Our Team
OUR CAUSESThe Rayjon Board (Canada)
Rayjon Board of Directors: (Front Row): Brian Rea, John Spinozzi, Mary Weerdenburg, Cheryl DeGroot, Heather Smith, Terry DeMarco. (Back Row): Den Shannon, Ann Tuplin, Bryce McGarvey, Glen Maddison, Debbie Austin, Joanna Catterson, John Barnfield
Rayjon Board of Directors: (Front Row): Brian Rea, John Spinozzi, Mary Weerdenburg, Cheryl DeGroot, Heather Smith, Terry DeMarco. (Back Row): Den Shannon, Ann Tuplin, Bryce McGarvey, Glen Maddison, Debbie Austin, Joanna Catterson, John Barnfield
Board Chairperson: Ann Tuplin Past Chair & Eyeglass Liaison: Den Shannon President & Co-Founder: John Barnfield
Secretary: Mary Weerdenburg Financial Director: John Spinozzi CEC Liaison: Joanna Catterson
Projects Director: Debbie Austin Trips Director: Bryce McGarvey Medical Director: Dr. Glen Maddison
Member at Large: Brian Rea Member at Large: Cheryl DeGroot Member at Large: Terry DeMarco
Executive Director: Heather Smith
Haitian & Dominican Leaders
Andre Jean-Pierre, Field Director
Responsible for oversight and management of all Rayjon-supported project activities in Haiti (Cap Haitian and St. Marc) since 2012.
Andre deserves special mention for his ability to build relationships, empower young leaders, and support Haitian-led initiatives.
He’s a wonderful husband and father to three beautiful children. He is also just one our favourite human beings, freely sharing his insight and contagious laughter. More about Andre
Renaud Thomas, Community Coordinator/Manager
Listen to Renaud explain how he believes Haiti will find solutions to its most difficult problems here.
More info About Renaud coming soon!
Elida Jeanty, Women’s Federation Liaison
More about Elida coming soon!
Georges Thertulien, Director, Dominican Republic
More info about Georges coming soon!
Our Mission
Rayjon Share Care supports partners in Haiti and the Dominican Republic to enhance their well-being and capacity. Rayjon provides a bridge between those who can help and those who need and want help in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and other developing countries.
Our Vision
A world in which people have an equal opportunity to thrive ─ empowered, independent and self-sufficient.
Rayjon Organogram
Committees
Trips Committee:
The trips committee reviews all requests for Rayjon Trips including Awareness Trips, Work Trips and Project Engagement Trips and makes recommendations to the Board with respect to trip approvals, safety and policies.
Community Engagement Committee:
The Community Engagement Committee is responsible for fundraising, outreach/awareness, and coordinating volunteering for events. Sub-committees organize special major fundraising events (i.e. Fall Fair, DeGroot’s sale, Women Helping Women event, and more).
Finance Team:
The Finance team is comprised of the Financial Director, the Executive Director and Rayjon volunteers who carry out financial activities including donation receipting, accounting, account reconciling and audit readiness.
Projects Advisory Team
The Projects Advisory team provides support to the Projects Director and Project Manager to oversee the three Community Development projects supported by Rayjon in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. They are actively involved in building and maintaining relationships with Haitian & Dominican partners, monitoring and evaluation, and ensuring all project activities align with Rayjon’s overall mission, goals, and Strategic Plan.
Fund Development Committee:
The Fund Development Committee provides strategic recommendations to the Rayjon Board in order to ensure long-term financial stability.
The Eyeglass Program:
The Rayjon Eyeglass Program is coordinated by a committee of volunteers who meet regularly to plan all activities related to Eyeglass Trips. It takes many volunteers in Canada who receive, clean, sort, and enter glasses into a database for use in clinics.
Rayjon’s Impact on the World
Vaccinations for children and adults
Children educated from preschool to grade 13
Pairs of prescription eyeglasses prescribed & fitted in 9 countries
Impoverished elementary & secondary students received tuition support to attend school
Malnourished children received life-saving treatment
Women received loans & training to start small businesses
Adults learned to read & write
Financial Statements
Where does the money go?
Rayjon values accountability and transparency. As a grassroots, volunteer-based organization we are able to keep our administration/overhead costs amazingly low!
We are proud to report that over the last 5 years our total administration costs averaged only 5.75%!
We are thankful for the support of community partners that generously allow us the use of their building spaces to hold our meetings, helping us to keeps costs down further and allowing us to send maximum funds to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Volunteer administrators maintain home offices and secure information storage, eliminating the need for formal office space while maintaining security and privacy. Thank you to our many volunteers and community partners that make this possible.