Our Team

Laura Hoekstra | Executive Director

Joined the Team in 2010

Laura joined the board of Beautiful Response in 2010 and has assisted with fundraising since the beginning. She sponsors two kids in Uganda and loves to visit them. Laura graduated from Trinity Christian College with a B.A. in Sociology. She stepped off the board in 2017 to take on the role of Program Director for Uganda and was promoted to Executive Director in 2022.

William Bukenya | Executive Director of RUHU

Joined the Team in 2010

William Bukenya has been with Raising Up Hope for Uganda (RUHU) since the very beginning. He received a degree from Makerere University in Accounting in 2015. In 2021, William stepped into the role of Executive Director. Under his leadership, RUHU has experienced incredible growth and development. William is married and has two beautiful daughters. In his limited free time, he enjoys playing and watching soccer.

Holly Schut | Program Director

Joined the Team in 2014

Holly Schut serves as our Program Director for Haiti. Holly served as a missionary in Haiti in 2001 and has provided leadership in a variety of ministries. She holds a Master’s Degree in Christian Education and she received her Doctor of Ministry degree in 2005. She makes regular trips to Haiti with her husband, Al, and anyone who is interested in developing relationships with the great people of Haiti! She would be delighted to introduce you to the work that Beautiful Response does through our partners in the village of Neply.

Ticarme (Marie Eveline Ducasse) | Executive Director of Help the Youth

Joined the Team in 2014

Ticarme (pronounced ti-kom) is the Executive Director of Help the Youth, our partner organization in Haiti. Ticarme and her team work with families that are unable to continue sending their children and youth to school due to financial or logistical restrictions. Ticarme has been a pillar in her community for decades and launched Help the Youth with the vision of enabling students to continue their education through technical school and/or university. The goal is to give them an education and life skill that will provide a career they can use to be self-sufficient. This also fosters community development as they serve their communities. By partnering with Beautiful Response, Ticarme has been able to provide over 1200 scholarships.

Pastor Antoine Charles | Executive Director of Mission: Love Haiti

Joined the Team in 2016

Pastor Antoine has been the Executive Director of MLH since 1995. He is a pastor and community leader, and he trains up many young men and women to be leaders of the Leogane region. MLH includes a church, school, clinic, and orphanage, which Pastor Antoine and his wife, Eveline, prefer to call a family. Beautiful Response has partnered with them since 2016 to help provide food for the “family” and teacher salaries at Emmah, their school of over 400 students.

Patrick Ssenyonjo | Founder of RUHU

Joined the Team in 2010

Patrick began Raising Up Hope for Uganda when he was 16. While living on the streets of Kampala, he dreamed of providing a safe home for the children he saw all around him. That vision has grown into the organization you see today.

Caleb Schut | Board Member

Joined the Team in 2010

Caleb co-founded Beautiful Response with Sonja in 2011. He graduated from Hope College in 2011 with a degree in Religious Studies and finished his Masters of Divinity in 2016. He currently serves as the Assistant Pastor at Grace Chicago Church. He spent time living in Haiti as a child and loved the 6 months of life spent in Uganda during college.

Sonja Schut | Board Member

Joined the Team in 2010

Sonja Schut co-founded Beautiful Response after studying abroad with Caleb in 2010. Sonja received a BA in International Studies from Baylor University and an MBA from the University of Chicago in 2017. She spent 3 years working for Arabella Advisors, a consulting firm for non-profit foundations and currently works in banking at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. Sonja and Caleb live in Chicago. Sonja is particularly passionate about sustainable development and finding jobs for the kids under Beautiful Response’s care.

James Colten | Board Member

Joined the Team in 2017

James Colten is a non-profit leader and team manager based in Washington, D.C. He has served on the board of Beautiful Response since 2017, and has been a supporter since BR’s inception. His current research centers on how to create meaningful pathways from education to career for students. James is also a strong advocate for developing operational excellence and centering the voices and experiences of Ugandan leaders. He lives in D.C. with his wife and cat.

Falconer Warren | Board Member

Joined the Team in 2017

Falconer Warren is currently the Director of Charitable Foundations for Driven Brands, where she manages corporate philanthropy which raises funds to support causes such as veteran affairs, children’s hospitals, and cystic fibrosis research. Prior to this role, Falconer worked for the Issroff Family Foundation overseeing their grant portfolio focused on youth empowerment in East Africa. She received her MSW from Columbia University, concentrating on international development and social enterprise administration and her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia with a history and religious studies major.

Siska Larson | Board Member

Joined the Team in 2020

Siska Larson was born and raised in Indonesia before moving to the US 12 years ago with her husband and their son. In Indonesia, Siska worked as an assistant professor at a Christian university in Yogyakarta. She also worked with several mission organizations in various community development projects and fundraising efforts. Siska’s passion is for people in need to experience God’s providence and life-transforming love. She is currently an Associate Professor at DLIFLC, Monterey, and has been teaching & developing curriculum for the last 11 years. Siska is an elder at Carmel Presbyterian working with the Missions Committee.

Pamela Tipler

Joined the Team in 2022

Pamela Tipler was born and raised in Watsontown, Pennsylvania. She received her B.S. in Biology from Lycoming College and then D.O. from PCOM in Philadelphia. She served as a physician in the Army and deployed as a Flight Surgeon. She is now an Associate Professor of Medicine and Hospitalist at Augusta University Medical Center in Augusta, GA. She got out of the Army to lead a part-time missionary life, which is how she began serving with RUHU in 2017. She spends several months out of the year in Uganda and provides medical treatment in the slums and in different villages in Uganda. Pamela is a visiting professor at Makerere and Mulago Hospital in Kampala. She is married to Kevin and has 2 dogs Glock and DJ, chickens, and turkeys together.

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Laura Hoekstra | Executive Director

Joined the Team in 2010

William Bukenya | Executive Director of RUHU

Joined the Team in 2010

Holly Schut | Program Director

Joined the Team in 2014

Ticarme (Marie Eveline Ducasse) | Executive Director of Help the Youth

Joined the Team in 2014

Pastor Antoine Charles | Executive Director of Mission: Love Haiti

Joined the Team in 2016

Patrick Ssenyonjo | Founder of RUHU

Joined the Team in 2010

Caleb Schut | Board Member

Joined the Team in 2010

Sonja Schut | Board Member

Joined the Team in 2010

James Colten | Board Member

Joined the Team in 2017

Falconer Warren | Board Member

Joined the Team in 2017

Siska Larson | Board Member

Joined the Team in 2020

Pamela Tipler

Joined the Team in 2022