Our Board

Adopt One Village founder, Emmanuel Anim-Sackey, was born and raised in the village of Yaw Tenkorang. He graduated from the village school and later went on to attend Akim Swedru Secondary school and Oda Secondary school, where he earned his O’Level and A’Level certificates, respectively. After emigrating to the United States in 1996, Emmanuel attended the New York Leadership Center. He later began working for the U.S. Postal service as a mail carrier.

In 2006, Emmanuel began collecting donations of toiletries, shoes and gently-used clothes from people who lived along his mail route. He would ship the goods back to Ghana to benefit the people who still lived in the impoverished community, from which he came. Word of his efforts spread throughout his town of West Orange and a few years later Adopt One Village was born.

Due to his tireless and sacrificial efforts around his cause, Emmanuel has been been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the 2008 West Orange Citizen of the Year, the 2009 US Postal Service Humanitarian of the Year award, the 2011 West Orange African Heritage Organization Leadership Award and the 2014 Marlane Edelman Leadership Award.

Emmanuel lives in West Orange, NJ with his family.

In her career as a corporate attorney, Anne Carrasco has served litigator at an AmLaw 100 firm and later a large regional firm in New Jersey. She now serves as the Compliance Manager for AECOM’s Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Transit System.  Anne has been on the AOV Board of Directors for over 5 years. She is currently responsible for leading service trips, fundraising efforts and events, oversight of legal decision-making and processes, and liaising with the Volunteer Leader for Education. She is a cum laude graduate of Rutgers University, where she earned both her an undergraduate B.A. in Political Science and her law degree.

Anne’s other interests include writing, travel, adventure, fitness, and food.

Russ Hammonds

Russ has been involved with Adopt One Village since 2010 and has served on its
board since 2012. He has travelled to Ghana with AOV for five mission trips.

By way of vocation, Russ has spent more than a decade as a television producer with fifteen years of experience in episodic series post-production. He has supervised and led post production for several shows, including HBO’s Emmy award-winning Boardwalk Empire, Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and most recently Netflix’s The Diplomat.

Before post production, Russ served as a talent manager to various actors in film,
television and theater.

In addition to Adopt One Village, Russ also serves as a member of the Board of
Deacons for AOV-partner, The Life Christian Church. Russ is a graduate of Brown
University with B.A. in Physics. He lives in New York with his wife and children.

Kristy Gray is a children’s book author and a mother of two boys, the younger of whom lives with autism. Kristy has dedicated her life to raising her family, and as her son’s biggest advocate, is committed to spreading awareness about autism.

A recent addition to the board, Kristy has been involved with Adopt One Village for the past five years. She has played an important role in many of the organization’s fundraising efforts, including the planning of our most-recent gala event, which was the most successful in the organization’s history.

Kristy’s other interests include travel, baking, reading and writing.

Jaelene Mulcahy

Jaelene has been involved with Adopt One Village since her first trip in June 2014 and was welcomed onto the Board as of April 2023.

Jaelene’s background is in Early Childhood Education and Development. As of 2022, she transitioned to working for her family business as a Mechanical Engineer and Marketing Specialist. Jaelene manages many social media pages, including “Adopt One Village – Hunterdon”.

Her passion is to share the love of Christ through service, intentionality, and sharing testimonies of how God is moving throughout her life. Jaelene’s other interests include traveling, hiking, cooking, and painting.

Alejandra “Cathy” Gherardi

Alejandra began her career with Cigna Healthcare in 2002. She currently works in the US Commercial Sales division in the role of Health Engagement Manager, leading a team of Engagement Consultants in developing health improvement and well-being strategies in addition to supporting employee education needs for corporate clients.

Alejandra graduated Summa Cum Laude and received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Kean University in 2001. She is a Certified Personal Trainer with the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) through which she also holds her certification as a Corrective Exercise Specialist.

She first began traveling with Adopt One Village in January, 2020. Her passion for health education, along with seeing the immense need for healthcare and basic human needs ignited an urgency in her to help by spreading awareness and enlisting the help of those around her.

Alejandra is a wife and mother of 3 boys, one of whom has Cystic Fibrosis. In her spare time she spreads awareness on the condition for which currently there is no known cure. Her other passions include volunteering for a women’s ministry called Women’s Walk With Christ which is focused on walking with women in their healing and empowering them to live with freedom in Christ. She also volunteers as a site lead for the Girls on The Run (Hunterdon, Warren and Bucks County Chapter) through Cigna. Her other interests include traveling, long driving dates with her husband, dining with friends and is an avid 80s music fan.