Lynda Sorensen, President

Lynda is an educator.  At Darien High School, Darien, CT, her work as co-director of the China Exchange Program became the inspiration for her belief in collaboration and relationship as the foundation for change.  A sponsor of Students for Peace, Lynda arranged for a visit to Darien High School by Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Rigoberta Menchu, whose human rights work has influenced Lynda. Deeply moved by Lily Yeh, founder of the Barefoot Artists, Lynda has promoted art and writing as a means of transformation and community building.

Keith Burkum

Keith believes in a humanistic philosophy of service and is committed to working towards the “beloved community.” After college, as a case worker, he assisted young men in a juvenile detention center. Later, at Vanderbilt University, Keith earned a doctorate in Philosophy with a focus on Ethics. As part of his work in the field of education, Keith worked with Prep for Prep in New York City, helping high school students, from under-resourced communities, prepare to apply to selective US colleges. Keith hopes to bring his passion for service and education to the vital mission of GraceWorks.

Sneha Castelino

Sneha is from Mumbai, India, and is currently based in Dubai. A specialist in Finance and Accountancy, she is part of GT Services and Management DMCC, a firm engaged in investment and asset management services. Sneha is also part of Sankhe Charitable Trust in Mangalore, India; she is passionately committed to one of its urgent projects: the cultivation of women’s empowerment. Sneha values her work with 51ah Trust, which promotes a spirit of inquiry and reliable research among young adults, who are mentored to become confident students of debate and discussion.

Ruth Hersh Perry

Ruth has a postgraduate degree in Social Work and background in administration and planning. She has worked with low-income kids in summer camp programs and emotionally disturbed teens in a residential school setting. She has also had a twenty-year long career in helping senior populations in low-income housing and long-term health care communities. Ruth brings to GraceWorks an understanding of how organizations work to meet the needs of those they serve. Ruth is also a moderator of a writers’ group. Her book, Didn’t Meet Any Geezers, was published in 2021.

Diane Sarna

With a Master’s Degree in Intercultural Educational Development from Teachers’ College, Columbia University, Diane has taught high school in Mexico and New York. Through Bridges to Community, Diane travelled with high school students to Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic where they worked on community projects. Diane also volunteered with Simply Smiles at the Home for Children in Oaxaca, Mexico, and with the Overflow Shelter in Danbury, CT, as an overnight volunteer. She serves on two Boards: AFS, NY/Hudson Valley/CT and Hearts of Hope, Newtown, CT.

Liliana Sorensen

Liliana is passionate about empowering young people through community development and education. Curiosity and commitment to service have led Liliana to travel to India, visiting multiple GraceWorks’ sites in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and to Spain where she taught English. In her current job, Liliana serves an under-resourced school district in San Jose, CA. Liliana is inspired by all of the people she has met, both overseas and here in the States, and carries with her the many lessons they have taught her.

Ayumi Temlock

Ayumi is currently a Sales Specialist of MIKI Sangyo USA. She has been an active member of the CT and NJ chapters of Peace Action and participated in several peace walks, organized by Nipponzan Myohoji Temple monks to support a nuclear free world and promote environmental justice for Native Americans. Ayumi has been a facilitator/translator for the Hibakusha (survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) during their presentations in the US. In 2010, her visit to the GraceWorks’ projects in India, overseen by the CSST, led her to believe that “love can grow out of even the barren land.”

Ralph Nazareth

A retired professor of English and a writer, Ralph has been active in social work for most of his life. In the late 60’s, Ralph was a volunteer teacher in the villages around Nasik, Maharashtra, India. In 1969, he helped with the literacy corps in Wyandanch, Long Island. For the past decade and a half, he has taught writing in maximum security prisons in New York. Ralph has been involved in many nonprofit organizations, including St. Luke’s Life Works (now Inspirica) and PoemAlley, a creative arts outreach arm of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Stamford.

Sr. Josephette

Before her retirement, Sr. Josephette was the Assistant General of the Carmelite Sisters of St. Teresa (CSST) and the order's General Councillor of Social Apostolate in the US, Kenya, and Abu Dhabi as well as approximately one hundred and fifteen communities in India. Following a nearly thirty-year stretch as professor at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, she served as the Provincial of the Karnataka Province for three terms. Before she took on her present position at the Generalate, she worked for three years at the Center for Integrated Social Action in Byadgi.