Three New BGR Board Members

By Carla Prater – The workload of the very dedicated BGR Board of Directors has increased with the success of our efforts and it recently became apparent that the Board had to be expanded. We are happy to announce that we have found three dedicated people to add to our strength:

Sister Santussika, who lives in Los Altos Hills, California, had a successful career as a software designer and engineer in Silicon Valley. During this time she raised two children. Her son is now a senior Buddhist monk and her daughter a clinical social worker. Her spiritual quest eventually led her to Buddhism. She received ordination as an anagarika (a “homeless one”) in 2005 and as a samaneri (novice nun) in 2010. She teaches Dharma with a focus on activism. Her dedication and wide variety of skills will be of great assistance to BGR in our efforts to reduce poverty and hunger around the world.

Allen Fu, who lives in New York City, is a senior trader and vice president in structured credit trading at Citigroup. Allen has long been active in philanthropy and has been a generous supporter of BGR since its origins. He is fluent in Mandarin and Taiwanese as well as English. His experience living abroad will also be of great assistance to BGR.

Michael Roehm lived as a monk in Sri Lanka and Korea during the 1980s. After returning to the U.S., he was long active in International Student Services and the English Language Institute at The American University in Washington D.C. He was also the teacher of the Dharma Study Group in Washington. He retired early this year and now lives in Williamsport, Maryland. Michael will serve as BGR’s Volunteer Coordinator, integrating and managing our volunteers.