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Board of Directors

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"As I stepped through those gates, I felt like I was being hit with bricks coming from all directions.  I took a deep breath, put a smile on my face and socialized with the congregation.   I was shocked, although it was my second time being there, by how many people had physical disfigurations and were mentally challenged."

Revival Lounge Concepts on Wheels

J and J Consultants
 

 Chopin Restaurant

Ice culture inc. –

Wu’s Tai Chi Chuan Studio

Tanya Mathews

Abdullah Arain

About the Board of Directors

John Calaghan 

     John is the founder of the TWA trips.  He is a retired school teacher with a long and distinguished career that has included the positions of Drama teacher and Principal.  His career has also taken him to the North West Territories where he spent three years teaching in Nahanni Butte and Wha Ti.  It was this experience up north along with his involvement in building a school in Nicaragua in 1986 that inspired the idea for the TWA trips with students.  John considers it a privilege to be part of the growing TWA organization and continues to do volunteer work in soup kitchens and with various organizations aside from TWA.  He now gives talks on meditation for business leaders, community organizations and universities. 

Bridget Ogundipe

     Bridget is a graduate from The University of Toronto and Sheridan College, where she received an Honours BA in Theatre and Drama Studies with a minor in Biology and Anthropology.  She also has a two year Acting Diploma from Sheridan College.  Bridget is a talented and passionate performer and a member of Actra.  Her passion extends beyond performing through her work with TWA.  Bridget has been a leading organizer for TWA since 1998 and has been a volunteer on every trip since then.  She is extremely grateful for this life experience and believes that through awareness comes compassion, which hopefully will lead to a commitment for change.

Stephen LaFrenie

     Stephen La Frenie has been performing and teaching physical theatre for over twenty years.  He founded Graphic Mime Theatre, a non-profit charitable theatre company, in 1985 and developed a comprehensive, unique physical theatre program still being taught in schools today.  He has performed with such companies as Nelvana Productions, Manna Productions, The Canadian Opera Company, Cirque Du Soleil, Meta-Physical Theatre, Theatre LMNOP, The Subtonic Monks, Cascade Theatre and most recently joined Faustwork Mask Theater.  His work has taken him across Canada, to Spain, Australia, France, Hungary, the U.S.A., Jamaica and Haiti. Stephen’s outreach and volunteer work has also spanned over twenty years.  His work has included, workshops for poor schools, emotionally and physically abused teenagers, adult prisoners, the Portage School for Young Offenders, physically and mentally challenged students and actors.  Stephen has been traveling with TWA since his first trip in 1996. 

Abdullah Arain

     Abdullah studied at the University of Toronto, St. George campus completing his Hon.BSc with a double Major in Human Biology and Equity studies.  He is an incredibly active member of both the campus and local community with a variety of different extra curricular and social commitments.  His passion for science and international development led him to TWA, of which he has been a member now for two years.  Having participated in the 2004 trip to Haiti he is currently on the board of executives.  Abdullah is also the current president of Kids In Developing Societies (KIDS) a UofT based humanitarian organization which aims to mobilize the student body towards aid projects in collaboration with other local and international agencies such as UNICEF, CARE, TWA, ICNA-Relief and CAS, to mention a few. On campus Abdullah is also a member of Students for World Justice (SWJ), Free The Children (FTC), UofT pre-med Society as well as other student organizations.  Furthermore, Abdullah regularly volunteers as a teaching assistant to a grade eight class at Ashton Meadows public school.   He has also previously volunteered with Princess Margaret Hospital as an administrative support worker, MAC Youth as a camp counselor and conference committee chair, and for the city of Toronto, analyzing food security concerns in ward 33.

Ryan Pressley

     Ryan is a graduate of Seneca College's Radio and Television program and now works as a  Technical Engineer for The Fan 590.  He has been a part of TWA since 1996 while a student at Brother Edmund Rice and now as an Executive Member.   Ryan has been on 5 trips, all to Kingston Jamaica which he believes has taught him something that school never did and that is compassion.  Besides his work at The Fan 590 and with TWA he has also finished 3 years in York for Political Science and also resides on the Board of Directors in Alexandra Park Co-op Housing.  He still makes time to DJ with his company Culturz Entertainment.  Ryan feels that TWA has been a huge part of his life for almost 10 years and still has the drive and commitment to go another 10 more.  He'd like to thank John Callaghan, who was his drama teacher at Brother Edmund Rice S.S.,  and the rest of the Board Members of TWA for making his experiences, thus far, some of the most memorable ever.