Lex Mapes

Lex Mapes is the house manager for Williams House. 

Williams is at the forefront of  providing LGBTQ inclusive housing for youth in foster care. The primary goal of Williams House is to provide refuge from the discrimination and harassment that LGBTQ foster youth often face by celebrating, supporting, and centering their voices during their time in care.

While employed with OCS, Lex earned his Bachelor of Social Work at Washburn University. His passion for advocacy grew even stronger during his internship with the Kansas City Anti-Violence Project and later as a camp counselor for Kansas’ first ever LGBTQ+ youth leadership summit.

In his free time, he enjoys fostering for the Lawrence Humane Society and spending time outdoors with family and friends.

Nova Lewis

Nova Lewis is the house manager for Winter House. 

Adam Mitchell

Adam Mitchell is the O’Connell House 2 manager, joining O’Connell as a teaching assistant in 2022. Adam is a musician, and came to O’Connell originally to help create a music program for the youth. His experience includes providing private music lessons for young people, work as a recording engineer, and as a carpenter. 

Adam believes in building relationships with the youth through positive experiences, and music provides that venue. 

Dyre Plunkett

Dyre Plunkett is the house manager at House 3. His experience includes supervisory or positions of management for over 6 years, working in food, retail, real estate, call centers, ride sharing, and contracting. Dyre can make a mean pizza from scratch. While the public school system didn’t help Dyre thrive, he gained a GED his senior year in high school and been working full time and seeking new learning opportunities ever since. 

He is inspired by the real impact O’Connell has on the youth served. With youth who either don’t know how or are otherwise unable to effectively communicate their needs, helping teach these skills by example and open communication is the one of the most important parts of his job.

Dyre has built bonds with the youth by building a community around the game Magic: The Gathering. The game teaches critical thinking, patience, mathematics, and communication skills. The relationships created through these experiences are invaluable for the youth.