Directors, Members and Helpers

This page provides information about some of the people who help to run Sosúa Kids, either as directors, members or helpers.

The Directors and Board Members are:

Karen Conquergood (President)

A Canadian citizen residing in the DR off and on for over 20 years, Karen, along with others, was a founder of Sosua Kids.
 
Amongst her many activities helping Dominican and Haitian poor people in this area, Karen runs medicals in poor bateys and also provides eye care. She runs a clothing depot for the poor and distressed and two pharmacies along with Domincan Crossroads. She runs a service loaning wedding dresses and other apparel to those who would otherwise not be able to even dream of such a richness on this special day in their lives. She is actively involved in many aspects of our work, including the collection, storage and distribution of donated goods. She facilitiates individuals and groups to visit local schools. More generally, she provides liaison for whatever needs to be accomplished.

Janet Williams (Treasurer)

Janet moved here from Massachusetts in 1987 and owns and manages a small apartment complex in the Playa Chiquita area where she lives as well. She has been employed by the Coconut Palms Resort for 14 years as office manager of the marketing dept. She is a volunteer for the Sosúa friends of the animal’s operatives. Janet, as one of our founding members, has been involved with the Sosúa Kids program since its inception. She has been responsible for the keeping the books, printing and depositing school uniform and supplies vouchers for Sosúa Kids as well as mutli-tasking along with the other members of Sosúa kids.

John Bosworth (Secretary and Website Editor)

John has lived in or near Sosúa since 2003 and is the husband of Sosúa Kids Board member, Jenni Paulger.  Before his retirement he worked for many years in the administration of the University of Birmingham in the UK, where he acted as secretary for a range of boards and committees and headed a unit concerned with academic policy development and implementation.

Linden Andersen

Linden and his wife, Barb, have owned property in Sosúa for many years. Several years ago they realized their dream and moved here from Calgary, Canada.

Shortly after their move they purchased the Britannia Pub. Barb was one of our founding members and she and Linden have worked for Sosua Kids ever since.. They have been responsible for many of Sosúa Kids donations, solicited from tourist visitors to the pub as well as local residents. They have now sold the pub, but they continue their fund raising here in Sosúa. They are closely involved in the distribution of uniform and supply vouchers each school year.  Also they frequently provide tours to visitors wishing to see a local school first hand. Linden and Barb are Friends of the Animals volunteers.

Dave Auffret

Dave was born in Jersey, Channel Islands and has worked as an aircraft engineer for around 40 years, about half of this time overseas. He lives in Sosúa with his family, Carmen, Margarita, Roberto and Alan. He is Station Engineer (Manager) for Thomson Airways Engineering and handles maintenance in the Dominican Republic at Puerto Plata, Samaná and La Romana airports.

 Jenni Paulger

Jenni moved to Sosua in 2003.  Before leaving England she worked in Night Shelters for the homeless and at Soup Kitchens.  She was a volunteer with the Samaritans for a number of years and with her husband fostered over 50 children in a two year period in the 80s.  More recently she was Treasurer for a small English charity which had an international presence because of the information on its web pages.  Jenni was the founding Secretary of Sosua Kids but has recently given up this responsibility in order to concentrate in assisting with fund-raising activities.

 

Our members at one of their monthly meetings.  On this occasion they were joined by two of our founders who are no longer actively involved on a day-to-day basis, Michelle Bennett (standing) and Harry Pryce (far right). Missing from the photo are our Secretary, John Bosworth (who took the photo) and Jenni Paulger.

 

Our helpers of course include those many other people who voluntarily give us practical assistance in different ways.  The following are among those who have accepted continuing responsibility for specific activities.

Sue Bryan (Sosua Kids Member Responsible for Fundraising Events)

Susan and Ron Bryan decided to make their home in Sosua and moved here permanently in November 2006, from a small town called Beaumont in Alberta, Canada.  Susan’s background focused around raising her family while working as an administrative secretary along with many volunteer positions through the years.  Susan enjoys the relaxed lifestyle here in the Dominican Republic and is happy to be a member of Sosua Kids. She, together with Lesley Edwards (see below) and Pete Rendic, regularly attend Board meetings by invitation.

Lesley Edwards (Fundraising Events) 

Lesley moved to the DR from Scole, Norfolk in the UK in 2005 with her husband Hugh & son Scott. They leased their pub & bought the Tree House bar on Sosua beach which they ran for 3years, selling it in April 2008. Lesley now works at The Checkpoint bar and Beecher's bars. She was asked to help organise fundraising events for Sosua Kids along with her friend Sue, & was happy to accept.  Lesley also volunteers at the dog association when she can, helping in the clinic when they have volunteer vets over here.