Our Board

Donald R. McCrabb, D. Min., is the Executive Director for the United States Catholic Mission Association. A pastoral theologian, Don taught for the Catholic Leadership Institute, the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception (Dominican House of Studies) and the Catholic University of America. Don served in senior leadership positions for the Catholic Youth Foundation and the Catholic Campus Ministry Association. Don provided consultation services to the Catholic Apostolate Center, the University of Dayton Campus Ministry, the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Saint Bonaventure University, and Sienna Heights University. He is a published author with articles in the NCEA Seminary Journal, Bible Today, and the Journal of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association. He, and his wife Barbara, published Rise, Take the Child – Reflections on the Vocation of Adoption in 2015. An active member of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, Don and his family reside in Washington, D.C. Don joined the Sacred Heart Dinner Program Board in 2015. He became chair of the board in 2016. 

Mary Anne Gibbons is an attorney with over twenty-seven years of federal government and ten years of private sector experience.  Prior to retiring in 2013, Ms. Gibbons served as General Counsel and Executive Vice President of the U.S. Postal Service for over 14 years and in other management and staff positions previously.  Ms. Gibbons’ legal expertise is in the area of labor and employment law, and she has been involved in collective bargaining at the Postal Service and in the private sector. 

Ms. Gibbons has been a resident of the District of Columbia since 1979.  She is a member of Shrine of the Sacred Heart Parish, where she manages the lector program. Ms. Gibbons served for two decades on the Board of Directors of Christian Communities Group Homes (now Home First), an organization that provides permanent housing to homeless and low income seniors.  Ms. Gibbons is married and the mother of two children.

Janina Olarte Quilacio has been a member of the Sacred Heart Dinner Program Board since November 2015. She currently works at K&L Gates, LLP specializing in business development and marketing. She is also a dedicated realtor licensed in Washington, DC. She is an active parishioner at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart church, currently resides in the Columbia Heights area and is passionate about leveraging technology and analytics in solving today’s biggest problems.

Ron Castaldi hails from California. He worked at the US Department of Education and most recently served as the social justice minister at Holy Trinity Catholic Church here in Washington. He is also one on the executive committee of the Good Faith Communities Coalition which advocates for the homeless with the City Council and the mayor.

Patricia DeFerrari began volunteering for the Sacred Heart Dinner Program in 2004. In previous years she has served as Board Secretary and as Board Treasurer. A native Washingtonian, Patricia was baptized at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart and, many years later, married there as well.  For the past twenty five years, she has also been an active member of the Christ House community, a church and medical recovery facility for homeless men.  Patricia currently serves as Chief Program Officer at Academy of Hope Adult Public Charter School, where she has had the honor of working for adult learners with low literacy or low educational attainment for the past 15 years. Prior to joining Academy of Hope, Patricia worked at Graduate School USDA.  Previous to that, she taught religious studies at several area colleges, including Georgetown University, Catholic University, Marymount and Trinity Washington University.

Sylvia Ross is a new board member of the Dinner Program and a 40-year member of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart.
 
In addition to 30 years of professional experience and retirement from U.S. Department of Education, Sylvia has volunteered extensively to advocate for the disadvantaged, seniors and disabled, including work with the Senior Medicare Patrol - District of Columbia "Empowering Seniors to Prevent Healthcare Fraud" sponsored by a grant through the Legal Council for the Elderly.  She has also worked as an advocate for parents of disabled children attending D.C. Public Schools.

Rose Schneider has served on the board of the Sacred Heart dinner program for four years.  She has supported the program, especially with contacts with city offices and officials and private organizations to seek their support. Rose is a public health professional and assists in connecting DP guests with health and social services agencies, including the visiting health van, Alcoholics Anonymous, etc. As a member of Sacred Heart for 14 years, she serves as an Eucharistic minister and lector. 

John is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He now studies Economics at Georgetown University. After volunteering at the dinner program, he joined the Board in November 2017. John helps to organize our daily suppers and to provide outreach to other students and volunteers.

Alex hails from Cyprus and New Hampshire. He has lived in Washington for seven years and been a member of Sacred Heart for two. He has taught in the Sacred Heart ESL program, volunteered at a legal clinic for workers, and collected food donations from local restaurants for the Dinner Program. In the daytime he serves as project coordinator at the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University.

Roxana Cruz just joined the Sacred Heart Dinner Program as the Program Coordinator on January 2017. She currently coordinates the Dinner Program's many services every weekday, assists with the training and managing of the program's wide volunteer base, as well as assists the board with grant proposals and other program management activities.

"These couple of months have been great! Working at the Sacred Heart Dinner Program is truly a blessing. To have a job where you are able to help and change the lives of others, is an unexplainable feeling. I feel blessed to know that with every little seed we plant we will be able to help many lives. I also thank God for allowing me to be part of this great community! " - Roxie