Our Team
Honduras Child Alliance is an International Effort
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Eve Horowitz(USA-PA)
As the founder and Executive Director of the Honduras Child Alliance, Eve is always looking for ways to build relationships, both within Honduras and around the world. Her philosophy for engaging supporters is simple: grow connections that allow each of us to be part of something that truly makes a difference.
In addition to leading development and fundraising, Eve coordinates the recruitment and placement of HCA's international volunteers. She finds joy not only in bringing volunteers to work with young people in Honduras but also in witnessing the transformation each volunteer experiences. They return home forever changed, gaining perspective that helps them make an impact far beyond Honduras. Guided by her philosophy of “why have a meeting when we can have a party,” Eve blends creativity with strategic operational expertise to lead HCA.
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With 25+ years of leadership experience, Eve is an accomplished fundraiser and specializes in manager training and professional development. She holds a B.A. in Education from Goddard College and certificates in Organizational Practices and Fundraising from the University of Pennsylvania. Eve resides in Pennsylvania, USA, when not in Honduras.
Eve first visited Honduras in 1992 and later explored sponsoring children as a cross-cultural experience for her own 2 kids. Seeing the challenges local youth face, she started developing volunteer-powered programs that evolved into today’s Honduras Child Alliance. El Porvenir feels like her second home, and she calls the Honduras Child Alliance “a wish come true.”
DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING AND FINANCE
Elizabeth (Liz) Bender(USA-OR)
Liz is HCA’s Director of Programming and Finance. Liz started working in El Porvenir by doing four volunteer stints from 2009-2012, spending about one-year total volunteering before returning as our on-site Program Manager for an additional year in 2015-16. During her time in El Porvenir, she’s realized that beyond teaching basic academics, she is passionate about providing education and support in keeping the children healthy, sparking her completion of a degree in Public Health.
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Liz says, “Since my first time volunteering with HCA, I have felt connected to El Porvenir, the programs, and the kids! This program means so much to me and the opportunity to continue this work in a leadership position is immensely satisfying!” Liz brings a broad range of skills to HCA and returns regularly to help train volunteers, implement curriculum, and give support to our in-country Leadership Team.
DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC PROJECTS
Edwina (Eddy) Moran(Australia)
Eddy is HCA’s Director of Strategic Projects. Currently working in community resilience programming for local government in Melbourne, Australia, Eddy first volunteered in El Porvenir in 2016 and then returned as the 2017-18 Program Manager.
As a director, Eddy is instrumental in the ongoing development and expansion of special projects such as the Mascotas Saludables (Healthy Pets) program and in the oversight of HCA's grant applications.
Eddy has enjoyed hosting our university workgroups and returns to El Porvenir annually to help develop our in-country team.
Her cooking is legendary!
IN-COUNTRY LEADERSHIP: PROGRAM MANAGER
Dania Mejia Ochoa(Honduras)
Serves as HCA’s Program Manager. She graduated from Universidad Pedagógica Nacional Francisco Morazán with a degree in Education. Dania has worked with HCA since 2018, leading PEP classes and teaching Adult English classes. She then moved into the role of Education Coordinator and now, as Program Manager is overseeing HCA's full activities in El Porvenir! Her goal is to continue inspiring and motivating students in El Porvenir to follow their dreams.
IN-COUNTRY LEADERSHIP: ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER
David Álvarez(Honduras)
Serves as HCA’s In-Country Administrative Manager. Born in La Ceiba and raised in El Porvenir, David first joined HCA in 2020 as a Convo-Amigos Spanish tutor. He quickly expanded his role—teaching at PEP+, leading adult English classes, and becoming a key member of our in-country leadership team. David earned his Business Administration degree from the Autonomous University of Honduras in 2022.
He now manages the Convo-Amigos program, the Mascotas Saludables (Healthy Pets) initiative, and trains our “PEP-Professionals” (Honduran interns) to take on operational and organizational responsibilities.
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With a variety of administrative responsibilities, managing our funds, and overseeing our maintenance workers, David takes pride in providing meaningful opportunities for the young people in his community.
IN-COUNTRY LEADERSHIP: DEVELOPMENT & GRANTS
Stacia Martin(USA)
HCA’s Development & Grant Manager. Prior to coming to Honduras, Stacia lived in Indianapolis, Indiana where she pursued a master’s degree in public health at Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis (IUPUI) and graduated in 2022. During her time at IUPUI, she focused on addressing the social determinants of health, creation of health programs for various populations, health promotion, and evaluation of programs. Stacia is passionate about educating underserved communities to create opportunities for their future and is currently working with HCA's data management, providing tech training to our intern team, and on grant proposals to add more funding to HCA's programs.
IN-COUNTRY LEADERSHIP: OUTREACH & VOLUNTEER MANAGER
Marielle Chabardes(France)
marielle@honduraschildalliance.org
HCA’s Volunteer & Outreach Manager. Marielle,'Elle' is a French “Swiss Army knife” disguised under blond hair and a big smile. She graduated in Business Management and specialized in Supply Chain, working in the field for seven years before bringing her skills to the nonprofit world. At HCA, she manages our community and online outreach while making sure every volunteer has a meaningful and well-supported experience. Passionate and curious, Marielle can talk for hours about French cuisine, scuba diving, dancing, and cultures and history from around the world.
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ADVISORY - SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS
Laura Ramos Tomás (Brazil)
Originally from Spain but now living in Brazil, Laura volunteered at HCA in 2017-2018. Since her time in El Porvenir, she has worked with survivors of trafficking, sex workers, youth, and young mothers living in social vulnerability across Latin America. She subsequently started TabuTabu to support underserved communities in the region in tackling their most pressing sexual and reproductive health and rights learning needs. In 2021, she began working with HCA's in-country team to co-create a sexuality education program for our PEP+ classes.
STEWARDSHIP
Ruth Martin(Scotland)
Ruth volunteered in El Porvenir in 2017-18 and now serves as HCA's Donation Manager. In addition to making sure that all donors receive a personal thank you email, Ruth also follows up on our monthly donors to keep their payment info current. Ruth returned to El Porvenir in 2022 to volunteer at the Centro de Salud as part of her medical training.
NUTRITION ADVISOR / RENEW and GIVE BACK ANNUAL RETREAT
Lynda Lawrence(USA-CA)
Lynda serves on the Honduras Child Alliance advisory board as a nutrition mentor for the in-country Healthy Snacks coordinators and she is the co-host of HCA's annual Renew and Give Back Retreat. Lynda is currently a Health Coach for a non-profit clinic in NYC for the underserved population with chronic diseases.
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She gives nutrition counseling along with hosting groups for diabetes management. Having recently completed her Masters's in Nutritional Science to become a dietitian, she also teaches medical yoga and connects yoga teachers with non-profits around NYC. Lynda first volunteered with HCA as the first on-site Healthy Snacks Ambassador in 2017 where she fell in love with the kids, the community, and the mission to better the wellbeing of El Porvenir through nutrition. She has since put together several nutrient-dense recipes, helps create nutrition lessons tying kids to the origin of their food, and makes connections within the community to involve more locals in the making of the snacks.
TREASURER
Rustom Dalal(Ireland)
HCA’s Treasurer. Currently working with KPMG as an International Tax Consultant, Rustom has been associated with HCA since December 2015 when he came to El Porvenir for a month as a volunteer to help with budgets and finances, and draft up a report on HCA’s Healthy Snacks program!
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Albeit relatively short, a month with the HCA team was enough to ensure that Rustom stayed affiliated with the organization on an ad-hoc basis on any matters concerning finances, up until taking on the role of the Treasurer in January 2020.
Ever since his time in Honduras in 2015, Rustom has been convinced in his belief that education is the best way to create a lasting impact at the grassroots of society and was amazed at the positive change brought about in the El Porvenir community by the organization. A Chartered Accountant by training, Rustom graduated from Brandeis University with a Masters in International Economics & Finance in 2016, and hopes to use these skills to assist HCA for the years to come.
ADVISORY - HEALTHCARE
Dra. Amanda Radisic(USA-MD)
Doctora Amanda wears many hats at HCA and is currently the Alumni-Volunteer Engagement Committee Lead. She is actively involved with the Scholars Committee, has been the liaison for our healthcare volunteers, and has previously served as our Donations Manager. Amanda made her first trip to Honduras in 2011, and from that point on, she was hooked.
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She started volunteering with HCA in 2013 and continues to return several times each year.
One of Amanda’s favorite things about working with HCA is collaborating with warm and welcoming residents of El Porvenir, and engaging them in our projects. Amanda currently serves on the HCA Scholars Committee and continues to help in a myriad of ways! A native of the Philadelphia area, Amanda graduated from medical school in May 2018 and is now completing a residency in general surgery at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ, with the goal of specializing in trauma and acute care surgery. Currently, she is on leave from full-time clinical work to undergo a 2 year research fellowship at Johns Hopkins University (2020-2022). She hopes to use her medical training to continue to serve the place she considers her “second home.
ADVISORY - DEVELOPMENT & FUNDRAISING
Victoria (Tori) Montemurro(USA-MA)
Tori serves as the Fundraising Strategy Committee lead and is currently working for a children's non-profit in Massachusetts. Tori first volunteered in El Porvenir in 2018 and then returned in 2019-2020 to be HCA’s first Development Manager before the COVID-19 crisis sent her home early. Currently, Tori helps organize and strategize HCA’s fundraising campaigns. She's also been actively involved in the Scholars Committee and helped coordinate HCA’s first virtual volunteer reunion!
ADVISORY - SOCIAL MEDIA, SCHOLARS CO-CHAIR & REFERENCES
Maggie Dekker(USA-PA)
Maggie serves as Social Media Committee leader, Co-chair of the Scholars Committee, and Reference Reader for incoming volunteers. She first volunteered at HCA in 2016 and returned for a full year in 2017-18 as HCA’s first-ever Outreach Manager. Maggie’s big heart translated to great success in outreach as she
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spearheaded several fundraising initiatives including renovating PEP-Centro and increasing HCA’s monthly donors.
A proud Philadelphia native and graduate of Temple University, Maggie continues to live and work in the Philadelphia community. She works as a bilingual paralegal in the Health & Independence Unit at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia where she assists low-income community members with accessing public benefits. In her free time she enjoys discussing the copious amounts of reality TV she watches and doing friends’ makeup and nails. Maggie is extremely passionate about and connected with the folks in El Porvenir and regularly returns to see all of their happy faces.
ADVISORY - CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
Erin Dowd(Costa Rica / USA)
Serves on the HCA Advisory Board in the area of Curriculum Development and has an ongoing involvement in the implementation of the PEP+ curriculum. In her professional life, she is a global education consultant and founder of JRNEY, a website dedicated to amplifying teacher voice through global stories from the field.
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She is also a founding member of Teach SDGs and currently serves as Committee Liaison for the organization, the professional learning chair for the ISTE Global Collaboration PLN, and was named an ASCD Emerging Leader for 2017. A former teacher and curriculum director of over 13 years, Erin has spent her career working to provide equitable education for students all over the world.
REFERENCES
Andy Long(Australia)
Andy started volunteering with HCA in October 2013 and ended up returning on 3 separate occasions since, for 7 months total. Andy continues to support HCA by helping with our volunteer recruitment. He says, “I support volunteers going to Honduras because it is important to experience and understand other cultures and situations, and participate in improving them if that is a possibility. Also, El Porvenir is a wonderful town with some beautiful people.”
ADVISORY - FIRST-AID & COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
Rikke El Ofir - Soendergaard(Denmark)
Rikke has done a broad range of humanitarian work, and research in Honduras since 2005. Currently, Rikke coordinates our training partnership with the Bomberos Porvenir (firefighters) which focuses on first aid, pre-hospital care, and community service.
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Rikke also advises on fire safety at our volunteer houses and gives first aid instruction to our volunteers and interns. In addition, she assists HCA with composing and proofreading legal documents and contract translations in Spanish.
Rikke served as the HCAs very first Project Manager and launched the first Vacation Activities Program (VAP) back in 2010. Rikke emphasizes the importance of immersing oneself into the local culture and she strives to ensure that our projects meet the actual needs of the local people, and that we always foster their involvement and ownership.
Fun fact: Rikke has two heart-adopted families in Honduras, one in La Ceiba and one in El Porvenir. The youngest daughter in her family in El Porvenir was named after her, something that has touched Rikke very much.
In Denmark, Rikke has worked many years in the emergency management field. She has also managed youth firefighter projects at both national and local level, focusing especially on at-risk youth.
She holds a Master’s Degree in Development and International Relations and a Bachelor’s Degree in Languages and International Business Communications (English/Spanish). She's been a volunteer firefighter since 2004 and is an experienced Instructor within Firefighting, First Aid and Youth Leadership.
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