Board of Directors
Carol Rhees, Founder and President
Carol practiced law with Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington, DC, for more than 20 years and has extensive experience in tax planning for charitable organizations and individuals. After leaving the practice of law, she taught U.S. and World History at the Maret School in Washington where she designed and taught a service learning curriculum focused on domestic and global hunger, with particular emphasis on Ethiopia. Carol’s leadership and inspiration guide the Board and our partners in developing programs to help meet the needs of children and families affected by poverty and HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.
Ruthann Bates, Treasurer
Ruthann currently consults on health information programs with Federal contracting firms in the Washington, D.C. area. Ruthann retired in 2009 from Lockheed Martin Corporation where she was a Vice President. For the previous 20 years, she was Vice President of Health Programs for Aspen Systems Corporation, managing programs focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention, research and clinical trials. She and her family have traveled to Ethiopia, and she has been involved with the Hope for Children Fund since 2005.
Elizabeth Ferenczi, Secretary
Elizabeth spent 13 years teaching at The Chapin School in New York before becoming the Director of Lower School Admissions from 1999-2005. She has a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University, as well as a Certificate in Independent School Management from Johns Hopkins. Family moves took her first to Paris and then to Washington, where she continues to tutor low-performing elementary school students as a volunteer. Elizabeth became committed to improving educational outcomes for vulnerable Ethiopian children following her first visit to Ethiopia to visit her daughter who served in the Peace Corps.
Addis Getachew, Director
Addis ran Hope for Children’s Youth Center in Ethiopia from 2008 to 2012 and is credited with its tremendous success. He is currently an Information Technology student in Turku University of Applied Sciences in Finland. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Physics from the University of Gondar in Ethiopia and in 2012 joined Turku University of Applied Sciences in Finland. Addis is currently working as an IT specialist in Maryland and recently completed a Master’s Degree at the University of Maryland. He stays in close contact with the many youth who we support who look to him as a mentor and role model and also acts as a consultant to local NGOs in Ethiopia.
Helen Tadese, Director
Helen grew up in a group home at Hope for Children Ethioipia and was an early and enthusiastic participant at the Youth Center. Helen mastered every topic the Youth Center had to offer and graduated from Gondar University with a degree in civil engineering. After working for several years at nonprofits in Addis Ababa, Helen joined the University of North Carolina where she has completed her Master's in social work and is now working on her Ph.D. Helen is committed to help children in Ethiopia who struggled as she did.