STAFF
Kate Ayers
Executive Director
Kate joined ReEstablish Richmond in 2013, motivated by her participation in the “Just Faith” program, a class focusing on social justice issues around the world. Holding a Master’s degree in Teaching, she previously worked as a special education teacher and department chair in Hanover County for 11 years, while also serving as a volunteer mentor for refugees in the Richmond community. Kate is currently a member of the Office of New Americans Advisory Board, and her dedicated efforts continue to build a supportive, trustworthy community for refugees and new immigrants living in Richmond.
Laura Berge Jones
Associate Director
Living overseas for 16 years gave Laura a deep appreciation for people of diverse cultural and faith backgrounds. Since joining ReEstablish Richmond in 2016, Laura has combined this insight with her experience in teaching and nonprofit administration to address barriers, design services, and develop resources that equip newcomers with knowledge and tools to pursue their goals on their own terms. In her previous roles as Refugee Outreach Coordinator and Director of Transportation Independence, Laura created and strengthened support structures for our clients. Currently, she does the same for our growing team by guiding operations, communications, and supporting both executive and program staff.
Robin Seagraves, CNAP
Director of Finance and Administration
Robin joined ReEstablish Richmond in 2020 with over a decade of administrative experience in alternative and mental healthcare where she provided client support and operational accountability. Previously, while studying for her degree in Psychology, Robin volunteered at a local crisis hotline, offering callers timely intervention, empathy, information, and referrals to community resources. Drawn to the mission and values of ReEstablish Richmond, Robin now uses her enthusiasm, dedication, and professional skills to provide strong administrative support for our Executive Team.
Tessa Packer
Administrative Assistant
After graduating with a degree in Psychology, Tessa moved to Thailand where she taught at an International School for over three years and loved encouraging her students from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds to come together and support one another. During this time, Tessa was also befriended by a family of Burmese refugees and saw first-hand how finding shared language created a sense of community. These experiences cultivated Tessa’s passion for community building and refugee rights. As ReEstablish Richmond’s Administrative Assistant, she is excited to combine her life experience with her experience in nonprofit administration. In her spare time, Tessa likes to volunteer with animals and make pottery.
Helen Rai, MSW
Director of Client Engagement
helen@reestablishrichmond.org
Helen was born in Nepal and raised and naturalized in the US. She immigrated to Richmond in 2005. When folks from Bhutan who are ethnically Nepali began resettling in Richmond as refugees, she accompanied her mom on service visits and thus started building relationships with the community. During her undergraduate degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in Social Work, Helen interned with ReEstablish Richmond in order to work more closely with the Bhutanese and the larger refugee community. Helen manages our client intake process and oversees our Health + Wellness program.
Katie Brown
Director of Newcomer Education
katiebrown@reestablishrichmond.org
Katie graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in Latin American Social Movements and Human Rights in 2016 before earning her AMI Montessori early childhood education certificate. After working as an educator in Montessori classrooms both in Argentina and Virginia, Katie joined the ReEstablish Richmond team first as a volunteer, then as an AmeriCorps Member, and finally as a team member. Currently, she is pursuing a master’s degree in urban planning at VCU, where she studies community development and the relationship between people and place. Katie is excited to bring her background in education, interest in community building, and commitment to addressing barriers to access to the Newcomer Education program.
Jyoti Rimal
Coordinator of Client Engagement
jyoti@reestablishrichmond.org
Jyoti was born in Nepal and immigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was 9 years old. This experience led her to become passionate about helping other immigrants who have resettled in Richmond and are rebuilding their lives here. A first-generation college student, Jyoti is pursuing a Sociology degree with a minor in nonprofit management. In addition to her work and school commitments, she volunteers with Soar365 and actively supports the Bhutanese community as a volunteer coordinator. In her role with ReEstablish Richmond, Jyoti ensures that our clients are connected with the programs, volunteers, and resources that will help them meet their goals.
Sheeba Adli
Coordinator of Client Engagement
sheeba@reestablishrichmond.org
Sheeba is originally from Afghanistan, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting. Since coming to Richmond in 2015, she has participated in the programming of ReEstablish Richmond and earned a customer service certificate from the Career Advancement program of the International Rescue Committee. Sheeba worked as an Internal Manager with JT Spencer for more than four years, and in December 2020, she finished the ESL program at Reynolds Community College where she is currently pursuing an associate’s degree in Accounting. Sheeba is married and blessed with two handsome boys. She loves traveling and exploring new places and new cultures. Her hobbies are riding bikes, nature photography, and making tableau from wheat straw.
Avi Calhoun
Employment + Education Navigation Coordinator of Client Engagement
Avi Calhoun is a conflict resolution expert who uses the wisdom of peace-building in the workspace. He received his M.A. in Public Policy and International Mediation from Tel Aviv University and has over 10 years of experience managing teams and consulting in the U.S. and abroad. Having practiced Zen meditation and studied wisdom from global traditions for over 15 years, Avi finds joy in working with people to help them manage stress, resolve interpersonal conflicts, and gain deeper clarity on their goals as they relate to creating fulfilling success. As Coordinator of Client Engagement, Avi works 1:1 with clients to equip them with the tools and knowledge needed to pursue their career goals. Avi joined ReEstablish Richmond in 2024.
Naseeb Ullah Safi
Transportation Independence Coordinator of Client Engagement
naseeb@reestablishrichmond.org
Naseeb was born and raised in the mountains of Afghanistan. After 7 years of providing linguistic services in partnership with the U.S. military, he relocated to Richmond with a Special Immigrant Visa at the end of 2014. Although his family faced difficulties during this time, Naseeb was inspired to help others after experiencing the welcome and support of compassionate community members, including ReEstablish Richmond staff. While earning an associate’s degree in IT at Reynolds Community College, he worked with the New Virginia Majority, helping returned citizens register to vote. Naseeb then worked as a counselor with Richmond Residential Services until he was deployed to Fort Pickett to process newly arrived evacuees from Afghanistan in 2021. He continued using his language skills (Dari, Pashto, and Arabic) as a caseworker and immigration legal assistant with the IRC in Richmond. Working closely with so many people in urgent need of long-term resources and remembering the impact that ReEstablish Richmond had on his family, Naseeb was motivated to join our team in 2023. By ensuring that newcomers are equipped with knowledge of safe driving skills, he aids their progress toward self-sufficiency while improving the safety of Virginia roads for everyone. In his free time, Naseeb loves playing soccer and being a soccer dad.
Thin Pyie Oo
Coordinator of Volunteer Engagement
Thin was born and raised in Burma and moved to the U.S. in 2021. She joined ReEstablish Richmond in 2023 with almost two decades of experience in managing education and human development programs, including working with a wide range of non-profit organizations. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Australian National University. As a newcomer herself, Thin understands the challenges and barriers of transitioning into a foreign country, and she is passionate about equipping our volunteers with resources so they can successfully connect our clients to the tools needed for a positive integration experience.
AMERICORPS MEMBERS
Zain Ahmad
Capacity Building AmeriCorps Member
Zain was born and raised in Pakistan. After escaping religious persecution, he relocated to Northern Virginia as a teenager. He is a recent graduate from the College of William & Mary where he majored in Health Sciences and Neuroscience. As an undergraduate, Zain researched the COVID-19 pandemic in African countries which deepened his understanding of the health inequities facing our internationally marginalized communities. He also served in the emergency department and volunteered at a local community clinic, providing healthcare to underserved patients. Zain’s journey with ReEstablish Richmond began in 2022 when he began volunteering as an English tutor for newcomers from Afghanistan. Drawing from his own life journey, Zain is excited to establish roots and give back to the community that welcomed him years ago. As a AmeriCorps Member, Zain supports our Outreach team as well as Newcomer Education and Newcomer Navigation programming.
Qadeem Halimi
Capacity Building AmeriCorps Member
qadeem@reestablishrichmond.org
Qadeem was born and raised in Afghanistan. After graduating from high school and a local English language institute, he worked as an English language teacher and earned a Bachelor’s degree in business and management. For 12 years during this time, Qadeem worked in partnership with NATO and U.S. military forces, providing linguistic services and serving as a cultural advisor. In 2021, just before the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Qadeem evacuated to Italy where he worked as a cultural advisor and Italian language interpreter with a local nonprofit. Nearly a year later, he relocated to Richmond with a Special Immigrant Visa. Here Qadeem received a warm welcome by the IRC, ReEstablish Richmond, and the Afghan Association of Central Virginia. While working in digital customer service, he continued to use his language skills (Dari, Pashto, Italian, Urdu, and Hindi) as a contract interpreter with ReEstablish Richmond, Henrico County Public Schools, and GLOBAL Language Services. In his current role as an AmeriCorps Member, Qadeem now serves as logistics coordinator for the English classes in our Newcomer Education program. In his free time, Qadeem enjoys playing soccer and volleyball.
Rosa Lovo
Economic Empowerment AmeriCorps Member
Rosa recently graduated magna cum laude from the University of Richmond with a BA in Russian and Global Studies. As our Economic Empowerment AmeriCorps Member, she coordinates activities and accompanies our clients as they work toward their economic, financial, and vocational goals. Rosa enjoys seeing the tangible fruits of our labor in the community, and she values the ways that ReEstablish Richmond gives newcomers practical tools to thrive here and to facilitate cultural immersion rather than assimilation. Her future goals include working as an interpreter/translator in Russian and Spanish. In her free time, Rosa enjoys walking her dog and painting.
Jo Patzig
Healthy Futures AmeriCorps Member
Jo is one of the AmeriCorps Members serving with ReEstablish Richmond this year. They graduated in 2019 after studying English and textile art at VCU. During the pandemic, Jo honed their passions in equity, mutual aid, and community. They are excited to fuel those passions at ReEstablish Richmond by helping clients connect to resources that increase a sense of wellness and belonging on the way to integration.
FOUNDER
Patrick Braford
Patrick founded ReEstablish Richmond in 2010 after getting to know several refugee families through attending Tabernacle Baptist Church. As he became aware of the challenges faced by refugee communities, his experiences at Habitat for Humanity and Richmond Christian Leadership Institute solidified in Patrick's mind the importance that housing plays in the ability of newcomers to exercise a sense of personal integrity and establish a place of their own in the community. ReEstablish Richmond was born out of his desire to improve the resettlement process for refugees and to support the agencies that serve them. In 2013, Patrick stepped away from ReEstablish Richmond to start Global Painting, a residential and commercial painting company with a crew of skilled painters, all of whom came to Richmond as refugees.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Lindsay Bunting Eubanks, Chair
Lindsay currently works as an attorney for Sands Anderson, specializing in employment law and litigation. She holds a J.D. from William and Mary and a B.A. from the University of Virginia with majors in both French and in Political and Social Thought. She has published pieces on human rights, international law, environmental law, and Islamic law. Lindsay has a heart for non-profit service. Prior to her legal career, she served as a leader for several non-profit organizations providing educational, self-reliance, and employment programming for women and underserved populations. Having lived abroad three times in her adult life, she understands what it feels like to adapt to a new culture and to unfamiliar surroundings. She truly appreciates the difference welcoming strangers make. This experience fuels her passion for welcoming refugees to her native Virginia home. Lindsay joined the board in 2020.
Veena Lothe, Co-Chair
Veena is a proud first-generation Indian-American. Her parents moved to rural West Virginia in the early 1960's, where her father served as a physician. He dedicated his life to serving the impoverished population of the Appalachian coalfields, which taught her the value of service. These lessons of service stayed with Veena throughout her life. After graduating from Cornell Law School, Veena followed in a career of service by working as a civil rights, union-side labor, and immigration attorney. Most of her immigration cases today are pro bono. Veena has been in the Greater Richmond area since 1999, raising her two kids and putting them through public schools. She is active in the community as a school volunteer, serves as a board member at the Shady Grove YMCA, and volunteers as a grassroots activist. Veena joined the ReEstablish Richmond board in 2019.
Jay Beekman, Treasurer
Jay is a Vice President at LOCUS Impact Investing, a national nonprofit consultancy and mission-driven investment advisory firm. His professional experience prior to LOCUS includes investment banking, commercial banking, corporate strategy, and financial planning/analysis. Jay holds a BA in Hispanic Studies and History from Boston College and an MBA from the University of Virginia. He cares deeply about fostering an inclusive and welcoming Richmond community. Jay began volunteering with ReEstablish Richmond in 2016 and joined the board in 2022.
Ramona Taheri, Secretary
Ramona previously worked as a Research Assistant for Columbia University, where she conducted research on civil wars through a grant from the National Science Foundation. This experience and her studies in International Relations led her to focus on the displacement of people by conflict. She has experience working with several nonprofit organizations, including Amnesty International USA, the Red Cross, the Rebuild Afghanistan Summit, and the Peace Operations Training Institute. Ramona joined the ReEstablish Richmond board in 2016 in hopes of creating a better and more inclusive environment for refugees in Richmond.
Megan Benckert (RN, MSN, IDHA), Board Member
Megan currently serves as the Senior Director of the Outbreak Readiness and Response Unit Division of Disease Control for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Megan received her Master of Science in Public Health Nursing from Emory University, Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Virginia, and an International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance from Fordham University. Megan has a passion for serving during emergency responses and has worked in varying capacities around the globe with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) overseeing operations of hospitals and health centers for refugee and internally displaced populations. She has also worked with international NGOs in low- and middle-income countries supporting pediatric survival research, polio eradication programs, clinic expansion projects, and mental health curriculum development. As a native of the Richmond area, she desires to also support newcomers as they start their new lives here in Virginia. Megan joined the ReEstablish Richmond board in 2023.
Marilyn Breslow, Trustee
As the director of Refugee and Immigration Services of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond for 33 years, Marilyn oversaw the resettlement of over 12,000 refugees into Richmond, Roanoke, and Hampton Roads. Her experience with resettlement policies and multiple populations from across the globe inspired her to join the ReEstablish Richmond board in 2014.
Kelly Gartner (MBA, PMP), Board Member
Kelly is a certified project management professional and is currently a manager for the Project Management Office at Virginia Housing. Previously she held leadership positions in healthcare for over a decade. Kelly was first introduced to ReEstablish Richmond by volunteering at a fundraising event for ReEstablish Richmond on behalf of Ten Thousand Villages Richmond, where she has been a volunteer and Board Member since 2009. Kelly has lived in the Northside of Richmond for 15 years with her family and is very active in her community. She is a proud mother of three and hopes that her compassion for all, work ethic, and interest in volunteerism sets a positive example for her children. Kelly joined the board in 2022.
Sonali Khetarpal, Board Member
Sonali is a Strategic Advisor, Investor Relations at Dominion Energy. Her role focuses on communicating the company’s strategy, especially as related to sustainability and ESG matters, to members of the financial community. Prior to her current role, Sonali worked as an M&A Specialist for Dominion. She also has professional experience in investment banking and started her career as a CFO advisory consultant at KPMG, LLP. Sonali received her bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the University of Virginia and her MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. As a young child, Sonali immigrated from India to the United States and she values the critical support that local communities provide for families as they restart their lives in a new country. Sonali joined the ReEstablish Richmond Board in 2023.
Sarah Merryman, Board Member
With a diverse work history in a variety of industries, Sarah has seen firsthand the challenges faced by refugee and immigrant families. After witnessing the mistreatment of non-English speaking seasonal workers on Martha's Vineyard, Sarah spent several months traveling through Eastern Europe, collaborating with local universities to prepare their students for successful employment in the U.S. Since her return, Sarah has resided in different major cities, connected with a variety of community-focused programs, and participated in peaceful protest marches covering topics from criminal justice reform to reproductive rights. Sarah currently attends University of Richmond School of Law and upon graduation plans to work with minority-owned startups/small businesses with a focus on Intellectual Property Law. She joined the ReEstablish Richmond board in 2018.
Hawa Stwodah (BFA, MFA), Board Member
Hawa is a designer, illustrator, and educator whose career has spanned many sectors within the fashion industry. Exhibited nationally and internationally, her projects examine identity, social behaviors, and visual communication through the lens of surface design. Hawa has worked in the United States and the Middle East, collaborating with companies in Europe and Asia and consulting on experimental designs using innovative textiles for apparel, healthcare, and infant accessories. She left the private sector to join Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Fashion Design + Merchandising, working at both the Richmond and Doha Qatar campuses. Hawa joined the board in 2022.