Board of Directors

Jenny Bennett is an educator and past owner and director of Heights Montessori in Houston. She is an honors graduate of the University of Texas with a degree in English, Speech and Drama. She also studied Music at Texas Christian University.

Jenny has traveled extensively in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and was a member of the MEDS For Africa mission trip to Kenya in 2019. She has also participated in mission trips to Central America for various church groups.

She is a past president and board member of The Heights Association, a leading community service group in Central Houston, and has been involved in the insurance industry since 2003. Her favorite title is Grandmother.

Dianne is a social, environmental and animal activist. She was raised on a farm in upstate New York. She has bachelor and master’s degrees in counseling from the University of Alabama Birmingham. In 1980 Dianne began Constructores Para Cristo, a non-profit on the Texas/Mexico border. Over the next 30 years CPC built over 700 houses, a medical clinic, and veterinarian clinic, primarily in Piedras Negras, Mexico. In 2006, Dianne received the Mother Teresa American Social Action Activist Award with the award stating “The world is not only hungry for food but also for beauty.”

Vince Gaddis is a 2000 graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary where he earned a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Urban Ministry. Vince was ordained at Concord Missionary Baptist Church under the late Dr. E. K. Bailey. Vince served in AmeriCorps which was sponsored by the Greater Dallas Community of Churches while simultaneously laying the foundation and network for Youth Believing in Change (YBC) which he founded in June of 1995 with his wife Angela. In June 1995, Vince spoke at the National Forum on Children’s health at George Washington University along with former 1st lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, child psychologist T. Berry Brazelton and former U. S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. Vince worked with the United Methodist Churches’ Shalom Zone program under the leadership of the late Dr. Leta Belle Gorham. Vince has the gifts of prayer, compassion, visionary leadership, teaching and preaching. In 1989 Vince arrived in Dallas homeless. He has a powerful testimony lined with scriptures of how God has worked in his life.

Peacemaker, Social Activist, Educator, Certified Life Coach, Wife, Mother, Non-profit manager.
She has a BFA from Texas Christian University in English, speech, and theater. She started MEDS for Africa 2008 with David Haymes M.D. Cherry is a lover of life and feels the rhythm of the African song in Kenya, the U.S. and the world. Some of her favorite quotes, “Go with God and have some fun!“ and “Peace & Love.”

David A. Haymes M.D., F.A.C.P. was a practicing internist in Dallas for over forty years. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and an Elder in the Presbyterian Church. He has been active in the Kairos Prison Ministry and is the former Medical Director of Constructores Para Christo, a Ministry on the Texas-Mexico border. As a former member of the Board of Directors of the Dallas County Medical Society, he lobbied for patient's rights in Austin and Washington. Since 2007 he and Cherry have travelled to Kenya and in 2008 formed MEDS for Africa - M for Medical care, E for Education, D for Dental care, and S for Service.

Terrell Hodges DDS, FAGD graduated from the University of Texas in 1965 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree, and received a Doctor of Dental Surgery from Baylor Dental in 1971. After an Oral Surgery Internship in the U. S. Army, he was Chief of Oral Surgery for the 1st Cavalry Division at Ft. Hood, Texas (1972-74).
During private practice in Dallas (1974-2007) he was the National President of the Academy of GP Orthodontics. Recently retired, he was the Dental Director (2014-2021) at Hope Clinic in Waxahachie, TX, a federally sponsored medical and dental facility serving the indigent population. Since 2007, he has made 3 trips to Kenya working with MEDS for Africa. He currently lives in Waxahachie with the 3 loves of his life- wife Mary Beth, Maltese terrier Thelma, and Yorkshire terrier Louise.

Marti Mattia writes fiction, poetry and personal essays. Her essay Transitions appeared in The Washington Post Magazine in September 2020. Her short story No Moon Night received a special mention in the 2020 Pushcart anthology. Her oral history book Conversations with George Bush was published in 2004. An encounter during an oral history project in Tanzania led her to found the Girls Education Mission, which was incorporated into and expanded by MEDS for Africa. She has supported MEDS since its inception and hopes to assist the group in Africa in 2022. She also served on the board of Kapadia Education Foundation from 2010 to 2020. She divides her time between New York City, Austin, and the Oregon Coast.

Dr. Rebecca Abuor Opar, APRN, BSN, MSN, PMHNP-BC, DNP is a native of Kenya. She graduated from University of Arlington (UTA) in 2008 with a Masters in Nursing Practice. She continued with her studies at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, (RMUOHP) in Utah, where she received her Doctor of Nursing Practice in 2012.

She is Board certified Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Nurse practitioner (PMHNP-BC) by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Dr. Opar has been treating children with Mental & Behavioral issues since 2008. She has worked at Dallas Metrocare, a Dallas MHMR outpatient services & Child & Family Guidance Center in Dallas. She is currently practicing at North Texas Behavioral Clinic in Arlington.

She is Founder/CEO of North Tx Behavioral Clinic, 715 N Fielder Rd, Arlington, Texas 76012.
She is Founder/CEO of Afya Health Systems. Non-profit Hospital in Homabay, Kenya.

She remains Adjunct Clinical Instructor at UTA School of Nursing for Master’s prepared students, 2008 – present.

She is currently offering a TIER level guide to those who want to start their own Business entitled “Entrepreneurship… A Path to Financial Freedom” through seminars, and “One on One Mentorship”.

Pius Totty was born in Nigeria and has lived in the U.S. for 32 years. He is an Electrical Engineer with Encore Wire Manufacturing. Pius is an Elder at NorthPark Presbyterian; married to Eileen for 25 years; and father to Megan, a beautiful, bright nursing student. Pius is a bicycle enthusiast with a raucous laugh and the mantra, “God is good all the time!”