CoSS Organization
CoSS is a non-profit, charitable and educational organization organized
under the laws of the State of Washington and under 501(c)3 regulations of the
IRS. CoSS is organized for the benefit of the children of the Svirstroiski
Detsky Dom (Svir Stroi Children's Home) located at #1 Sosnovaya Street in Svir
Stroi, Lodeina Polye Rayon, Leningrad Oblast, Russia.
The mission of CoSS is to see to the educational and health (medical, dental and emotional) needs of the children residing in that detsky dom and to give them life skills training when they leave.
Executive Director
Board members
Fransing Sinclair Daisy, Ph.D.
Joline Railey
Wendy Krause
Lisa St. George
Jacqueline
Higgins-Rosebrook, Executive Director, is
a writer, mother, grandmother, herbalist and gardener. She spent the summer of
1999 as a volunteer teacher at Svirstroiski Detsky Dom where she fell in love
with all 125 of the children. Jacque has many years of experience in grants
management and fiscal administration at the University of Washington in Seattle.
She has spent a lifetime involved in social justice issues from union organizing
with CSA 925 at the University of Washington to serving on the Education Board
of the Seattle Indian Center to teaching bilingual high school completion
courses for migrant farm workers with the Northwest Rural Organization to the
Committee on Alternative Education in the Seattle Public Schools as well as
serving on the Festal! Planning Committee of the Arab Center of Washington. In
addition, Jacque has extensive experience in conference and event planning and
management. Her favorites are the Women and Spirituality conferences she
organized for Antioch University; No Beads, No Trinkets, an international
exhibit of American Indian art she coordinated and co-curated for a UN
Conference on Minorities in Geneva, Switzerland; and the First International
Partnership Conference she helped plan and facilitate while living on the island
of Crete.
Jill Lightner has over ten years experience working with children, parents, and education. As a freelance writer, one of her main focus areas is creative methods of early childhood education. She has taught job skills to low-income women, parenting workshops, and children's art activities, and is a volunteer tutor for disadvantaged community college students. Her work with small businesses has given her plenty of experience in accounting, tax preparation, and record keeping; she currently serves as the treasurer for
CoSS.Dr. Tim Hunkapiller received his Doctorate from the California Institute of Technology in Molecular Biology and most recently has held a Research Assistant Professor appointment in the Department of Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Washington. He is currently President and Chief Scientific Officer for Discovery Biosciences Corporation, a life sciences industry consulting firm. Dr. Hunkapiller's research focus has included molecular immunology, evolution, computational genetics, comparative genomics and he is an expert on the genetics, genomic organization and functional diversity of the immune system. He has also been involved in bioinformatics, algorithm and database development, and experimental process optimization, for 20 years. While at Caltech, Dr. Hunkapiller originated the model for the automated, fluorescent DNA sequencer, recently the central technology responsible for characterizing the Human Genome. Dr. Hunkapiller has served as an advisor to a number of biotechnology companies as well as technology companies servicing the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. He has worked closely with many members of the Soviet/Russian scientific community over the years. S ubsequently, he has become particularly concerned about the lack of educational opportunities available to that country's less advantaged youth. He feels that all of us lose when great potential is lost.
Dr. Fransing Sinclair Daisy received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Washington. She has worked at the Veterans' Administration Hospital in Seattle where she gained extensive experience working with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and substance abuse issues. As a clinical psychologist, she has worked with Indigenous populations at the Seattle Indian Health Board as well as with university student populations. In addition, Dr. Daisy has been involved in several research projects for the Seattle Indian Health Board and the National Indian Health Service. She is the mother of two children adopted internationally. Besides ongoing consultancies with Indigenous corporations, Dr. Daisy currently is a research associate on an HIV/AIDS research project at the University of Washington and she teaches psychology at Antioch University in Seattle. She is adjunct faculty at both universities.
Joanne Walby spent the summer of 1998 teaching English to the children at the Svirstroiski Detsky Dom, while they taught her about picking mushrooms and berries and so much more. Joanne was a Russian studies major in college and lived in Russia for a year while learning the language and culture. She now works in Washington DC for an organization that works on legal reform programs in the former Soviet Union. Joanne returned to Svir Stroi to visit the children and staff during the summer of 2000 and she continues to keep in touch with them by mail.
Barry Wittman, a former systems programmer and consultant to government and business is now retired. `Retired` for Barry means that he is currently teaching Computer Science part-time at Rutgers University and at Rutgers Preparatory School. He and his wife Gail Wittman who is on the Dean's staff in the Department of Student Life, Douglass College of Rutgers University live in a dorm there where they are student advisers.
Barb Anderton was a volunteer at Svir Stroi and a founding member of
CoSS but is on hiatus while she completes a contract with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.William Hodge has a good thirty years' experience working on human rights issues, especially as they pertain to access to education for disadvantaged youth. Woody has served on a number of committees in Seattle and Metro King County having to do with obtaining better access to goods and services for all residents. He currently works as a Research Investigator in the Management Information and Planning department of Washington State DSHS-Children's Administration Division of Children and Family Services.
Dianna Norris is the president & owner of her own business, Desktop by Dianna, Inc. She is Chapter Chair of 9to5, Atlanta Working Women where she works to get laws changed to better the workplace environment. (Her words are quoted in a report from the Federal Labor Department, Women's Division, to Congress regarding Equal Pay). She has three children and four grandchildren. She enjoys working with other people and organizations and considers it a privilege to be associated with other organizations. Everything is always a learning experience as she has so much to learn and to teach as well. Her goal someday is to go with the Peace Corps for a couple of years, but that is down the road a ways. She is creative and would like to help women in developing countries set up businesses and achieve success and independence. She has been involved in volunteer work most of her life, starting in High School where she was a Candy Striper.
Theressia Hazelmyer has spent much of her life devoted to human rights and social justice issues. She has years of experience as a union organizer with CSA 925 on the University of Washington campus. Her professional life has been focused on fundraising and development for non-profit organizations from the Pride Foundation to Big Brothers Big Sisters of King and Pierce Counties where she currently is Director of Development. When she is away from the office, Theressia's life is grounded in a woman owned intentional community on Vashon Island near Seattle.
Email to coss@vircom.net
Copyright © CoSS, 2003