Alvaray Antoine grew up mistrusting church and religious institutions. It was in prison that Alvaray surrendered her life to Lord. Upon her release from prison, Alvaray became a mentor and motivator to other women in prison. She assisted them with the transition back into society. With over twenty years of sobriety, Alvaray has become a role model to individuals overcoming substance abuse, homelessness, and poverty. She organized and founded God Chose Us Community Center. Her organization offers quarterly feeding programs for the homeless, clothing and shoes drives for the Dominican Republic, annual picnics for those celebrating sobriety, and mentors and assists victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation with life skills.
Courtney (“Crow”) Carag is proprietor of Community Care Collective. She works with patients of all ages and backgrounds. She commonly treats pediatric conditions, hormonal imbalances, women’s health issues, digestive issues, chronic inflammatory conditions, and provides pre- and post-surgical care to optimize healing. Courtney has always provided a sliding scale to make payments affordable for all patients and also provides free treatments. Her practice has also provided various support groups since 2016.
In response to COVID-19, Courtney has recently shifted her humanitarian efforts. In March 2020, as soon as she realized that it might no longer be safe to see her clients in person or for her organization to carry on with their in-person programming, she explored other possibilities for how she could best support her community. She turned her resources to serving people without housing in Denver. She has no professional background in food security but that did not deter her from figuring out how to serve her community members. She realized that people experiencing homelessness would quickly be competing for access to food given the number of people who, overnight, had to turn to food banks as businesses throughout our city closed their doors. Courtney began to mobilize new resources so that she could put together and deliver hundreds of lunches, dinners, bottled water, and hygiene supplies to unhoused people in downtown Denver six days a week. She has been doing this work every week since mid-March with few people assisting her and scant funds and this branch of her work has become a permanent facet of her work. She is now laying the foundation required to make food security an additional major component of her organization’s mission and programming. She plans to refurbish a shuttered grocery store in her organization’s neighborhood which is now a food desert and have the store operate as a donation-based grocery store where anyone can shop for affordable/free fresh foods with dignity.
Courtney received her Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine and her Master’s in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from Bastyr University. She performed her Residency at a general family practice clinic in the Vail Valley. She also teaches Pharmacology at the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Denver. She has worked and studied internationally, including three internships integrating Western Medicine and Chinese Medicine in China & Taiwan. Additionally, she has advanced training in Pediatrics, Women’s Health and Fertility, Digestive Health, Visceral Manipulation, Homeopathy, and Detoxification/ Drug Recovery Support.
Denton Knapp is the Director of the Tierney Center for Veteran Services at Goodwill Industries of Orange County, California. He is an expert in leadership and character development, serving over 30 years as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army and Joint assignments. He retired honorably as a Colonel in May 2017. He continues to serve as a Brigadier General in the California State Guard as the Deputy Commander, 40th Infantry Division, California Army National Guard.
Originally from Gillette Wyoming, Knapp graduated from the United States Military, Academy at West Point in 1987, and was commissioned an Infantry Officer. He served in numerous command and staff positions throughout his military career in Infantry Units, as well as Joint Headquarters. His service includes multiple combat tours commanding in Iraq and Afghanistan. He served as Director for the U.S. Army’s Center for the Army Profession and Ethic, commanded NATO’s Regional Support Command-East in Afghanistan, and led programs at the U.S. Special Operations Command and the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command for future concepts and capabilities.
His education includes a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY; Master of Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL; and Master of Strategic Studies, U.S. Army War College, PA. His highest military awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device and Oakleaf Cluster, Ranger Tab, and Combat Infantryman’s Badge.
He currently serves as the Chairman for the Steering Committee of the Orange County Veterans & Military Families Collaborative; Deputy Commander, 40th Infantry Division, CA ARNG; Board Member, Greater Los Angeles Association of the United States Army; and Advisor, U.S. Veterans Business Alliance OC Chapter. He was recently selected to serve on the national advisory council to the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs for Veteran Families, Caregivers, and Survivors. He is the Director of Federal Contracting for Patriot Source LLC, and serves as a training and development officer with Building Emergency Response Teams, Inc. His philanthropy includes veterans, suicide awareness, multiple sclerosis, and autism. He resides in Trabuco Canyon, Orange County, California.
Erwin Raphael has advocated for support for military veterans and started veteran related employee resource groups at Fiat Chrysler (FCA) as well as Hyundai Motor America. He also established a program within his company to find jobs for over 750 service members who were returning to full-time civilian life as a way to counter veteran related depression and the high suicide rate associated with it. Erwin also contributes over $10,000 per year of his personal money to fund scholarships for students entering his alma mater, The Ohio State University. This year, with growing awareness of the effects of racism on young African Americans, Erwin decided it was time to form The Lantern Network, a charity organization with the expressed purpose of strengthening America by providing vision, examples, resources, opportunity and guidance to young black Americans so they can more fully contribute to building our more perfect union. Erwin and his wife have already contributed significantly to the foundational work of this charity and will officially launch this work in October, 2020.
Raphael holds Bachelor degrees in chemistry and applied math from The Ohio State University, where he is a member of the Advisory Council to the Executive Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of UCLA Health Systems. He is a decorated veteran of the US Army for 8 years, most recently with the 416th Engineer Command. He continues as an appointed Army Reserve Ambassador for the State of California.
He has served as a mentor to many minorities throughout his career in Corporate America. He repeatedly receives letters, cards, phone calls, and emails thanking him for the impact he had of the lives of his mentees. Erwin has groomed many others to become the best professional possible. Erwin is an advocate and corporate leader for hiring, retaining, and growing diverse high performing teams (women, minorities, LGBTQ+, as an inclusive member of society.
Coach Loren McCoy is training children from all walks of life and saving them from accidental drowning everyday, especially in San Bernardino County which has the highest rate of drowning in the country. At the age of 64, Coach Loren gets into the water year round to make sure that the children are learning the correct techniques and not hurting themselves. This style of teaching is much harder and rarely done anymore but Coach Loren believes that it’s necessary to physically show and effectively communicate to the children so they can survive in the water and swim well. Coach Loren’s knowledge and skills in water, and his effective ability to teach and train children from all walks of life make him an exceptional instructor. With his firm voice, determination, and willingness to train even the difficult and special children, Coach Loren is an exceptional head coach. Many families in San Bernardino are lower income and Victory Aquatics doesn’t turn students away. They find a way to get kids swimming and teach them the benefits of a team and sport.
Loren is the father to three children, Ian, Rachel and Roy Diego. In 1978, Loren graduated from the University of Kentucky which he attended on a four year athletic scholarship for swimming. After college Loren was the Head Age Group Coach for the Coronado Swim Association from 1979-1981, he was the Guatemalan National Swimming Coach where he developed eight Guatemalan swimmers for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Loren is also the 100th person to swim successfully from Catalina to the Coast of California in eighty years.
Lynn Tang is a film and Broadway musical producer. Before the entertainment industry, she was a Project Manager specializing in international business exchange and she has served as a management specialist for Fortune 500 companies. In 2008, she established ST Culture Advocacy to provide a forum for showcasing international cinema and awarding academic scholarships. Her charitable organization promotes understanding and collaboration among people from different cultures. Through the production of movies, film festivals, art, music, dance, and other venues, she has provided audiences the opportunity to see cultural activities from all over the world. Attending these productions and shows can change the individual’s perception of themselves and the world by raising awareness of a variety of universal issues. These experiences can make them more aware, appreciative, and understanding of people from other cultures and engaged members of our community. She was also able to promote individual career development by providing international film delegates the opportunity to network and share their talent with potential partners and others who would not otherwise have the opportunity to see them. She was also successful in helping students pursue their education and careers by providing a platform to develop their talents through academic scholarships and cultural events. Her programs have empowered people to drive positive change in themselves, their organizations, and society.
Patrick “PK” Kucera has been a pastor for the past 30 years and is the founder of Frontline Ministries as well as taking over as the CEO of the Charitable Giving Foundation. Patrick is known worldwide as “The Entrepreneurial Evangelist”. He is considered the trusted voice for the entrepreneur that exists within us all. He is leading the “Revival of Revenue” and providing the solution to the 21st century money problem for the masses, the middle class, and main street small business. He has traveled to Africa and the Philippines to help the people in these third world areas. He has gone to places like Houston and New York after massive hurricanes in their area in order to help out the people after these natural disasters.
Patrick was born in 1967 and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. He excelled in athletics and academics and was already making money in small ways from home as a young entrepreneur. In 1986, PK graduated from Creighton Prep High School and went on to Creighton University where he met his teenage sweetheart, Mari, on their very first day of college. Patrick married Mari in 1990 and they have experienced all the joys and humor involved with raising six children—as well as the wrenching heartache and anguish of burying two other children—Patrick and Michaela. Since 1990 they have been involved in numerous business and ministry ventures, serving in various capacities: senior pastor, church planters, life coaches, business owners and consultants, missionaries and global entrepreneurial evangelists.
Sarah is a leader of the Rotary Club in Altadena, California. Through the Rotary Club, she organizes scholarships for local students, teachers, veterans, and young musicians. She has coached generations of young cellists for the National Children’s orchestra in the United Kingdom. She has been involved in numerous fundraising performances and album projects benefiting cancer research, children’s hospitals, and mental healthcare for veterans, youth and students with disabilities. Sarah was integral in the work that provided villagers in a remote area in Nepal with access to clean drinking water and their children with a school that was built and now served by volunteers and trained staff. She worked on a humanitarian venture that provides basic healthcare to individuals through a healthpost in the village of Mirge and a new hospital project that is close to completion in this underserved area. Through her fundraising work in Cambodia, lands have been cleared of landmines making the area safer for villagers. Sarah established the non-profit organization, Service Through Entrainment, Art and Music International Inc.
Sarah is an accomplished cellist and in the United States and Europe, she performs benefit concerts regularly and has produced albums for the Nicole Brown Simpson Charitable Foundation and Portland College. She collaborates with other musicians and artists for fundraising events.