OUR GREAT STAFF

Shaun Griffin – Executive Director:

Shaun Griffin is the co-founder and director of Community Chest. Shaun has spent a lifetime trying to build bridges where there were none for all members of the human community. During the mid-80s he worked in Stanford University’s foremost community outreach program, starting several disability initiatives on that campus. He later founded a minority youth outreach program for four universities in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2004, he received the Mike O’Callaghan Humanitarian Award, named after the former Nevada Governor.

Shaun is also a published author. His last book of poems was Bathing in the River of Ashes, published by the University of Nevada Press in 1999. Death to Silence (translations from the Chilean poet, Emma Sepúlveda) was released by Arte Público Press in 1997. In 1995, he received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. For many years he has taught a poetry workshop at Northern Nevada Correctional Center and published an annual journal of their work, Razor Wire.

He has lived in Nevada since 1978— except for the four years when his wife was in graduate school in the Bay Area. He and his family live in Virginia City, at the western-most edge of the Great Basin.

Erik Schoen – Community Development Director:

Erik Schoen has been a professional counselor since receiving his Masters Degree from Arizona State University in 1993. He received his first state license in Oregon as a Licensed Professional Counselor in 1996, his second in Nevada as a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor in 1998. He is also a state-certified supervisor for interns practicing to be Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselors. Since 1993, Erik has worked in drug and alcohol treatment facilities (both inpatient and out), domestic violence treatment centers for both women and men, agencies for the treatment of chronic mental illness, private practice, and more.

Eric has helped many individuals to successfully address their substance abuse issues – ranging from alcohol, marijuana, inhalants, hallucinogens, cocaine, and methamphetamine . He has also helped high schools in developing a comprehensive and coordinated approach to prevention and treatment by focusing on resiliency factors, utilizing peer leaders, and implementing school assistance programs. Erik is currently the Community Development Director at Community Chest where he has been for over 10 years. In his current capacity, Erik works within communities to help develop positive, strengths-based, and collaborative approaches to addressing myriad issues that face communities.

Ashle Overlock - Case Manager :

Ashle grew up in Southern California, and has lived in Nevada since 2006, when she began attending college here. She recently graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with her Bachelor of Social Work. Ashle is still taking classes at UNR to earn her Masters degree. She also has many years experience working with domestic violence and sexual assault victims. She is the Case Manager for the Employment Assistance Program at Community Chest, and has helped many individuals to obtain jobs, make career changes, and start on the path toward self-sustainability. Anyone looking for a job or for an employee is encouraged to call Ashle.




Kelly Coons - Accountant and Business Manager :

Kelly is a native Nevadan who has 7 beautiful children and a wonderful husband. She has worked in financial services for over 20 years. She enjoys camping, snowsports, and serving the community. Kelly is a thoughtful, energetic, and loves to laugh. We are happy to have her as the newest addition to our team.








Pam Trabert – Thrift Store Manager:

Pam moved to Reno, NV in 1982. She was born in Minneapolis, MN and her family moved to Denver, CO in 1956. She and her husband started visiting Virginia City in Spring of 1982. They eventually fell in love with the history and its people. They moved into their current home eight years ago here in Virginia City. She started working at Community Chest on December 18, 2006. She enjoys the people she works with at Community Chest, the clients of the Food Closet, and the tourists who come to visit our Thrift Store.




Tamara Burnet – Comstock Youth Works Director:

Tamara has lived and worked in the Storey and Lyon County areas for 33 years. Her interests and passions have included the Silver City Advisory Board, Dayton and Silver City Fire Departments, Silver City Task Force and Teens in Recovery. She is a board member of the Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon & Storey County, and serves on many sub- committees that focus on the overall betterment of the Dayton and Silver City community. She has been a Realtor in the area for 22 years and has witnessed tremendous growth and the need for services to accommodate such growth.

Tamara’s work at Community Chest Inc. is facilitating the Comstock In School & Out of School YouthWorks Program. The programs consist of individualized academic instruction, employment skills training, peer coaching, employer supervision and mentoring. Tamara also leads entrepreneurial ventures and learning circles to address the inequities youth have faced. These gatherings provide youth a constructive forum for them to establish action plans and move on up in life.

Darren Mckay – Youth Development & Prevention Coordinator:

Born in Reno, NV, Darren gained a love of the outdoors growing up in Northern Nevada snowboarding, skateboarding, and going on various adventures. In high school, he had two meaningful experiences that opened his eyes to the power of volunteering and international travel. The first was spending a Spring Break building houses in Tijuana, Mexico. This project illuminated the fact that a challenging service-learning project could also be fun, meaningful, and rewarding. The second experience, spending a summer as an exchange student in the Netherlands, allowed him to tap into questions of nationality, culture, and identity.

Darren earned his degree in Science, Technology, and Media from Pitzer College where he gained outdoor leadership experience as the president of Pitzer Outdoor Adventures. One of his highlights from college was studying in Botswana, Africa where he learned the local language and worked as an intern with a video production company. Since graduating in 2004, Darren has worked a plethora of jobs including: academic tutor, camp counselor, film production assistant, door-to-door energy salesman, field instructor, outdoor education instructor, fruit picker, adventure tour guide, office manager, and others.

Darren has been with Community Chest since 2008. Some of his favorite programs here are: Global Voice, Global Youth Service Day, Stand Tall Prevention teams, and the Comstock Kids Summer Program. For the 2009/10 year, Darren is concentrating on reducing underage drinking in Storey County. Please contact him if you are interested in for service-learning opportunities or if you just want to say hi.

Cindy Boyd – Director of COW & Lead Teacher of Bus # 1:

Cindy Boyd has worked for Community Chest as the Director of Classroom on Wheels since 1997. Her persistence to work for an organization that changes peoples lives but her in a position to work with Pre-K children and their families. Her bus serves students in Storey County. Before joining our family, Cindy worked for Big Sister of America and was a foster care mother. Currently, she lives in the Virginia City Highlands and volunteers with the Red Cross on her spare time.





Natasha Higgins Martin – Lead Teacher of COW NOW Bus # 2:

Natasha Higgins Martin was born and raised in Nevada. She attended Cerro Coso College and the University of Phoenix. Natasha is a mother of five active and sport driven boys. She is also the president of the Silver Stage Cal Ripkin Baseball League in Silver Springs. Before joining the Class on Wheels family, she worked as a para-professional and substitute teacher for the Lyon County School District. She first became aware of the COW program because her children had the opportunity to attend when they were three years old. Cindy, recruited Natasha in 2007. Currently she works as the Lead Teach of COW NOW Bus # 2 in Fernely and Silver Springs, NV.


Beanie Hancock – Lead Teacher of COW NOW Bus # 3:

Beanie Hancock was born and raised in San Francisco, California. Before joining the COW program she worked as a para-professional and school bus driver for the San Antonio School District for 23 years. She had three children and four grand-daughters. Beanie moved to Nevada in 2005 and has since fallen in love with the Dayton community. In 2006, the director of COW persuaded Beanie to come out of retirement to become a Lead Teacher of COW Bus # 3.



ADVISORY STAFF


Deborah Loesch-Griffin

Deborah Loesch-Griffin earned her Education Specialist degree in Evaluation (1986) and doctorate degree in Educational Psychology and Child Development from Stanford University in 1987. She owns and operates a small business, Turning Point, Inc., and provides evaluation coaching, capacity-building, facilitation, mentoring for non-profits in youth development, and community-building training. From 1998-2008, TPI engaged in a partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) to co-sponsor the Center for Program Evaluation (CPE). As it’s Co-Director, Deborah developed a program for training individuals as professional evaluators.

Deborah is also the co-founder of Community Chest, Inc., in Virginia City, Nevada. She continues to work with Community Chest, Inc. as a Community Youth Development Specialist. In this role she organizes the annual Global Voice Program, mentors CCI’s youth development staff, facilitates the community-building initiative in Lockwood, and coordinates the Comstock Growers and Gardeners group who sponsored Storey County’s first farmers market in the Summer 2009. She is most interested in sustainable living and engaging youth as stewards of our environment as well as keeping all our citizenry healthy and providing local, affordable healthy alternatives.