Board of Advisors Colorado Springs for Fostering Hope Foundation

Board of Advisors – Colorado Springs for Fostering Hope Foundation

The Fostering Hope Foundation’s strategy is to establish a community advisory board for each of its sites. This allows community leaders to provide insight about local laws and culture pertinent to the program at each location and ensures the operation of the Fostering Hope Program in that location.

A twelve member board serves in El Paso County.

To see the Board of Advisors for Milwaukee, click here.

Mike Callicrate – Mike is a rancher, advocate, and owner and founder of Ranch Foods Direct, a distributor of sustainably ranched goods to a wide-reaching Colorado Springs public. He was a founding member of several farm advocacy groups and has received several awards for his work in the sustainable food industry.

Mike Carroll – Mr. Carroll is a Wealth Management Advisor at American National Bank. Mike volunteers with Safe Harbor for Kids of Colorado Springs and has interest in ensuring safe and enriching environments for children to grow.

Mr. Cameron Seelye – Mr. Seelye is an Elder in the Woodmen Chapel, and has foster-adopted two children while hoping to still adopt a third. Cam’s expertise serves the Finance Committee, but his connections with the faith community makes him a valuable resource for recruitment as well.

John Stinar – Mr. Stinar is an attorney with Stinar and Zendejas. He is a board member for Colorado Springs Youth Sports and active in his church community.

Dave Twibel – Mr. Twibel is President for Wealth Management at Colorado Capital Bank. He is a contributor and advocate for kids and art, especially for the Imagination Celebration.

Rev. Don Dunn – Rev. Dunn is the chaplain and spiritual advisor to all of the volunteer teams currently in practice. He has retired after 45 years of service, which included beginning ministries in Columbia, South America, and recently retiring from service as Executive Director of Catholic Charities. He is a member of the board of Ecumenical Social Ministries and pastor of St. Mary’s Cathedral .

Rev. Kent Ingram – Rev. Ingram is Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church. He is familiar with the internal operations of large churches and will help us make entry into many large churches in our quest for more volunteer teams.

Mr. Lee Hodge – Mr. Hodge is the Administrator for the Child Welfare Division at the El Paso County Department of Human Services. Part of his duties includes overseeing child placement services and monitoring the outcomes of children in out-of-home services .

Mr. Lee Oesterle – Mr. Oesterle is Chief Executive Officer of Kid’s Crossing, one of about 5 active child placement agencies besides the Dept. of Human Services. He was instrumental in getting the Fostering Hope Program implemented in the area.

Mrs. Maija Schiedel – Mrs. Shiedel trained as asocial worker has been an administrator for many years, with the El Paso County Department of Human Services. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience about the foster care system, its underlying legislation, its funding and its operation.

Ms. Gwen White – Ms. White is Executive Director of Lutheran Family Services one of the child placement agencies whose foster parents utilize the program.

Ms. Jill Bradley – Ms. Bradley is a social worker and administrator for Bethany Christian Services, which serves children and women through crisis pregnancy, adoption, and foster care. She has been active in the coalition of Child Placement Agencies that has been working together to improve the lives of children in foster care.

In addition to the above, Vince Colarelli serves as Board Chair, and Nick Colarelli as ex-officio member.