Staff - Acres of Diamonds

Jennifer Paddock

Executive Director

Kerstin Grant

Program Director

Doug Engberg

Development Director

Robbin Hastings

Finance Director

Teresa Signer

Mental Health Director

Deborah Pless

Executive Administrator

Alice Fouse

Senior Family Life Manager

Sarah Ryser

Case Manager

Shauna Lane

Program Administrative Assistant

Madalaine Horky

Adult Program Manager

Marnie Hancock

Kids Program Coordinator

Hannah Hunt

Senior Data Systems Manager

Cherylyn McRae

Associate Development Director

Megan Crawford

Senior Community Engagement Manager

Lauren Topp

Senior Facilities Manager

Kelsey Calderon

Driver & Operations Assistant

Chester Brackebush

Operations Assistant & Kids Program Assistant

Executive Director

Jennifer Paddock

Jen was born and raised in Bellevue, Washington and currently resides in Redmond Ridge with her husband, Lee, and her two Great Danes, Holly and Kirby. Before coming to Acres of Diamonds Jen served as the Director of Community Outreach at First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue. It was in this role she discovered a passion to advocate for the homeless. After many years of supporting non-profit Executive Directors and investing in local charities, Jen decided she couldn’t sit on the sidelines anymore and decided to jump into what God was doing on behalf of the homeless in King County. This decision led her to Acres of Diamonds in 2014 as the Executive Director and she still wakes up each day with a passion to help moms make lasting change in their lives.

Program Director

Kerstin Grant

Originally from Boston, Kerstin has lived all over the US and the world. While attending Hope College in Michigan, Kerstin and her friends formed a group studying issues of justice. She became impassioned to educate the church about the needs of the world, and upon receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Communications; she got a job at World Relief in Baltimore, telling churches about issues of health, poverty, and disaster. In that role, she had the opportunity to travel to World Relief’s program sites around the world. Eventually, she moved to Cambodia to take the lead on communications for the World Relief Asia offices. Desiring to move from communications work to designing transformational programs, Kerstin landed in Duvall to work with the youth ministry staff of Adventure Church. In that role, she experienced the joy of working with a team that shared mission, community, and watching God transform lives. She also started work on a Master’s degree in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is married to Dan, and they enjoy living in community, playing Frisbee, traveling, hiking, and camping.

Development Director

Doug Engberg

Doug Engberg has been in the nonprofit sector for over 25 years working in senior management and development roles. Doug’s passion is to see nonprofits exceed in doing great work in the area of donor development. He has served on various boards such as Breakthrough Partners, Prodigals International and Lift Up Africa. Doug is married to Margo and they have four children: Gabe, Tycie, Jazzmyn and Mia. They are the owners of Pinkabella Cupcakes in six locations in the Seattle area.

Finance Director

Robbin Hastings

Robbin is delighted to serve Acres of Diamonds as Finance Director, providing financial leadership and promoting a culture of fiscal stewardship. She is responsible for the development and execution of financial systems, policies, and procedures. Her duties include funds management, forecasting and budgeting, and financial reporting and analysis. Robbin is a certified public accountant with extensive experience and a diverse background serving nonprofit organizations as well as individuals and corporations, most recently as the Finance Director of Center for Children & Youth Justice. Formerly an auditor with KPMG, Robbin is also a businesswoman, owning her own small firm since 1992.

Mental Health Director

Teresa Signer

Teresa Signer is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) and Geriatric Mental Health Specialist (GMHS). She has a BA in Political Science and a BA in Sociology, both from the University of Washington. She has a Master’s Degree in Psychology from Northcentral University in Arizona as well as certificates in the social services field earned in Switzerland where she lived for 20 years. Volunteer experience includes working in Community Development in the Peace Corps in Cameroon and volunteering in her church. Teresa has worked a number of years in community mental health. Teresa enjoys multicultural settings and has a passion for coming along side individuals in the process of recovery. In her free time she enjoys traveling, hiking, and working in her garden.

Executive Administrator

Deborah Pless

Hailing from a small town in coastal New England, Deborah first found her way to Duvall in 2012 when she began working with the youth ministry team at Adventure Church. Since then and throughout her career, Deborah has lived all over the United States and invested in helping nonprofit organizations that value long-term transformational work. Moving back to Massachusetts in 2015, she spent three years as part of the Human Resources team at Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, a girls’ mentoring organization, where she deeply enjoyed helping the organization grow. Following her time at Big Sister Boston, Deborah went on to start her Master’s Degree in Education with Lesley University and spent time teaching in the Massachusetts public school system. Deborah is happy to have the opportunity to be back in Washington and be able to bring her skills and passions to bear in her new role. When not working, she enjoys sharing her life with friends and family, cooking, fiber arts, and collecting local art from all over the world.

Senior Family Life Manager

Alice Fouse

Alice, the daughter of a Nazarene pastor, spent most of her growing up years in northern Wisconsin. Alice holds a degree in Special Education and created and ran a private school for many years and then became a home school consultant and ventured into foster care. As Case Manager at Acres, Alice is passionate about collaborating with women in discovering their identity, breaking the cycle of homelessness, and realizing their goals and dreams. With her degree in Special Education and working with at risk individuals. Alice is effective and creative in her approach to walking alongside the women and children at Acres.

Case Manager

Sarah Ryser

Before working at Acres of Diamonds Sarah was studying for her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and working full-time as an EMT running 911 calls with local fire departments.

Sarah’s story started like many of the moms at Acres with a lot of family mental illness and domestic violence. What helped her get through those challenging times was supportive relationships that helped her to heal and change her life. At Acres Sarah has been the Kids Program Manager, Intake Manager and now the Case Manager for the women. Her Psychology background and her personal experience give her the skills and empathy to pay it forward and walk alongside the families as they heal and grow.

Program Administrative Assistant

Shauna Lane

Shauna was born and raised in Montana on a farm where she competed as a barrel racer before moving on to cheer-leading as the top of the pyramid. She moved to the Tri-Cities area in Washington state with her husband after they graduated from Montana State University where she discovered you should avoid the orange (radio active) tumbleweeds. She received her masters degree in Elementary Education and after teaching kindergarten, third grade and Jr. High she used her skills to home school her own daughter thru high school. Now that her daughter if off to college Shauna is ready to get back to working hands on with kids to help them discover their full potential. She lives in Sammamish with her husband, her dogs Tabitha and Peanut, enjoys reading, walking, and fair weather motorcycle rides where her husband is a captive audience.

Adult Program Manager

Madalaine Horky

Madalaine grew up in Spencer, Indiana, but has called Washington home since December 2016. Madalaine has a Bachelor of Science in Religious Studies and Counseling from Indiana State University, where she graduated in December 2016 with Cum Laude, University Honors, and undergraduate research experience. Madalaine has been passionate about serving the marginalized since doing an internship in Tacoma, Washington in 2015. During the internship, she spent every day with pre-teens who had experienced homelessness. Through hearing their stories and getting to know their families in a relational way, Madalaine felt like God had called her to love the poor like Jesus, and to come alongside local churches to see them do the same. Since that experience, Madalaine has written and presented work on the Church’s care for the poor at national conferences, written blog posts for multiple organizations about God’s heart for the impoverished, and has done nonprofit work caring for adults with mental illnesses. Currently, Madalaine is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Biblical and Theological Studies at Western Seminary. After graduating, Madalaine hopes to continue serving the impoverished in the Seattle area, specifically focusing on forming relationships with them and seeing long-term healing happen in the lives of people. In September 2018, Madalaine married her best friend, and she finds much joy in experiencing joys, victories, challenges, and God’s grace through marriage. On Madalaine’s free days, she enjoys going on ferry rides with her husband, playing pinball at the arcade, reading comic books, watching Marvel movies, and collecting Groot items.

Kids Program Coordinator

Marnie Hancock

Senior Data Systems Manager

Hannah Hunt

Hannah Hunt graduated Magna Cum Laude from Western Washington University with a Bachelors of Arts in Sociology and minors in Women’s Studies and German. As the Senior Data Systems Manager, she handles all resident and donor data – a passion of hers! At Acres she gets to combine her love for people and data at the same time. In her free time, she enjoys cycle classes and spending time with her friends and family.

Associate Development Director

Cherylyn McRae

Cherylyn is a graduate of the University of Washington with a B.A. in Speech Communications. Previous careers include Project Manager for Alstom and as a Communications Consultant, with clients including Seattle Children’s Hospital and the Hearing, Speech & Deafness Center. Most recently, she was the Director of Development for Hearing, Speech, & Deafness Center for 5 years – making strides in new funding sources for the programs at the center. She is enthusiastic about writing grants, passionate about connecting the community to Acres of Diamonds and helping make a difference in the nonprofit world.

Senior Community Engagement Manager

Megan Crawford

Megan is a long time Duvall resident. Wife to Dustin and mother to June and Jack, she is grateful to live and work in a beautiful, thriving community. In her free time she enjoys the outdoors with her family, beautifying her home or meeting friends for coffee. Megan’s path to Acres included her journey into motherhood. After having her daughter at 23, Megan discovered how critical it was for moms and kids to have support. That led to volunteering and contributing to local organizations whose mission is to serve moms and kids by sheltering, equipping, and empowering them. Megan’s passion translates into her work by connecting the community with moms and kids previously devastated by homelessness now residing and thriving at Acres.

Senior Facilities Manager

Lauren Topp

Was born and raised in Monroe, WA and currently lives in Snohomish, WA. Lauren has a B.S in Zoology from Washington State University. Before coming to Acres of Diamonds, Lauren volunteered as a Youth Group leader at the Duvall Church for many years. She also has experience managing staff, properties, and projects from her previous places of employment. Working alongside pastors and volunteers gave Lauren a passion to help equip and support those desiring to change the community around them. With her skills in organization, project management, and servanthood, Lauren connects the needs of the house and families with the gifts and talents of volunteers and donors well. On Lauren’s free days she enjoys hiking, reading, and laughing with friends.

Driver & Operations Assistant

Kelsey Calderon

Kelsey was born in Michigan but spent the majority of her life in Washington. She grew up in Snohomish County with her parents and 6 siblings, of which, she is the oldest. When she was 21, she temporarily moved to Kansas to help her aunt through radiation treatments and ended up meeting the love of her life, William, to whom she is now married.

Kelsey has worked the last 8 years as a CNA, the 3 most recent years having been spent working at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Kelsey came to know Jesus at a very young age and was heavily involved with the church her whole life. She is now delighted to be able to continue working with children and to have a working community that shares her faith, here at Acres.

Operations Assistant & Kids Program Assistant