New ED Announcement!
Hey there awesome Project Koru lover!
Big things are happening at Project Koru, and we wanted you to be the first to know!
First, we just finished our 13th annual Kiteboard 4 Cancer (KB4C) event, where our fundraising athletes and sponsors brought in over $235,000. These funds support our mission of enriching the lives of young adult cancer survivors through community and the outdoors as a way to move forward after cancer. All our programs are free to survivors because of our generous supporters. Three cheers to everyone who donated!
Now that we have completed another super successful KB4C season, we also want to share with you some bittersweet news that Tonia Farman has announced she is stepping down as CEO to pursue other ventures.
13 years ago, Tonia dove head first into the nonprofit world and started what is now Project Koru, following the passing of her 19 year old brother, Scott Farman. Tonia has dedicated nearly every waking moment to developing programs for young adult cancer survivors and building a community of survivors and support that has touched thousands of people impacted by cancer. The love, empathy, and passion that Tonia has for Project Koru will remain, as it is threaded through each and every thing that we do. Tonia will remain on the Board of Directors (no way we are letting you get away Tonia!), and a new program, called Farman Fellows, is currently being developed to honor Tonia, in memory of her brother Scott.
Now for the sweet part. We are thrilled to announce that Beth Peck has been chosen as Project Koru’s next Executive Director. Beth has been Project Koru’s Chief Advancement Officer for the last 14 months. She has experienced the transformational work Project Koru provides to young adult cancer survivors firsthand, because she is one. Beth attended Camp Koru in the Fall of 2016 after a battle with stage 3 triple negative breast cancer, and attributes the woman, mother, and professional she is today to her time at camp. She knew she was a Project Koru lover for life! Beth brings a diverse skill set collected over a 15-year career in nonprofit work and all levels of fundraising, as well as a deep level of love and respect from the entire Project Koru community. Beth’s power name is “Vi”, and we know she’ll bring her vivacious spirit and boundless energy and passion to everything she does. We couldn’t think of a better person to take Project Koru and the organization’s survivor-led model to the next level. If you’d like to reach out to Beth, please email her at beth@projectkoru.org.
But wait…there’s more!
Because we know it takes TEAMWORK to make the DREAM WORK, we also want to celebrate Lindsey Walkemeyer, Project Koru’s Program Coordinator. Lindsey has been with us for 11 months and comes to Project Koru with a solid background in working with young adult programming. She brings program leadership, collaboration, and organizational skills to Project Koru. Lindsey has been the behind-the-scenes puppeteer of everything camp logistics and is also the brainchild behind the development of the new Farman Fellows program and the Koru Continuum (more exciting news to be revealed on that soon!). If you’d like to chat with Lindsey, she can be reached at lindsey@projectkoru.org.
We are ecstatic to see what’s to come from this dynamic duo of powerful Koru women!
Here’s to the future!
Project Koru Board of Directors