Claire's Community Staff
Shannon VanLandingham
Founding Executive Director
Shannon VanLandingham is the Founding Executive Director of Claire’s Community, dedicated to preventing relationship violence through education, awareness, and community engagement. After her daughter Claire was killed by an ex-boyfriend with a gun, Shannon transformed unimaginable grief into action. As a former educator, she brings both heart and evidence-based prevention strategies into schools, families, and communities to help prevent violence before it starts. Shannon speaks as both a parent and a prevention advocate, committed to ensuring that no other family has to endure the loss she has known.
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Rebecca Metz
Operations and Communications Coordinator
Becca is an advocate to her core and believes in creating a more inclusive world for all, especially those living on the margins. With relationships, community and the greater good at the forefront of all of her decisions, she values the voices and stories of each individual and believes sharing those are what will lead to a better world for us all.
She believes that leading with kindness, love, integrity, compassion and a people-centered approach is an extremely important component to advocacy and helping lead communities to non-violence.
In her off-time Becca enjoys exploring the great outdoors and spending time with her family, her husband and two dogs.
Craig Arnold
Community Engagement & Prevention Educator
After a well-rounded 30-year career in the Army, Craig is bringing a deep heart for service and advocacy to our mission. For the past five years, he has dedicated his energy to prevention education, crisis response-roles that demand a steady hand, & a compassionate ear. While his professional roots are in military service, Craig’s approach is defined by connection and community; he is passionate about building safe, supportive spaces where every voice feels heard and valued.
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When he isn’t developing new engagement programs, Craig enjoys a much slower pace of life at Fort Leavenworth with his wife, Shannon, and their youngest child, Gavin. He remains a proud supporter of his two oldest children as they navigate their own young adult journeys. You’ll often find Craig out on the trails for a long run or under a heavy pack, almost always accompanied by his faithful Australian Shepherd, Shadow. Whether he's recharging with a good book or a gaming session, Craig truly appreciates the balance of both "analog" and "digital" downtime.​
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Dinesha LaShay
Graphic Design & Digital Content Creator
Dinesha is a Digital Marketing and Content Creator for Claire’s Community and the owner of Lashay Photography based in Lawrence, Kansas. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, weaving those values into both her creative work and community impact.
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A dedicated leader and sexual assault survivor, Dinesha uses her voice to raise awareness- particularly around breaking silence within the church and creating safer, more supportive spaces for youth. She is a recipient of three Gold Presidential Service Awards and is currently pursuing her Lifetime Achievement Award. As United States of America’s Miss Virginia 2025, she collaborated with a team advocating for community action from Virginia state leaders to advance mandates beyond standard reporting requirements.
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Dinesha has never met a stranger- if you stand still long enough, she’s probably starting a conversation with you. When she’s not creating content or uplifting her community, you can find her fueled by Scooter’s Coffee & bringing energy, authenticity, & a little humor everywhere she goes. She believes real impact starts with showing up, being real, and making people feel seen.
Thomas C
Summer 2026 Intern
Thomas is a summer intern at Claire’s Community, where he is currently working on a cost analysis project to streamline the evaluation of expenses. He attends Bishop Seabury Academy and is an incoming freshman.
Thomas is a curious student who loves to learn about just about anything. At school, his favorite subject is a close tie between math, English, and physics, but is passionate about computer science and finance outside of school. He serves as tech director for his school’s theatre program, but also plays a key role on Seabury’s tennis team. In his free time, Thomas likes to read, study, lift weights, play tennis, listen to music, or relax with a good video game. Thomas’s favorite pieces of literature he’s read are Romeo and Juliet and Animal Farm. He aspires to one day work as a quantitative financial analyst at a hedge fund.