BRITTANY YEAROUT
Assistant News Editor
Through their extensive community work, Pepperdine’s Ken and Libby Perrin have come across thousands of faces in past years. One such face was a young man who told the couple he was robbed on his way home from Iraq to attend the funeral of his brother. The Perrins helped the man obtain a hotel and food for three days before finding out he was a wanted sex offender.
“The fact that he is lying doesn’t mean he is any less hungry,” Libby said. “He still has needs.”
This type of mindset has guided the Perrins, who just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, in their journey of giving back to the community. Together they lead the University Church of Christ in the area of benevolence, by scheduling people to help make sandwiches for the Labor Exchange, serving food to the homeless and giving money out of their own pocket to those in need.
“Ken and Libby Perrin are two of my real heroes,” said Ken Durham, the preaching minister for the University Church of Christ. “They are what I hope to be like when I grow up and, if that never happens, at least they are what I would hope to be like when I retire.”
Ken Perrin, 73, retired in 1986 as a math professor and chair of Pepperdine’s Natural Science Division. Libby, 71, retired in December as the university field supervisor in teacher education, but is still helping teacher candidate assessment. However, they have been as involved, and as much of a blessing to the campus as they were before they retired, according to Durham.
Since 2002, Libby and Ken Perrin have been working with Standing on Stone Ministries (S.O.S.), which was started by Pepperdine alumna Hollie Packman and her husband Daniel. S.O.S. serves the poor and needy in Malibu. With S.O.S., they feed the homeless on an average of once a month, provide food when S.O.S. opens the emergency shelter on rainy days and offer whatever help they are able to provide.
“We work with S.O.S. because we have people who show up on campus who need clothing, money or a bus ticket,” Libby said. “We take care of those people who show up on campus.”
Libby and Ken Perrin also work with the Labor Exchange, through which they work with others to ensure 30 sack lunches and 80 sandwiches are brought to the labor exchange workers every Saturday.
They also volunteer at the Artifac Tree, which is a second-hand store for the depository of unwanted merchandise that supplies items free of charge to the needy in Malibu. They also send volunteers and help collect food for the Manna Conejo Valley Food Bank.
“It is much easier when you retire to get involved like this,” Ken Perrin said. “The reason we got involved is that we just kind of had concern for the poor; not just for the poor, but the underprivileged — those who have less than we do.”
Ken Perrin said his parents were two important influences in his desire to become so active in the community. During the depression, his mother, with as little as they had, would share with whomever came to the door for help.
Ken Perrin and Libby also said they could not do any of it without the help from their church and the agencies. They often wonder though, if what they do is really helping those in need.
“Sometimes I wonder if this is at all significant,” Libby said. “Do these people really need us to feed them or are we just enablers, accommodating their dependencies? We probably are, but Christ said feed the hungry. He didn’t say to quiz them beforehand and find out what their addictions are or how strong their motivation is to get a job.”
Ken Perrin said he continues to help the needy because its important for them to know we care.
“It seems to me like we probably do more good just the fact that we are concerned about them,” Ken Perrin said. “It probably means something that people are concerned about you, and you are not alone and they want to help you.”
Most who know the couple call Libby the social butterfly, who is always around to help.
Ken Perrin is known as the comic, as he often tells others, “I am the most handsome guy I know,” according to Melanie Emelio, the associate professor in the music department and a long time friend of the couple.
“Ken has a very dry sense of humor; he is very funny,” said Hung Le, the University Registrar. “And Libby is an amazing women who you can always go talk to. Ken will make light of the things they do to reflect the attention away from him, yet they are two pillars of the community.”
The Perrin family has long been connected with Pepperdine, Ken and Libby’s son, Robin, teaches sociology, their daughter-in-law Cindy is the chair of Social Science and professor of psychology, and their nephew, Timothy, is the vice dean and a professor at the School of Law.
“We have been associated with Pepperdine for a long time and we look back to the years where we knew everyone,” Libby said.
01-17-2008
