WHO WE HELPED
WHY GIVE THROUGH US
HOW TO DONATE/CONTACT US
ABOUT US
OUR PARTNERS
OUR DONORS
We are a small group of people in the Bay Area of Northern California who are concerned about the fates of the most vulnerable segment of Russian society. They are internal refugees, forced migrants, children and elderly with serious illnesses. We provide an assistance to people in crisis wihout regard to their religious beliefs or their ethnicity.
PEOPLE
Regina Kanevsky -- Director, Chief Financial Officer
San Francisco Bay area has been Regina's home since 1981. She's worked
for several major Silicon Valley's companies in the area of finance.
She is known to her friends and family as a warm, giving person, who
actively intervenes on other people's behalf while never asking
anything for herself. For many years she volunteered her time and
effort helping newly arrived emigres. During those years she found jobs
for
dozens of people, taught English and generously gave of her time,
effort and money to innumerable families making first steps on American
soil.
Regina believes that helping less fortunate people is a natural thing
to do. RGN will allow her to extend her generosity even further.
Tom Pencek -- Marketing Director
Although new to non-profit marketing, Tom has 20 years of Marketing and
sales experience, the last 5 of which have been devoted to the art of
service marketing. He has formal education in journalism, life science,
and
business management. Tom is an avid reader with a lot of diverse
interests.
One of his favorite subjects is American history including history of
philanthropy in US. He is known for his vicious sense of humor and
creativity in accomplishing business and personal goals. One of them
is to make RGN successful in bringing aid to people in need.
Alexandra Shaykevich -- Director, Organizational Liason
From 1990 to 1998 Alexandra was a member of the first Russian
non-government
charity organization "Civic Assistance" Committee, which
organized assistance for the refugees of the former Soviet republics.
Alexandra took up the most difficult role of the primary point of contact
for
the new refugees. Thousands of people were able to start a new life
because
of her help. Alexandra provided humanitarian relief to impoverished
communities as well as individual attention focusing on every aspect of
the
refugees' life. One of her efforts consisted of helping a settlement of
700
refugees (among them 200 from Chechnya). Alexandra plays a key role in
RGN,
working as a liaison between RGN and our partners in Moscow.
Luda Shuster -- President
Luda has lived in Silicon Valley since 1979 working in Information
Technology
field. As naturalized American citizen, Luda is proud to be part of the
nation
known for its generosity toward less fortunate in US and abroad. She
practices
"smart giving" by contributing only to the organizations whose goals she
shares and whose fiscal practices she trusts. Luda believes that
humanitarian
assistance home and abroad not only makes us better people but provides
for
social peace and stability.
Mary Hanna -- Public Relations Director
Mary moved from the Midwest to Northern California in 1998, after raising
her two children and 12 sheep on a small farm. While living in Indiana,
she
was a media relations person and webmaster for the Indianapolis Convention
&
Visitors Association. Mary currently directs communications for a
mid-sized
Bay Area city and serves on the board of the Midpeninsula Community Media
Center. In her spare time, she reads voraciously and writes short humor
pieces. Her work has appeared in several newspapers and magazines.
Eugenia Romanovsky -- Global Alliance Manager
Eugenia was born in Belarus and moved to the United States in 1989. She
holds a BA in Computer Science from UC Berkeley and and an MBA
from New York University's Stern School of Business. She
believes in helping others, especially because she has experienced how it
is to be on the receiving end. Eugenia is commited to making RGN a
success, she maintains the RGN website and develops fundrasing ideas. In
her spare time Eugenia takes art lessons, pursues her interest in yoga and
participates in community groups.
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Richard Hasenpflug
Richard Hasenpflug has been active in Russia since the spring of 1992,
when
he first visited Syktyvkar, in the Komi Republic, as part of a business
delegation from Syktyvkar's sister city of Los Altos, California. Since
then
he has made 20 visits to Russia, both on business and as a representative
of
Los Altos Sister Cities.
Dick is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Los Altos Sister
Cities, Inc., where he served as Vice President for Syktyvkar in 1995
and 1996 and as President from 1997 through 1999. He has organized
numerous
delegations to and from Russia, manages an annual program to bring
teachers
and students to Los Altos on a work-exchange program, and organized the
Syktyvkar Winter Aid Program which raised $40,000 for food assistance to
over 4,000 students, teachers and handicapped children during the winter
of
98/99.
Dick's other community activities include Rotary, where he Co-Chaired the
international award-winning Rotary Aids Project, Chair of the Los Altos
School Districts Citizens Finance Committee, and Vice President for
Northern
California of the California-Russia Trade Association.
Dick is a business development consultant specializing in start-ups and
high-growth situations both locally and internationally. Prior to that,
he
worked for several major corporations in international finance, including
a
four-year residency in Singapore. He is currently involved in developing
Business-to-Business Internet opportunities.
Dick has been most generous with his time advising on organizational and
financial aspects during RGN inception. His philosophy of personal
knowledge
and trust as a requirement for international partnership is one of the key
principles of RGN work.
Wilma Flanagan
Wilma is a graduate of Susquehanna University with a BA in Mathematics
and certificates in Management Science as well as Wharton Business
School Executive Management Program from University of Pennsylvania.
Wilma's career started at Burroughs Corporation (now known as Unisys
Corporation) as a systems analyst progressing through various levels of
management to Vice President and General Manager of one of the
Software Divisions by 1990. She left Unisys in 1994 to start her own
project management consulting company and eventually joined one of her
retail clients as their divisional Chief Information Officer. In 1998,
Wilma joined Computer Sciences Corporation as a Principal Consultant
and became Partner in June, 1999.
Wilma spent several years in Brazil allowing her to learn Portuguese
and she is conversant in Spanish as well. In addition to her work
she loves to travel, cook and read.
At work people often come to Wilma when in need of advice, help with
difficult issue or just encouraging word. Her business acumen combined
with genuine concern about people around her transform workplace into a
true community where people not only work but care about each other.
Peggy Shapera
Peggy has lived in California since 1975. She is married to Ron Shapera
and
they have two children. Before that she was an elementary school teacher
in Quebec, Canada, and worked as a recruiter for Oberlin College. In Palo
Alto she was a homemaker and an educational administrator prior to
becoming
a director of Congregation Beth Am's Emigre Outreach Program in 1989.
Since that time the synagogue has resettled and welcomed
to Jewish life almost 600 emigre families from the former Soviet Union.
Peggy served on the Board of Directors for Congregation Beth Am from 1992
thru 1997. Peggy is widely recognized and loved throughout Peninsula
Jewish
community for her selfless efforts on behalf of new emigres,
her generous personality, open heart and deep concern for other people.
OUR VOLUNTEERS
Janeen Jones
Janeen Jones was introduced to the work of the Committee for Civil
Assistance
and Help Us Save the Children through her friend, Alexandra Shaykevich.
Alexandra was a recent emigre from Moscow in December 1998 whom Janeen
volunteered to help. Since that time, Janeen has assisted the Russian
charitable organizations by translating, donating means, making inquiries,
and
promoting awareness of the Russian groups in America. Recently she was
able to
raise some money for the charities through a book sale sponsored by her
church,
the Grace North Parish. Other fundraisers are planned for the future.
Valo Motalygo
Valo Motalygo is a Russian interpreter, translator and instructor living
in
the San Francisco Bay Area. After graduation from Moscow University in
1971,
MS in Applied Linguistics and Mathematics, he worked as a research
scientist
and a software engineer. Since 1990, he has been an independent
contractor
for the U.S. Department of State providing simultaneous interpretation for
various federal agencies, including Federal Election Commission,
Department
of Defense, FBI and FAA. He interprets during workshops and conferences,
simultaneously and consecutively, from English to Russian and from Russian
to English. He translated documents on a wide variety of subjects: from
nuclear physics, medicine and national security to computer science and
agriculture. He is also interested in international relations and trade.
RGN, P.O. Box 60514 Palo Alto, CA 94306-0514
Copyright © 2000 Rescuing Global Neighbors
rescuing@pacbell.net