Our Team

Bethany has been interested in fishing, hiking, camping, seaside walks, and watching wildlife since her childhood in Portland, Oregon, USA. Bethany believes in the importance of putting Christian faith and belief into practice and now, finding herself in Winnipeg, Manitoba, her desire to care for God's creation has brought her to A Rocha. Bethany is taking Just Growing into its second year of community outreach, education, and gardening so that the community will benefit from fresh nutritious produce, learning about biodiversity, and caring for the local ecology.

Based out of the beautiful Bulkley Valley in northern BC, Cindy works as A Rocha's Northern BC Representative & Community Mobilizer.  Over the past 15 years Cindy has volunteered with A Rocha in Portugal, on the Canadian Board of Directors, as a newsletter editor, and as community group leader in Edmonton until she moved to BC. Cindy is a graduate of King's University College with a BSc, and a Naturalist certificate from the Au Sable Institute in Michigan. She currently lives in Houston, BC, with her husband Dennis and their three children.

Christy connected with A Rocha Canada way back at the beginning (2001) and became one of the first summer interns. She now has a background in Environmental Science (BSc) and Renewable Resource Management (DipT), with experience working in the public (BC MOE) and private sectors. Focus areas include watershed management, water quality, stream habitat restoration, partnership collaboration, and fisheries. She enjoys getting her feet wet and hands dirty here at A Rocha's Brooksdale Environmental Centre, where she lives with her husband and two young children.

Emma discovered a second home in the A Rocha community shortly after arriving as an immigrant to Canada from England nearly five years ago, and has stuck around ever since, like an invasive species.  She appreciates and values the open hospitality, warm friendships, and meaningful work in beautiful surroundings.  As a long-term volunteer, whenever life permits the time, she balances a fine-tuned mix of working in the vegetable garden, writing grant proposals, and persuading others to take a break and drink some tea.  In her other life, she works as a university professor teaching linguistics, and is a graduate student of restorative justice and theology.

Jen is married to Dallas and living in the core area of Winnipeg. She has a degree in international development studies and has been involved in numerous community development projects. Some interests include her neighbourhood, gardening, fixing things, running, and good food.

Leah comes to A Rocha with a background in campus ministry and education.  Alongside her husband Markku, Leah helped set up A Rocha’s first Field Study Centre in Canada in 2003.  Since then she has participated in all facets of community life.  She currently serves as A Rocha’s lead writer and editor.  Leah loves a good book and time outside with her girls Maya and Bryn.

Luke values sustainability and community living, and has a desire to live a life of worship; A Rocha was a natural fit. He brings his experiences in marketing from World Vision and The Sierra Club. Luke is currently finishing a Masters of Business in Nonprofit Management and is very excited about the Canadian vision for A Rocha's work.

Matt and Roxy met while co-guiding a trip in the Coastal mountains of BC. Since then, they’ve enjoyed journeying together towards living faithfully in God’s Creation. Roxy comes with a background in experiential education, teaching, and guiding. Matt brings a background in theology and a passion for integrating the life of faith into all we do. They are excited about the intern program, fruit trees, chickens, and the way we grow, cook, and share food together. They live, work, and thrive at the BC Field Study Centre.

Paul is passionate about connecting people with creation and our Creator. To this end, Paul is developing support for his work with A Rocha. In the Greater Toronto Area, Paul will engage the Christian and larger community in local conservation activities. Before joining A Rocha, Paul studied Environmental Studies and Geography, coordinated community-based stewardship projects for an environmental NGO and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and involved his faith communities in environmental initiatives.

Paul's work with A Rocha's Community Supported Agriculture project (CSA) is focused on nurturing green growing things. He loves compost, worms and bees, and delights in watching tiny seedlings grow. He also loves to see people get excited about weeding, harvesting and enjoying the goodness of fresh, locally-grown food. Paul lives at Kingfisher Farm with his wife Angela, son Simon, daughter Kate, and 5 other families who share the ups and downs of community life.

Ruth has over twenty-five years experience in the area of children’s education as a teacher, early childhood educator, and Christian education co-coordinator. She also has a background in camping, wilderness canoe-tripping and outdoor education. Ruth is working to create children’s programs for camps, churches and other communities. She lives in Vancouver with her husband Rob and their three children.

Queenie originally worked with A Rocha in the summer of 2009 as their Sustainable Agriculture Student Intern.  At that time she learned a lot about growing food organically, especially the importance of community to support it.  Her undergraduate years studying sustainable food systems at UBC and growing up in Vancouver provide a good foundation for her new role at A Rocha.
 
She has a passion for all things related to food: our dependence on God for it, the fellowship that arises from a shared meal, and the connection with our Creator when we grow it.  As it is written in Psalm 34:8, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!"

Before pursuing further research at Regent College (Vancouver BC), Samuel pastored in a suburban Toronto Chinese church for over eight years. His undergraduate training in urban planning (UWaterloo), specialized in environmental land use issues, the theological exposure in his MDiv years (Tyndale Seminary) and the pastoral experience and observations compelled him to seek ways to address the issues and concerns about creation care and the challenges of modern culture in his teaching and preaching ministries, as well as initiatives of promoting sustainability in congregational lives. Samuel and his wife Rebecca enjoy living in a transit friendly neighbourhood and their summer biking routine in Vancouver.

Stan is an amateur naturalist who has been fascinated by nature and its diversity for as long as he can remember.  Now that he is retired he has more time to be out enjoying creation and learning more about how things are interconnected. Part of his time is spent volunteering at A Rocha where he helps with surveys such as birds, butterflies, dragonflies, amphibians and

seashore invertebrates.

Shauna directs A Rocha's Fun on the Farm program, reaching out to families in need and connecting them to food, community and creation.  She comes with a background in theology and law and is passionate about issues of food security.  Shauna helps direct the Brooksdale Environmental Centre with her husband David.  She is mother to Aiden, Noah and Thea.

Steve learned about A Rocha’s work in Portugal while on an offshore sailing trip and was inspired to live more intentionally as a steward of creation. His direct connections began when volunteering at the BC Centre while completing studies in Geographic Information Systems. Steve is glad to be on the team at this exciting time as the vision of caring for God’s creation expands across the country. As part of the Development team, Steve wears many hats; fortunately, he has quite an extensive collection at his home in South Surrey!

Susan was born and raised in Vancouver and currently lives in South Surrey, BC. As former co-owner /operator of a customer service business and office manager of a consulting firm, Susan brings with her many years of administrative experience. She is involved with co-operative living and inter-denominational ministry. Susan loves to see the transformation of lives and is excited to be part of environmental restoration work.

Travis first heard about A Rocha from some team members who attended an event he was leading worship at.  It turns out in addition to his musical talent, he's also a really handy guy. Travis is our Grounds and Maintenance Manager. On a large heritage estate like Brooksdale, having him around is invaluable! We are so glad he's passionate about caring for creation by caring for our amazing property! When he is not singing songs he is lending his fix-it skills around the Brooksdale Centre making sure everything works as it should and stays looking beautiful.

Ute moved to Canada from Germany in 2001. She has worked as a caregiver for the Neufeld family and now manages the A Rocha Brooksdale Guesthouse. Ute is experienced as a Housekeeping Manager and cooking instructor. She also enjoys the opportunity to work with kids with the Fun on the Farm program; passing on her knowledge and making delicious meals.