Edythe Stromme President: Edythe's arm around one of our children illustrates the heart of why we do what we do. It's all about the children. Edythe is our President and is responsible for not only most of the paperwork required of an organization like ours, but she also continues to set the tone and spirit for our work. It is not unusual to find her working with church, civic groups or companies to raise awareness of the plight of the Georgian children. She works tirelessly to provide for their needs - also traveling as often as she can to the orphanages to assist.

 

Charles "Chuck" Stromme Treasurer: Chuck is a big guy . . . and he's a little imposing looking when you first meet him. The thing is, he has a heart bigger than his imposing persona. His official title is "Treasurer" of CCR Fund, and his background (30 plus years with the IRS) makes him good at that, but he's also the one who fell in love with the children and birthed the vision for an organization that would support and help them. His frequent work-related trips to Georgia make it possible for him to take needed supplies (like vitamins, non-prescription drugs like aspirin and Advil) to the kids at minimum expense. The picture at the right shows him with two of the kids at his side during a "field trip" (this one included a stop at McDonalds - something the children had only dreamed of) that was made possible by the generous gifts of our supporters.

 

Sopo Gurgenidze Public Relations: Sopo is our Public Relations Officer in Georgia. She is a terrific organizer and can arrange anything from a meeting to a party or a gala fundraiser. She is Chuck's assistant but he swears she can do his job with or without him. Sopo is a bold and enthusiastic woman who adds a lot to our Georgian team.

 

Guram Abashidze Board Member: Guram has encouraged and helped us with our project since it was just an idea. He frequently visits both orphanages and has been generous with him time and advice. Guram is an attorney and so free advice is an especially good deal. Guram recently agreed to join our Board of Directors so we will have an on-site director in Georgia to help us as we expand our project to include some construction upgrades for Telavi.

 

Ioana Nakashidze Field Representative: Ioana is one of our Georgian Field Representatives. Ioana shops with an eye toward making the best use of every dollar we send. Whatever is on our list for the kids, Ioana can find it and get it at the best possible price. Ioana loves the children and the children love her right back. She is also our friend, Chuck's Russian tutor and our CCRFund money manager in Georgia. Ioana's handsome husband Lio also accompanies her on many of her visits to Dzegvi and Telavi.

 

Levan Jakobia Field Representative: Levan is another of our Field Representatives in Georgia. We met him in 2001 and he has been an important part of life there ever since. He's been our guide, driver and friend. Levan and his family have become part of our Georgian family. His mother, Natala is especially dear to us. We depend on Levan for many things and he never lets us down.

 

Gloria Collins Donations-In-Kind Coordinator: Gloria lives in Massachusetts with her husband Jeffrey and their daughter, Brittany. She learned about CCRFund through Robert Sabuda’s website in 2005 and volunteered to become our Donations-In-Kind Coordinator. Gloria created a campaign to get corporate donors and to find a means to ship goods to Georgia. She was amazingly successful and secured over $78,000 in corporate donations in 2005. She arranged to have the donations delivered to Telavi by Counterpart International. So far, she has filled three cargo containers for Telavi and is working on getting donations for another one. She suggested our Sleeping Bags and Beanie Babies campaign and has devoted herself to making life better for the children at Telavi and Dzegvi. Gloria has been an amazing addition to CCRFund and we have been blessed by her creativity, tenacity and determination.

 

Mr. Simon “Amiran” Tavartkiladze Senior Advisor: As of May 1, 2008, Simon “Amiran” Tavartkiladze joined our permanent staff as a Senior Advisor. Amiran is an old and trusted friend and he was Chuck’s professional counterpart during the years that Chuck worked as an advisor to the Georgian government during both the Shevardnadze and Saakashvili administrations. Amiran was with Chuck on his very first visit to the Dzegvi Orphanage in the fall of 2002 and he has been with CCRFund as an informal mentor since the very beginning. We couldn’t be happier that he has joined our “official” CCRFund family. Welcome Amiran!