 We've
Got Your Back San Diego is a weekend nutrition program specifically for elementary students in San Diego
County’s school districts who have been identified as homeless under
the
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
WGYBSD was developed by
Shepherd's Way, a San Diego based 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, in conjunction with Giving
Children Hope, a non-profit international disaster relief and
humanitarian aid
organization based in Buena Park CA.
Giving Children Hope was founded by native Californian,
John Ditty, President and CEO.
John became active in the distribution of humanitarian aid and
founded Global Operations and Development/Giving Children Hope in
1994. John began the organization’s first projects with his own
money, using his garage as a distribution center. It has since grown
to produce and distribute $30 million worth of aid out of a 43,000
square ft. facility in Orange County. In 2007, under the umbrella of
Giving Children Hope, John developed the first We've Got Your Back
project, a localized food assistance program for homeless kids.
Within 4 years WGYB was feeding over 1,000 of Orange County's 26,000
homeless children.
In 2011, through a strategic partnership between Giving Children
Hope and Shepherd's Way, "We've Got Your Back San Diego" was
launched, expanding John's vision beyond the geographical borders of
Orange County. John's commitment to the success of WGYBSD is
demonstrated tangibly by providing his generous support, invaluable
experience and resources that would have otherwise taken years to
achieve.
"The immediate vision for We've Got Your Back San Diego is to
make a practical impact in the lives of as many local kids as
possible by simply meeting some basic needs. But in the bigger
vision for Shepherd's Way, Got Your Back is just one of many
projects we hope to offer those in need right here in our own
backyard." Sue McLeod,
Co-Founder Shepherd's
Way |
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BILL MCLEOD, President & Chairman of the Board
Bill McLeod is a small business owner in San Diego with
a thriving company servicing the indoor air quality
industry. In addition to building AMI Environmental Testing,
LLC, Bill has been involved in the development of multiple
church organizations, organizing, staffing and managing
various ministries, as well as developing leaders and
leadership support curriculum. In 2005 Bill and his wife Sue
founded Shepherd’s Way, a 501(c)(3) charity. In 2010 BIll
and Sue met John Ditty, President of Giving Children Hope.
John shared his vision and passion for a local program he developed four
years earlier called “We’ve Got Your Back”. After hearing that
there are nearly 26,000 homeless children in Orange County’s
elementary schools and over 13,000 in San Diego County schools, the McLeod's caught John’s vision
and passion and started making plans to
expand the food assistance program into San Diego. In early 2011, Bill brought long-time friend Jack Little
on board to help launch the We’ve Got Your Back Program into
San Diego schools. |
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JACK LITTLE, Director of Operations - We've Got Your Back
San Diego
Jack Little oversees the
general day-to-day operations of WGYBSD, including managing our
volunteer staff, coordinating logistics with school liaisons,
organizing food and fund raising events with partners, and
initiating grants. Jack is the legs of WGYBSD with over 30
years of organizational development. He has personally
planted and pastored 5 churches and was directly involved in
the planting of 30 more churches from coast to coast,
recruiting, training, and deploying leaders and leadership
training curriculum. Both Jack and his wife Kathy have
always had a passion to make a difference in peoples lives.
Jack was born and raised in California. He earned a Bachelor
of Arts degree from Azusa Pacific University. He has
traveled and taught extensively on leadership development
and on being a positive community influence.
“Making a difference in our own backyard with these
kids gives us our passion!” Jack Little |
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MARK A. LEDOUX, J.D., Director of Business
Mark A. LeDoux is founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Natural Alternatives International, Inc., with world renowned facilities in the United States and Switzerland engaged in the research, design and manufacture of nutritional supplement programs and products for multinational clients.
Mark is considered a pioneer of the modern dietary supplement industry. He is immediate Past Chair of the prestigious Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) based in Washington DC and current Chairman of the newly formed CRN-I which is based in Switzerland.
Mark has been a proud member of the Natural Products Association since 1980 and serves on its Board of Directors. He is also a recognized participant of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the United Nations’ food and dietary supplement standard-setting body under joint supervision of its Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization.
Mark is President of the Marie A. LeDoux Charitable Foundation and a member of the Young Presidents Organization Graduates.
Mark received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma with honors, graduated the Thomas Jefferson School of Law and Stanford University’s Program for Small Business Executives. He is fluent in five languages, is the father of three wonderful children aged 8 to 19 and the proud husband of jazz singer and composer Julie Lavender. His family home is located on a historic farm in southern New Hampshire and he is frequently in San Diego, Washington DC and Lugano,
Switzerland attending business interests.
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JOEL INCORVAIA, Director, General Counsel
Joel L. Incorvaia is a magna cum laude graduate of the
University of San Diego School of Law and has been
practicing law in California since 1979. His practice
includes real estate and land use litigation, boundary and
easement disputes, quiet title actions, landlord-tenant
matters, construction defect litigation, insurance coverage
and bad faith litigation, eminent domain matters, federal
and state regulatory issues affecting lenders, lender
liability actions, unfair competition actions, loan fraud
cases, Department of Real Estate disciplinary actions,
employment discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuits,
secondary market transactions, Truth-in-Lending and RESPA
issues, corporate, limited liability company and partnership
formations, low income housing projects, general business
matters and other matters affecting the real estate and
mortgage lending industries. Joel is a former Chairman of
the Real Property Committee of the San Diego County Bar
Association, a past member of the National Panel of
Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association and a
member of the Legal Services Committee of the California
Mortgage Bankers Association. Joel oversees all legal matters regarding Shepherd's Way and the WGYBSD
Program. Driven by their personal passion to help people
overcome adversity and hard circumstances, Joel and his wife
Cindy have worked with prisoners in California's
correctional system for over 20 years. In 1990, Joel and
Cindy formed Rainbow Prison Ministries, an outreach serving
prisoners in the Rainbow California Minimum Security Women's
Fire Camp. |
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JOHN DITTY, Director of Strategic Planning
John Ditty is Co-founder, President and CEO of Giving
Children Hope. He oversees all of GCH operations, as well as
its management and staff and lends his invaluable 17 years
of non-profit experience to Shepherd's Way. John was born
and raised in California, earned an Associate of Arts degree
from Fullerton Junior College, and spent time in the U.S.
Air Force as a precision measuring and equipment specialist
before returning to school to earn a degree and a teaching
credential in Industrial Arts from Humboldt State
University. He also acquired an electrical contractor’s
license and started his own business. John and his wife,
Juliana, have four children, three of whom they adopted
internationally. As John and his wife underwent the process
of adopting their children, they were deeply affected by the
poor treatment of children in orphanages. After adopting
their fourth child from Russia in 1992, they became active
in the distribution of humanitarian aid and founded Global
Operations and Development/Giving Children Hope. John and
Juliana began the organization’s first projects with their
own money, using their garage as a distribution center. It
has grown to produce and distribute $30 million worth of aid
out of a 43,000 square ft. facility. |
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BRENT HELMING, Director of Administration, Secretary-Treasurer
Brent Helming's administrative background comes from having
served in number of pastoral staff positions with several
different churches for over the last 14 years. Brent is an
ordained pastor in the Vineyard Association of Churches and
a graduate of San Diego State University, holding a B.A. in
Psychology. Brent also has an extensive background in
project management and real estate site acquisition, serving
in those capacities for companies such as AT&T Wireless,
T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. In 2010, Brent and his wife
Kelly, both accomplished musicians and recording artists,
co-founded ReFuelNOW, a countywide, inter-denominational
worship service designed to promote unity among different
churches by bringing congregations from numerous
denominations together in one place for an evening of
extended worship. ReFuelNOW has teamed with WGYBSD to
promote awareness of childhood hunger on a local level.
ReFuel events often host food drives and encourage
participation in the work of providing assistance to those
less fortunate. |
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ELIZABETH SALDANA, Director of Compliance - We've Got
Your Back San Diego
Elizabeth Saldana is the Director of Community Programs
Giving Children Hope. She joined Giving Children Hope in
August of 2007 and oversees all of Giving Children Hope’s
local programs including We’ve Got Your Back, Giving for
Living, Mission Store and the Volunteer Program. Elizabeth
is an active member of the Buena Park Rotary Club. She is
also involved with many collaboratives such as OCDE Homeless
Education, Homeless Provider Forum, Collaboration to Assist
Motel Families and the LAUSD Homeless Collaborative.
Elizabeth was born in Quito, Ecuador and migrated here with
her parents at the age of one. She was raised in Cypress,
California and graduated from Cypress College with her A.A.
and is now happily married and blessed to be the mother of
three beautiful children. Elizabeth was part of the original
group that created and launched the We've Got Your Back
Program in Orange County, which makes her participation in
the development of We've Got Your Back San Diego invaluable. |
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CYNTHIA DIAZ, Director of Finance, Comptroller
Cynthia S. Diaz, CPA, Graduate of Vanguard University, with
a BA in Accounting and Business Administration. She has been
practicing accounting for more than twenty years in both
public accounting firms and private companies as a
controller. Cynthia currently has her own private practice
in which she works with small businesses to sustain growth
and maintain a healthy profit margin in this unstable
economic environment and has seen great success. She enjoys
working with business owners and helping them to maintain
their vision while insuring they are making the best use of
their time. She has worked with Bill and Sue McLeod in their
private companies for over 10 years and Shepherd's Way since
2005. Cynthia and her husband have been working for years to
better the lives of families in their church communities by
addressing the necessity of more active parenting in the
lives of today’s children. They currently home school their
daughter and son and are very passionate about their role in
their children’s lives. They find the mission of WGYBSD to
be a great way to show their children how to care for other
children in their community and are very excited to be a
part of the team. |
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