Welch is a clown in her spare time, making others smile and laugh by performing with Grease Paint Alley, volunteering at a summer camp, and traveling abroad to clown in Russia. A lifelong fan of clowns and circuses, Welch got her start in the business by responding to a newspaper ad for a clowning class. Through that she joined the Alley, a clowning troupe with some 60 volunteers who range in age from young children to seniors.
All participants adopt an off-beat stage name.
It was through conferences that she learned of the ambassadorship to Russia. Thirty people traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg in November 1993 to perform for children in orphanages and hospitals. In the hospitals, we saw parents bringing in medicines for their children and taking home laundry to help out. But that changed in Russia. We used body language and hand signals.