a happy, healthy, and supportive life here have been her constant pursuit, despite turns that she never could have predicted or prepared for. In 2010, she started her own Janitorial Services company to supplement the work that she already does for other enterprises, and she has been maintaining her various jobs ever since. To give you a glimpse of her average workday, she typically works a couple-hour cleaning shift during the day, then commutes 45-90 minutes from Vancouver to Milwaukie in the afternoon. She cleans the indoor spaces at PWS from about 3:30 - 9:30 or 10 at night and then makes her way to one more, two-hour shift out near the airport. She used to have a helper here for her PWS cleaning job, Mo (her godfather), but at the age of 79 he finally retired from the janitorial industry.

When asked what keeps Phimpa coming back to PWS, in particular, she is both pragmatic and reflective. She says that when you have work to do, you do it. At the same time, in her profession, she is not a stranger to unkindness or indifference, and there is something different about coming here. “Money you can find anywhere,” she says. “Heart, you cannot.” And indeed, there must be more that motivates her on parent-teacher conference days to bring two enormous platters of a homemade noodle dish to share with the faculty and staff, or to find late-staying staff children at the holidays and surprise them with a Christmas gift.

Phimpa’s presence, labor, effort, and love make her one of the bright, shining stars of the constellation of this school. Phimpa we are so fortunate that you chose to come here, and we thank you for every day that you give to this community.

Over Winter Break, Phimpa looks forward to hosting about 30 extended family members at her house for a shared meal