Staff
Gina Centanni
Gina is the receptionist extraordinaire. She fields calls and blasts through daily tasks with a smile, witty joke, and nostalgic story of her missionary times overseas. She is the second-most organized person on the planet and makes the rest of the staff look like slackers. Basically, she’s fantastic. Please don’t recruit her away from us; we need her.
Drew Bryson
Volunteer Program Coordinator
dbryson@godaid.org
Drew works as the Volunteer and Intern Coordinator at Giving Children Hope. He works to unite energy and passion of LA and OC volunteers to the mission and vision of GCHope Projects.
Drew has worked for several years as a Youth Pastor in Orange County, during which time he earned his Master’s of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. In his current position, Drew sees his ministry as the inspiring in GCH volunteers the same deep care that God has for the underprivileged in our world. His passions include literature, really good television and Lakers Basketball. Drew is definitely the second best Frisbee handler on staff.
Drew has the unwarranted privilege of living with the top two most beautiful women in the world, his wife Jennifer and their daughter Abigail.
Sean Lawrence
Sean is Giving Children Hope’s Non-Profit Partner Manager. He develops and cultivates the relationships between GCH’s non-profit partners and field partners.
He grew up a missionary kid in SE Asia and would later work with his church in Southern California to develop a missions program that extended to Japan and Rwanda. In addition, Sean spent several years reporting on missions work and humanitarian crises events around the world for a mission’s magazine. He looks forward to using his experience in relief and missions work to the benefit of our partners.
Sean arrives at GCH from a most recent background in marketing writing for both non-profits and the private sector. Sean joined Giving Children Hope in June 2010 and rather enjoys his grueling 5 minute commute from his home Fullerton which he shares with his wife Crystal and their three young sons.
Rosa Rueda
Holly Johns
Holly Johns is the Grants & Communications Coordinator. She keeps her coworkers sane (ok, mainly the Executive Assistant) by hosting dance parties and sing-a-longs in the office hallways. She is also the resident gypsy, office karaoke singer and grammar tyrant.
She handles grant research and writing, database management, the website and social media when she is not singing to the RENT soundtrack or numerous country albums.
She graduated from California State University, Fullerton in December 2010 with her Bachelor of Arts in Communications with a concentration in Public Relations.
America Tapia
Elizabeth Saldaña
Elizabeth is Giving Children Hope’s Director of Community Programs. She joined the Giving Children Hope family in August of 2007.
She oversees all of our local programs including We’ve Got Your Back, Giving for Living and our Mission Store.
She 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. in Human Services. She is working on her B.A. in Social Work at California State University, Fullerton.
She is happily married with three beautiful children and is blessed to have found friends here at Giving Children Hope.
Jessica Rickerts
Jessica is the Executive Assistant to the President & CEO, John Ditty. Basically, she keeps the place from spiraling into chaos. She maintains order with multi-tasking abilities that make us question her humanity. She maintains balance by streaming Pandora Radio, watching John Cusack films, and kicking back large amounts of caffeine.
Born and raised in Orange County, Ca, Jessica graduated summa cum laude from California State University, Fullerton, with a B.A. in Communications, emphasizing Public Relations, and a minor in English. Her previous experience includes six years working in the auto appraisal industry and a position at a public relations/event planning firm. She is not the grammar tyrant Holly Johns is, but she’s in close second.
She joined Giving Children Hope in May of 2008.
Joe Bergfalk
Joe is Giving Children Hope’s Director of Budgets and Finance.
He is recently retired after a 32-year career with the YMCA. He held positions that include CEO of the San Gabriel Valley YMCA and the YMCA of Riverside City and County, Senior Vice President of the YMCA of Greater Long Beach as well as numerous Executive Director assignments in that association.
Mr. Bergfalk has a Bachelor’s degree from California State University, Long Beach and a national status as a YMCA Senior Director and master trainer.
Joe lives in Buena Park with his wife, Nancy.
Bill Barta
Bill is a one day per week consultant to the CEO in the areas of operations, container shipping, partner relations, and the capital campaign initiative. He worked two years at Giving Children Hope from 2000-2002 before going to the Union Rescue Mission as its COO.
Bill is from Ohio originally and went on to the US Military Academy at West Point where he was elected Class Treasurer and MVP of the Army football team. He retired as an Army Lt. Col with combat experience in Vietnam, and duty in Korea, France, and Germany. He ended his career in the Pentagon as a Plans Director in the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army where he received the Legion of Merit award. He obtained his Master’s in Systems Management at USC and after retirement worked in the President’s Office at World Vision Int’l as the Senior Executive Assistant before taking a job as VP Operations at International Aid Inc, a large relief ministry in Michigan.
John Ditty (CEO & President)
John Ditty is Co-founder, President and CEO of Giving Children Hope. He oversees all of Giving Children Hope’s operations, as well as its management and staff.
John was born and raised in California. He earned an Associate of Arts degree from Fullerton Junior College. He 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.
“God birthed this place, and God has grown it,” says John of the organization’s success. “It has all been a miracle. It is exciting to see what He is going to do next.”
