Connie Bombaci is an optimist and compassionate person whose Christian faith guides her to believe in the extreme goodness and immeasurable importance in all God’s creations.  Her resolute love for animals began in childhood, rescuing both domestic and wild orphaned or abandoned animals.  Her desire for others to believe in the value of themselves led her to become an educator where she worked fervently to increase young peoples’ confidence and belief in themselves no matter what challenges they faced.  She offers hope where frustration and failure seem inevitable.  While a teacher and assistant principal in the Haddam Killingworth School District of Connecticut, she enjoyed working with young people, finding it especially fulfilling to help students who needed special encouragement.  Her involvement with animals also developed from her desire to be helpful.  She has enjoyed many pets, especially ones that have needed rescue.  Hogan’s is a story of success despite the odds.  In her book, Hogan's Hope: A Deaf Hero's Inspirational Quest for Love and Acceptance, Connie shares his story and the message that hope can be found in the kind and generous hearts of patient people.