Dr. Robert Gamble, Executive Director of This Child Here
567 Bee Tree Rd
Swannanoa, NC 28778
robertgam@gmail.com
828 318 2149 in the USA
+380 96 021 4952 when I am in Ukraine
Robert Gamble is a graduate with honors of the US Coast Guard Academy, and served five years as an officer. He is a graduate of Columbia Seminary in Atlanta, GA (D.Min.) and Princeton Seminary, Princeton NJ. (Th.M.) He has served churches in Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, New Mexico, Western Maryland and Tennessee. He began to work in Peacemaking in the 1980's during the conflict in Central America, chairing the Peacemaking Committee of Memphis Presbytery, traveling to Nicaragua and helping coordinate Peacemaking Conferences in Montreat NC. He has been at work in Ukraine with This Child Here since 2006, beginning with street kids, then orphans, and then training foster families. In 2013, He received the "Pioneer in Ministry" award from Columbia Seminary for his creativity in Ukraine. In 2015, he began programs of training teens in Ukraine in peacemaking techniques and designing camps for families who lost homes in the Donbas area. Every year, his schedule is 3 months in Ukraine, 3 months in states traveling and speaking; then again 3 months in Ukraine and 3 in the states, traveling and speaking. This Child Here, Inc. is not a staff position of the office of Presbyterian Church (USA), but rather a Validated Ministry of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Since the invasion in February 2022, This Child Here has been working solely with families displaced by the war but living in Ukraine.
BOARD MEMBERS OF THIS CHILD HERE
Nancy Gard, Paralegal
Vice President, Secretary
245 Seaview Ave.
Daytona Beach Fl 32118
Nancy Gard has served as a Paralegal for Cobb Cole Attorneys at Law for many years. She has also been an elder at the First Presbyterian Church of Daytona Beach, FL. Nancy has traveled to Ukraine and has served as the Vice President of This Child Here since 2006.
Susan Coleman, Retired CPA
Treasurer
735 North Halifax Ave.
Daytona Beach, FL 32118
Susan H. Coleman, retired CPA, is a long-time resident of Daytona Beach, Florida. She is a member and ruling Elder of First Presbyterian Church of Daytona Beach, where she came to know Dr. Gamble. Present during the formation of This Child Here, she has served on the Board of Directors since its inception in 2006.
Dr Donald Frampton
New Orleans, LA
Donald R. Frampton is an honorably retired minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Nil February of 2019, he served St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church in New Orleans as Senior Pastor for nearly 25 years. Upon his retirement, the church named him Pastor Emeritus. Prior to New Orleans, Don was Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Rockingham, N.C. And he began his ministry as Associate Pastor at First (Scots) Presbyterian Church in Charleston, S.C.
Wherever he went, Don's ministry was characterized by an emphasis on mission, both local and global. Nearly every year of his pastorate in New Orleans he saw to it that the church gave away nearly $3,000 000 to qualified charities. RHINO (“Rebuilding Hope in New Orleans” ) was St charles Avenue Presbyterian Church's response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina of 2005. It still operates, hosting volunteer mission teams from all over the country and a summer camp for teens. At the time of his retirement, some 9,000 RHINO volunteers had participated in the program, helping build over 600 Habitat for Humanity homes. Don was also Moderator of the Presbytery of South Louisiana, as well as Board Member of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and Evergreen Children's Home. Locally, he was a member of the Ethics Review Board of the City of New Orleans. Recently, Don wrote a book on the history of St Charles Avenue Presbyterian church, Welcome Corner”
Don and his wife, Colleen, a Registered Nurse with a local community health clinic, have three adult children and three grandchildren, all of who live in New Orleans.
SARA ANN HIATT
Sara Ann Hiatt grew up in Asheville, NC. She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a degree in education. After teaching and working in retail as a training director and employment manager, she went to NC State to earn a certificate in computer programming. She had a 30+ years career in computer programming, owning her own consulting firm for about 10 years.
As a lifelong Presbyterian, Sara Ann has served in the church in many volunteer areas, including as an Elder. She has been a member of the Rotary club of West Raleigh for the past eight years. For 5 of those years, she served as treasurer and will serve as vice president in the coming year. She is currently president of Food Runners’ Collaborative, an organization that provides meals and support for Meals On Wheels of Wake County and Interfaith Food Shuttle. With Resources for Seniors of Wake County she builds ramps for handicapped seniors. She also delivers meals for Meals On Wheels and volunteers for US Committee on Refugees and Immigration.
After almost 30 years in Florida, Sara Ann moved back to Raleigh about 9 years ago to be near her daughter and to help out with her youngest granddaughter. In addition to her daughter and granddaughter in Raleigh, she has a son and two granddaughters and Phoenix, Arizona.
Sara Ann enjoys spending time with friends, especially her running friends, and she loves to travel.
MARK BOGGS
Quickly, here are a few bullet points:
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Residence: Raleigh, NC
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Age: 70 something
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Early years: grew up in Asheville, NC; after HS, traveled down the mountains to attend NC State, graduating with degrees in Civil Engineering and Transportation Engineering
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Career: transportation planning engineer, with NC Department of Transportation and a few consulting firms
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Retired three years ago
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Family: 2 children, 3 grandchildren, 1 very significant other
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Non-profit work: Habitat for Humanity, for 30+ years, in multiple cities; Alliance for International Reforestation (in Guatemala), Meals on Wheels, US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
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Primary leisure activity: bicycling, including multi-day touring
Anderson Baker
Anderson Baker is a lifelong resident of New Orleans, LA. He recently retired from the insurance business after 42 years.
He graduated from Tulane University in 1982.
Anderson has been active with several non-profit organizations in the area, serving on the boards of the Bureau of Governmental Research, Success Preparatory Academy (President), Youth Empowerment Project, Radio for the Blind and Print Handicapped (President), Start the Adventure on Reading, CourtWatch NOLA (President), and the Louise S. McGehee School.
He earned the status of Director Certified by the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Anderson is a director of Fidelity Bank in New Orleans.
He is married to Michelle, his wife of 35 years, and has two grown daughters and a grandson.
Kelly Van Sickle
Kelly (Donald) Van Sickle retired completely in 2019 after working 40 plus years in Community Mental Health, Private Practice (Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor) and with local Schools as a Licensed School Psychologist. He has attended and been a member of Farmington First Presbyterian Church for over 30 years and has served as both an Elder and a Deacon. FPC of Farmington is where he met Bob Gamble.
Kelly was born in Pasadena, California but moved to Wyoming in the mid fifties and then to New Mexico in 1967, where he graduated from High School in 1970. He has a Bachelor’s Degree (Psychology and Philosophy) and a Master’s Degree (Counseling and Educational Psychology) both from New Mexico State University. After losing a son in an automobile accident in 2004, he and his wife became active in establishing a Compassionate Friends Chapter in Farmington. Compassionate Friends is an international support for parents who have lost children.
He currently enjoys his volunteer work both at Church and in the community and riding (fair weather only!) his mountain bike.
FORMER BOARD MEMBERS
Board of Directors
Karen Bayless
7301 Foothills Drive,
Farmington, NM 87402.
Karen has served as an Elder for First Presbyterian Church in Farmington NM. Educated as an accountant, she chairs the Finance Committee for the church. Karen serves on the board for several not-for-profit organizations in NM. She has been particularly active in Leadership New Mexico serving on the curriculum committee for many years and chairing it in 2018. LNM is dedicated to developing leaders in New Mexico by educating them on current topics as well as encouraging team-building and self-esteem.
Claudio Corbelli
Sienna, Italy
Claudio writes: I earned a PhD in Biology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, in Canada, where I studied the behaviour of Humpback whales. After working for a year at the Whale Center of New England in the USA, I moved back to Italy in 2008. Here I studied to became a Transpersonal Counsellor and also funded the Siena Dong Tai chi School. In the same year I started volunteering in Ukraine with the organization This Child Here, and subsequently funded and directed a charitable nonprofit called Nirodha to support homeless kids in the Ukraine. Now I live in Siena where I run my tai chi school and I work as counsellor in private practice. I also like to travel and in 2016-2017, I created and completed the Mindfultrail: A one-year journey from Canada to Argentina to share Mindfulness Practices (25 workshops, www.mindfultrailproject.com).
Jo Ann Wheeler
Vero Beach, Fl
Jo Ann Wheeler is an elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) serving at the First Presbyerian Church of Vero Beach. She has served on the Mission Committee for many years as a member and chairperson. Jo Ann has taken classes at Columbia Seminary in the Continuing Education Department; she has also studied International Peacemaking in Israel. Wednesday will be her last day with me here in Ukraine. She has been on a trip that included, South Africa, Madagascar, Kenya and Ukraine.
Dr. Nicholas Bayless,
San Francisco, CA
Dr. Nicholas Bayless is a research scientist at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in San Francisco, California. He completed a bachelor's degree in biochemistry at Yale University and a master's degree in biotechnology at NYU, after which he joined Avatar Biotechnologies and worked on development of an HIV vaccine. He continued his education and research at Stanford University, where he completed his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. Catherine Blish, focusing on viral infections (influenza and Zika viruses) and their impact on pregnant women. Now at the Parker Institute, Nick works to bring new data analysis tools to researchers and clinicians, to accelerate cancer cures and improve patient outcomes through unique collaborations.