Meet The Team
Staff
Faune is the Executive Director. With an extensive background in non-profit and financial services, Faune was able to align her love for children and drive for change in a career that she is incredibly excited about. It’s been one of Faune’s strongest desires to continue to serve her community. She is passionate and understands the importance of donors and fundraising to expand our mission to help more children living with chronic hunger. She couldn’t imagine doing more meaningful work. Her sunny disposition and unstoppable drive for change will create further awareness of protecting our most vulnerable. In her free time, Faune enjoys spending quality time with her four children, going to the beach, watching hockey, and diving into a really good book.
Cali Dubois, Program Coordinator (She/Her)
Cali leads the Program Coordination at Food4Kids Waterloo Region, working with families, schools and volunteers in delivering our mission. Prior to this, Cali worked in retail as a Buyer and Manager for 17 years, but the role lacked fulfillment. Being a part of Food4Kids Waterloo Region has given Cali the opportunity to truly help children’s futures. Cali enjoys gardening and wishes Ontario had a longer growing season.
Emily Loro, Volunteer Coordinator (She/Her)
Emily was a previous summer student with us and is now a recent graduate, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in Community and Criminal Justice. She is passionate about working with members of the community to create change. Emily works closely with our volunteers and systems to ensure our volunteer activities run smoothly. She enjoys being outdoors, spending time with family, and reading.
Jess Brunski, Bookeeper (She/Her)
Jess is our Bookkeeper and assists with the administrative coordination at Food4Kids Waterloo Region. With her previous private and commercial banking, insurance, and small business experience Jess brings a wide array of skills to assist our team in the day-to-day operations. She helps aid our organization to achieve our mission, utilizing her financial and administrative expertise. Jess is an avid crafter and animal lover.
Carrie Gusé
Community Engagement Coordinator
Carrie Gusé is the Community Engagement Coordinator. She has spent over two decades serving congregations creatively as a Worship Pastor and Artistic Director. Carrie also spent many years teaching Kindermusik and music at a private school. She has her Home Staging certification and enjoys home decorating. Carrie is passionate about building relationships and making a difference in her community. She loves to spend time with her husband, 3 adult children and son in law. She cheers loud at hockey games and loves to find a good bargain.
Board Members
Cameron Redmond, Chair (He/Him)
chair@food4kidswr.ca
Cameron is a Technology and Professional Services Executive with over 20 years of Product Development industry experience. He currently serves as the Executive Vice-President of Sales with Fidus Systems. In his spare time, Cameron enjoys activities with his family and enjoys scuba diving.
Cameron has a passion for community building and believes that a good healthy start allows our children to be in the best position to flourish in their lives and achieve their full potential. Introduced to Food4Kids Waterloo Region early in the pandemic, the organization aligned well with his beliefs. Cameron feels strongly that our local technology companies should, can, and will make a large difference in kids’ lives by supporting this organization.
Jessica Nurse, Vice Chair (She/Her)
Jessica is a senior project manager at Aftia Solutions, leading complex projects by utilizing her skills and expertise to drive successful project outcomes. Jessica enjoys outdoor activities including camping, skiing, and beach volleyball in her spare time, as well as spending time with her family.
As the Vice Chair, she brings her passion for community service and dedication to helping others in the mission delivery of providing healthy food for children in need. Jessica uses her project management skills to assist with program initiative planning, execution and her community-minded spirit to contribute to the organization’s efforts to make a positive impact in the lives of local children.
Michelle Newlands, Board Member (She/Her)
Michelle Newlands is a Supervisory Officer (SO) with the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB). She oversees 23 elementary schools across the region. In her role, Michelle ensures that school programming, policies, and procedures affirm student well-being and achievement. Prior to being appointed as an SO, Michelle worked as an elementary school principal in Burlington, Ontario. During this time, she was introduced to Halton Food4Kids. Having witnessed firsthand the benefits of the Food4Kids program in supporting and promoting student well-being, Michelle is thrilled to contribute to an organization that positively impacts the lives of many students through her appointment to the board.
Michelle Newlands is a Supervisory Officer (SO) with the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB). She oversees 23 elementary schools across the region. In her role, Michelle ensures that school programming, policies, and procedures affirm student well-being and achievement. Prior to being appointed as an SO, Michelle worked as an elementary school principal in Burlington, Ontario. During this time, she was introduced to Halton Food4Kids. Having witnessed firsthand the benefits of the Food4Kids program in supporting and promoting student well-being, Michelle is thrilled to contribute to an organization that positively impacts the lives of many students through her appointment to the board.
Colin Woodworth, Treasurer (He/Him)
Colin is a Chartered Professional Account (CPA) and the Head of Finance at Deep Trekker Inc. where he is responsible for managing the company’s financial strategy, administrative functions and operations. Leisurely, Colin enjoys golfing and spending time with his family (including his dog Rosie).
In his role as Treasurer at Food4Kids Waterloo Region, Colin is responsible for managing the organization’s financial affairs and ensuring its financial stability. With a strong track record of managing budgets and driving growth, Colin is known for his leadership skills, strategic thinking, and ability to build relationships with stakeholders. Colin is dedicated to the long-term success of Food4Kids Waterloo Region and is extremely passionate about the mission.
Rebecca George, Board Member (She/Her)
Rebecca is a Revenue Operations Analyst at Vidyard, focused on reporting, creating system efficiencies, and enablement. An avid reader and culinary enthusiast, Rebecca spends her evenings reinventing classic recipes and teaching cooking classes to youth and seniors in the Kitchener area. She is passionate about giving back to the community and joined the Board to support eradicating hunger and food insecurity in the region. Rebecca believes that intervention and support at a young age give youth a better chance at success.
Corina Chang, Board Member (She/Her)
Corina is an Executive at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada with over 25 years of experience. Corina’s areas of expertise lie within organizational leadership, strategic governance, product development, and lean manufacturing. Corina enjoys being outdoors in her free time and spending time with her family.
Corina chose to become involved with Food4Kids Waterloo Region because she believes that the poverty cycle can only be broken through systemic change.
Faaez Al-hendi, Board Member (He/Him)
Faaez is a Syrian-Canadian and three generations of his family have established roots in Kitchener. One of Faaez’s main priorities is supporting newcomers from all backgrounds and helping them feel welcome in the community. Faaez is Vice-President of Operations at Ammar’s, his family-owned business that offers all-Halal grocery products (foods that conform to Islamic dietary regulations). In his spare time, Faaez spends time with family, exercising and being a foodie.
Faaez believes having the privilege of working alongside Food4Kids Waterloo Region since its inception to help provide Halal food options for children across the Region, helped him become more aware of the growing demand and need for the program in our community.
Josh Bruce, Board Member (He/Him)
Josh is Vice President of Operations and Engineering at Cambridge Elevating, dedicated to advancing our people, technologies, processes and products to facilitate our growth. Josh’s favourite things to do are spending time with his family, hiking, snowshoeing, weight lifting, climbing and swimming.
Josh became involved with Food4kids Waterloo Region specifically because the mission resonated as he believes chronic food insecurity is a threat that can steal innocence and childhood from the kids who experience it. Moreover, it can be the root cause of systemic social and societal issues over time. By reducing the impacts of chronic food insecurity, we are helping individual children and our community as a whole.
Arden White, Board Member (They/Them)
Arden is an Intermediate Product Designer at Axonify. With an educational background in Systems Design Engineering from UWaterloo, they are passionate about gender equity in STEM and giving back to the KW community they grew up in. Outside of work and volunteering, Arden enjoys reading, hiking, and photography. Arden joined Food4Kids Waterloo Region because they believe no child should have to worry about where they’re going to get their next meal from. They want to use their engineering problem-solving skills and complex systems mindset to help the most vulnerable children get access to the food they need to achieve their full potential in school and beyond.
Connect With Us
If you have any questions about donating to Food4Kids Waterloo Region, please let us know. You can contact Faune to find out more or share your ideas. Whether you want to make an individual donation, host a fundraiser, or support our organization in another way, we’d love to hear from you!
Faune Lang
executivedirector@food4kidswr.ca
(519) 576-3443 ext. 1