Dr. Art Pitz, President
Art is a husband, father, and grandfather who lives with his wife Suzanne in Elmhurst, Illinois. He is a retired history professor who loves history and still teaches. He is a Fulbright Senior Specialist and has worked or travelled in twenty-four countries. As a Boy Scout, he learned the value of service for others, which he continues as a member of Elmhurst Rotary Club. Helping children in Sierra Leone in West Africa fits with that commitment. At the completion of an Rotary Global Grant agriculture and water project, he was honored by Tagrin village in a ceremony to inaugurate him as a town chief and give him the name “Pakomrabai” (Chief of Chiefs). Art and Suzanne live in Elmhurst, Illinois and are members of Elmhurst Presbyterian Church.
Deb Bowen, Vice President
Deb is a wife, mother and grandmother who lives on a small lake in rural Illinois. She’s pictured with Alassane, an exchange student from Mali. Recently retired, Deb worked with exchange students from developing countries for over twenty years. That’s how her interest in helping students’ lives improve has grown so strong over the years. She runs a nonprofit called Understanding Works and serves on the White Field Partners Board of Directors. Helping children in Sierra Leone is a priority in her life.
Caralee Rath, Secretary
Caralee Rath, lives in Moline with her husband Jeffrey and is a foster/adoptive parent of a family of officially 9 children with a couple of others who never was able to be adopted but are still affectionately known as part of the Rath-Pack. Caralee became invested in Sierra Leone while supporting her mother “Mama Caroline” as she was called, on her first trip to Sierra Leone in 2008 and 2010. Caralee, helped her mom raise the funds for one of the first wells White Field Partners drilled in Sierra Leone. In 2012 three generations went to Sierra Leone when Mama Caroline and Caralee was joined by granddaughters Kristin and Elizabeth. Caralee strongly believes Change a Child, Change a Nation. Caralee is an Associate Pastor at Faith Walk World Outreach Center in Silvis, IL and works daily as a Funeral Pre-Planning Specialist at the only family owned Funeral Home in Davenport, Iowa.
Doug Fitzgerald, Treasurer
Muriel Kargbo, Director
Muriel is Kennedy Lugar-Youth Exchange Studies alumni of the year 2020/2021; American Leadership Exchange alumni of the year 2022; and Iowa Resources for International Service alumni 2022. She is leader of the Dream Team Sierra Leone which is focused on distributing books, soccer balls, jump ropes, and reusable sanitary kits to girls and women backed up with sensitization of menstrual health, menstrual period, menstrual cycle and other health aspects. Muriel is in the final year of Pre-medical studies. She is the first Sierra Leonean member on the board of directors of White Field Partners. She hopes to make her country and the world a better and safer place for all mankind. Her theme is Empathy, and she brings kindness, respect, love, sharing, and humility to all.
Vicky Miller, Director
Vicky has been honored to serve with several not-for-profit Board of Directors in the Quad Cities Region. She herself has been a small business owner over the years. And, she has also served the small business community as an advocate for small businesses with the IL Small Business Development Center and the IL Procurement Technical Assistance Center as the NW Regions Director at Black Hawk College. And, most recently served as the Bi-State Regional Director for the Defense Industry Association.
She feels truly blessed to be a mother of three and is extra blessed to be a grandmother of four! Her husband is a small business owner and they both have enjoyed living in the great Midwest.
She believes strongly that the success in life is Faith, Family & Friends. Helping others succeed gives her joy and with heavens great help she has been able to help champion many successful projects.
Kirsten Peterson, Director