Meet the Helping Children Worldwide team
Dr. Melody CurtissExecutive Director/CEO
Melody Curtiss has over thirty years of experience in organizational management. Before coming to Helping Children Worldwide, she worked as administrative counsel, legislative liaison and legal advisor in Olympia, Washington and Topeka, Kansas for two different government agencies. She has 20+ years experience working in program development, outreach and development for nonprofits, as well as 20 years as executive director, organizational manager, and project lead for government, nonprofits, and business.
Melody obtained her Bachelors Degree, teaching qualifications and Juris Doctorate from Washburn University in Kansas and a post-doctoral certificate in nonprofit financial governance from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government. Melody lives in Manassas, VA., with her youngest daughter and a very spoiled miniature schnoodle. She is an active volunteer in her community in the greater Washington, D.C. area, serving as Treasurer for her home congregation Ner Shalom (which translates to "light of peace"), a member of the American Armed Services Arts Partnership Comedy Bootcamp Alumni, the Unity Against Hate collaboratives, and a published author “always working on the next book." She enjoys learning something new daily, listening to “every kind of music" and visiting with her large, diverse family. |
Dr. Laura Horvath
Director of Programs and Global Engagement
Prior to joining the Helping Children Worldwide staff in November 2014, Laura was an active volunteer with Helping Children Worldwide for more than ten years, serving on and leading the Education Committee, serving as the Vice Chair and then Chairperson of the Child Rescue Center Program Team, and leading multiple Volunteers in Mission teams to Sierra Leone. Prior to officially joining the HCW team, she taught in the graduate schools of education at George Mason and George Washington Universities. Laura holds a masters degree in English Education, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction, and brings to her role an in-depth knowledge of education, and a deep passion for global child welfare, the care of orphans and vulnerable children, public health, ethical missions, and sustainable community-led development programs. In addition to her work co-developing workshop curriculum, SOPs and other resources with her CRC colleagues, she's a co-host on HCW's Optimistic Voices podcast, and loves to write articles and speak on the topics of child welfare, transitioning the model of care for orphans and vulnerable children, and sustainable development practices. Laura and her husband, David, are members of Floris United Methodist Church and have three children.
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Emmanuel M. Nabieu (“Nabs")Director of Mission Advancement and Partnership
Emmanuel Mohamed Nabieu (“Nabs”) was one of the first children that were rescued by the Child Rescue Centre (CRC) after the Sierra Leone civil war. The CRC sponsored him through University. Upon graduation, he served the CRC in Sierra Leone for five years, first as the Sponsor A Child Coordinator, and later as the Program Director. Under his leadership, the CRC successfully transitioned from orphanage care to family-based care through meaningful collaboration with both local and international stakeholders and partners. As a result of the transition, the CRC's name has now changed to the Child Reintegration Centre. Nabs is passionate about keeping families together due to his experience of being separated from his loved ones. He is focused on creating a holistic future where vulnerable children and their families can thrive with dignity, rather than being separated and dependent on external assistance. Nabs is a global child advocate for orphaned and vulnerable children and their families. He is a motivational speaker, a member of the USAID Care Leader Council, and a Master Life Coaching Practitioner. His background is in Applied Organizational Psychology and Leadership, Positive Psychology, and has a wide range of experiences in International Development and Child Welfare. In addition to undertaking many keynote speaking engagements and podcast discussions for many organizations, he has been featured at TEDx and in a variety of articles including The Post and Courier, Fairfax County Times, UM News Service, and Christianity Today.
Grab a copy of Nab's absorbing and deeply moving Memoir |
Yasmine Vaughan
Technical Advisor for Global Health & Missions
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Yasmine's godparents were missionaries who traveled the world and inspired a passion in her for medical missions. She has a Masters of Public Health from George Washington University, where she studied Global Health Program Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation. Yasmine interned with HCW for 9 months before joining the staff to coordinate Monitoring and Evaluation, Missions Deployment, Global Public Health, and the Village Partnership. She has studied abroad in Ghana, the Dominican Republic, and Belize and is currently studying for her Certified Associate in Project Management. She loves playing with her cat, River, baking, photography, embroidery, and listening to podcasts.
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Customer Relations / Donations Database Manager, Admin Support Specialist
Linda has been with Helping Children Worldwide since we first hired professional staff. She has done every administrative and programming task that this organization has needed done as it grew before turning it over to someone else. She created our original mission team training, and has had a hand in training every staff member who has come on board since she started. If someone comes up with what we think is a great new idea that has never been tried by HCW - we check with Linda first.
She keeps trying to retire (twice, now) but we won't let her go, her talents in organization and data are just too valuable. She lives in Virginia with her spouse, volunteers with her church, her community, and spends as much time doing grandma-stuff as she possibly can. |
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Interested in joining our team?
In addition to a qualified professional staff, the Helping Children Worldwide team always includes select qualified interns enrolled in post-graduate studies at universities throughout the United States, as well as volunteers in mission, short-term, long-term, and international, subject matter experts and project consultants. We would love to consider you for one of these unpaid positions, or use your expertise on a specific assignment.
From time-to-time, we also have openings in our paid staff positions.
From time-to-time, we also have openings in our paid staff positions.
