Our Mission
Photo by Eric Horne
Harraseeket supports programs that make it easier for Northern Virginia faith communities to help young people imagine their future, and act on what they imagine. These programs reach youth and young adults inside and outside their communities, including underserved and economically disadvantaged high school students.
What We Believe
A group of us embarked on this journey with a vision: That relationships of inspiration and guidance could be cultivated between community members and young people.
This would extend beyond just work and careers— to value systems, obligations to self and others, and choices we make about living in service to the world. Here’s where we started…
We Saw A Problem
Young people lack adequate access to the wisdom and experience of others to help them imagine their future.
Advice from parents, friends, guidance counselors, teachers, books, articles and videos sometimes is more practical than thoughtful.
Adults are often limited in the time, attention and focus they can give to listening impartially, free of their own agendas when discussing the path they believe a young person should take.
Many young people don’t appreciate how much they can learn and benefit from impartial, agenda-free, nonjudgmental guidance. We asked ourselves: How can they be encouraged to seek it out?
And An Opportunity
Communities can be ideal for supporting young people, and many are looking for better ways to do it.
Community organizations, particularly worship communities, want to support young people in and beyond their own community.
We believe young people can find — and be encouraged to find — nonjudgmental “guides on the side” among members in communities
Instead of simply being “told” what to do, imagining one’s future should be an active, participatory exercise with the help of a largely untapped asset— the wisdom and experience in communities.
How We Work
We offer the tools and resources to help communities offer access to the wisdom and experience of their members. They can be designed to fit the unique needs and circumstances of each community.
Our Professional Advisers
Why “Harraseeket”?
Pronounced “hair-a-SEEK-it”
“Harraseeket” (pronounced “hair-a-SEEK-it”) is inspired by the name of the river that empties into a beautiful, fully enclosed harbor in South Freeport, Maine, where Steve Parker, one of The Harraseeket Foundation founders, grew up. The name is probably the mispronunciation by White settlers of an Abanaki dialect whose meaning some have suggested is either “river full of obstacles” or “river of many fish.” We think both meanings fit well into the mission!
The People Supporting Our Mission
These are people who are leading or who have recently led our work.
This doesn’t include countless volunteers who have supported our forums by leading discussions and helping with food and materials; mentored dozens of young people; contributed video and reading resources to our Pathways Resource Map; been video’d telling their Mentor Stories for the Resource Map; suggested internships; agreed to employ interns; contributed ideas for summer and vacation jobs and shadowing opportunities; worked on our websites; organized and supported our “Imagining Your Future” guide teams; offered great advice and wisdom on the operation and improvement of our Pathways programs; and made financial contributions to support our work.
We need much more help as our mission expands! Please let us know if you’d like to help us, using this form.
(Hover over photo to learn more about each person)
Born and raised in Herndon, VA, so Jake’s roots are deep in the Herndon community, and he loves watching it grow. He is a youth leader (including for 6 years at a Herndon church), handyman, & DJ. You can find Jake at a local brewery watching the Washington Capitals game.
Jake Killian, Community Coordinator
K (yes, just the letter!) has always been curious about community formation, people's stories, and what it takes to create a shared future where everyone has the ability to flourish. She's spent her time working alongside women coming out of sex trafficking, in a fraternity house, at a brewery, with women who are incarcerated, and most recently as the Director of Partnerships at The People's Supper: working around the country to help people build trust and connection to combat isolation and fragmentation in their communities. She is delighted by journaling, a good thrift find, her dogs, and her latest scheme (currently: a vending machine that vends local art!) She's so excited to be on board at Harraseeket.
K Scarry, Community Coordinator
From a small town in North Dakota, Allison packed her bags and headed to D.C. to follow her call into ministry at Wesley Theological Seminary. Allison graduated from the University of Jamestown with a B.S. in Psychology, also studying theater, Christian ministry, and leadership. In ministry, Allison is passionate about ecumenical and inter-faith work--seeing how communities can be brought together by common values and a united vision.
Alli Galbreath, Project Manager
Amelia is a student at Brown University. She has a wide range of interests, including (but not limited to) computer science, dance, genetics, the outdoors, and inequities in education and healthcare. She loves that she gets to study all of these things at once using Brown’s open curriculum and hopes to create a way to explore them all throughout her career pathway. She is very excited to work on Harraseeket’s Internship Fund and provide opportunities for other young people to discover what they want their pathways to look like.
Amelia Zug, Project Manager
Steve didn’t want to be a doctor because he hates blood and he preferred not to work at a large anonymous corporation. Steve thought about the ministry when he was a teenager and never discussed the idea with anyone in the ministry. He decided to go to law school without talking to a lawyer about it. Law school seemed like a plausible option because it bought him 3 more years of school before going into the workforce and because he likes to argue. He was a college debater, after all.
Next thing Steve knew, he’d spent 32 years at Arnold & Porter, a large DC law firm. Steve did all kinds of corporate and deal work in different industries, including banking, technology and the music industry. Then he discovered life sciences deals. He found he could make a difference helping entrepreneurial scientists with their ideas for improving human health. The law turned out to be a pretty good career path.
While Steve was at Arnold & Porter, he formed The Harraseeket Foundation with a few friends, hoping after he retired from law that he could provide tools to communities that want to help their younger members make informed life and career decisions. He’s having a blast doing it!
Steve Parker, Co-Founder, President & Director
Karly is thrilled to be a part of Harraseeket! Karly is a "townie" in Old Town Manassas. She walks weekly to the local train station, coffee shops, playground and farmers market with her two year old, Hadley Grace. They know every barista in town by name.
Karly has spent the last ten years working with women who are coming out of sex trafficking in Australia, Cambodia and Thailand, bringing that same mission to the heart of DC. She is a licensed foster mama and works for a local foster care nonprofit helping to deliver care packages to foster families ‘ homes when new placements arrive.
A few years ago, Karly led Young Life at Westfield High School and tangibly experienced the importance of investing in high schoolers’ lives. Karly will be assisting with our development as we grow and launch new programs.
Karly Reyle, Development Coordinator
Peter Vorkink was for many years an Instructor in Religion at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH. One of the courses Peter taught was a course called “Imagining Your Future.” This course inspired the development of Harraseeket’s Imagining Your Future program. Peter’s extensive work in this field makes him an ideal Head of Programming to Harraseeket for this program and for the development of the “Pathways Resource Map.”
Peter, an Episcopal priest who once considered becoming a physician, backed into the study of religion when he was required to fulfill a course distribution in religion or philosophy at college. Philosophy scared him, and he knew nothing about religion. Having come from an “unchurched” family, he had never been introduced to the academic study of religion and found this first course fascinating. Deciding to major in the subject while remaining a pre-med, he was accidentally exposed to the praxis of religion by spending a summer working with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in St. Augustine, Florida. His senior year in college brought him into contact with one of the most activist chaplains of that generation, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr., and the combination of the study of religion in the classroom and the practice of it in social activism led him to decide to go to seminary and into the ministry.
Peter Vorkink, Head of Programming
A favorite childhood story in Lauren’s family is about the time she started a neighborhood basketball team for the kids nearby. She led her friends in making posters, building a roster, getting parents to sign forms (who knows what they said), and organizing a practice schedule…only to realize, not only was she TERRIBLE at basketball, but she also hated playing it. Looking back now, though, this was probably the first glimmer of Lauren’s true strength – which is seizing on to new ideas and breathing life into them, something she enjoys doing with The Harraseeket Foundation in her spare time. Lauren is both an explorer and a guide in Harraseeket’s Imagining Your Future program, continuously looking for new insights to build a well-rounded life and helping those who come after her recognize and avoid pitfalls that she’s fallen victim to herself while also finding and grabbing hold of passions they might have left behind on their third grade basketball team.
Lauren Fox, Strategic Adviser
Anna Marie is a student at Savannah College of Art and Design and is an IPC Pathways seeker. She loves trying new things to get closer to her career path by creating and designing visual concepts that she is developing at SCAD. She also loves working with children.
Anna Marie Hollar, Visual Effects Web Designer
Many say Sarah Erickson was born with a crayon in her hand. As a graphic designer, she’s found her passion in helping bring brands to life (especially those brands that help others). As one of the few people in this world who was lucky enough to know what she wanted to do at a young age, she loves being a part of something that’ll help others discover their passion in the work they do every day.
Sarah Erickson Gaydos, Head of Design
Leslie Speidel is a mom of teens and the co-founder and owner of Career Exploration Group. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) specializing in career transitions. She coaches teens and young adults in discovering their passion and learning practical skills for navigating their way to fulfilling work. Leslie has an MBA in marketing from American University and a BS in Communications from Boston University. After working in management consulting for HR, she spent time raising her kids and managing a busy household. When faced with the possibility of a second career, she realized she loved listening to students talk about their hopes for their future. Her curiosity combined with her mom’s perspective on raising teens led her to career coaching for teens and young adults.
Leslie Speidel, Project Director
Jeanette lives for a big life resume filled with adventure. She graduated from Virginia Tech with a B.S. in Food Science and Technology where she then went on to pursue a career in the food industry. She has spent the last three years working with others to tackle some of the industry’s most challenging food safety issues. In addition, she helped track and advise on international food recalls and helped food companies ensure compliance to enable them to sell their food products in U.S. markets. Now, she is making a career transition to pursue another interest, take on new challenges, and explore a different career path in business development. Her motto? Give it a shot. You never know what could happen if you try, but you always know what will happen if you stay put.
In her free time, Jeanette loves to go on long runs where she frequently gets lost and has to “Google maps” her way back. She has a bit of wanderlust and finds other free time spent scheming creative ways to convince friends to travel to new countries with her. Finally, as a food enthusiast, she does not quite enjoy the cooking aspect, but is an avid taste tester and finds the most enjoyment when sharing a meal with friends and family…that someone else has cooked.
Jeanette Litchewski, Projects Manager
Ryan has insisted from a young age that work should be fun, and should be where you get to do what you love. More than that, it should allow you a space to continuously improve yourself, and become your best you. Maybe even make the impact you desire to make on the world.
Lofty ambitions… but after graduating from college in NC in 2019, Ryan knew he wanted be surrounded by people and businesses with inspiring missions, who shared his passion for asking the “big questions” in life and bettering society.
Through a totally unpredictable series of events, Ryan landed at Harraseeket with his girlfriend and business partner, Lindsay. It was somehow a perfect fit for the path he wanted to start on. He is currently narrowing his passion and skills working on Harraseeket’s website (and working through creative differences with his partner —>)
Ryan McElhinney, Web Designer
Lindsay graduated from Elon University in 2019 with a major in Human Service Studies and minors in Psychology, Teaching & Learning and Leadership. She has always had a passion for finding ways to help others in her work, and make authentic connections with people of all different backgrounds.
Lindsay currently runs her own Website Creation & Management business as well as an online marketplace that sells products made by college students, The Student-Made Store.
Lindsay Reeth, Webmaster & Designer
Liz is an amateur movie critic and aspiring copyright nerd. She graduated from VCUarts with a B.A. in Cinema which she used to work in film and television production. After several years in the biz, Liz decided she needed to go on her own “Eat, Pray, Love” journey, so she quit her job to backpack in Europe. She ate delicious food, saw beautiful cathedrals, and realized she wanted to go to law school. Three years and many tests later, Liz is now a law school graduate pursuing a legal career in the entertainment industry.
Liz Velander, Pathways Fund Director
Larissa leads the product development efforts for Harraseeket’s website and the Pathways online platform and tools. Prior to joining Harraseeket, Larissa spent much of her career leading product teams at media companies such as Yahoo!, NBC, Evite and Friendster. Larissa has always had a passion for mentoring and has been a sounding board for young people in her family and community.
She currently lives in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, a sleepy beach town just north of San Diego, with her husband and train-obsessed son.
Larrisa Dinh, Head of Product
Board of Directors & Officers
Steve didn’t want to be a doctor because he hates blood and he preferred not to work at a large anonymous corporation. Steve thought about the ministry when he was a teenager and never discussed the idea with anyone in the ministry. He decided to go to law school without talking to a lawyer about it. Law school seemed like a plausible option because it bought him 3 more years of school before going into the workforce and because he likes to argue. He was a college debater, after all.
Next thing Steve knew, he’d spent 32 years at Arnold & Porter, a large DC law firm. Steve did all kinds of corporate and deal work in different industries, including banking, technology and the music industry. Then he discovered life sciences deals. He found he could make a difference helping entrepreneurial scientists with their ideas for improving human health. The law turned out to be a pretty good career path.
While Steve was at Arnold & Porter, he formed The Harraseeket Foundation with a few friends, hoping after he retired from law that he could provide tools to communities that want to help their younger members make informed life and career decisions. He’s having a blast doing it!
Steve Parker, Co-Founder, President & Director
In her 15 + years as a corporate lawyer, Mindy advised closely held and public companies, developing expertise in drafting the disclosures required by the Securities and Exchange Commission of public companies.
Along the way, Mindy, a genuine and gifted “people person,” always wanted to know the story of the people who worked at these companies – and what made them “tick.” Mindy was actively involved in recruiting at Arnold & Porter, Washington, D.C. and at Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, a mid-size firm in Mindy’s hometown of Chicago, where she was the first person to make partner while working a flexible schedule. As a result, becoming a legal recruiter was a natural career transition when Mindy decided to follow her “north star,” allowing her to marry her finely honed knowledge of the legal profession and market with her passion to be of service to others.
For nearly 20 years now, Mindy has been present and attuned to helping others understand, identify potential paths for, and achieve their professional objectives and passions. Mindy has placed General Counsels of Fortune 200 companies through Counsels at privately-held companies. She has also succeeded as a partner to law firms, helping out of state firms open local offices in Chicago, and strategically placing partners and associates at firms large and small.
Mindy is proud to be part of, and to support the work of, The Harraseeket Foundation.
Mindy Crandus Sircus, Chair of the Board of Directors
Paul is a founding director of The Harraseeket Foundation and was Chairman from 2010 to 2018 and President and Treasurer from 2010 to 2016. Paul has mentored hundreds of youth over the years, primarily through youth sports, coaching football, and for over 50 years, in Little League in McLean, Va. He has served as president, board member, coach and manager in McLean Little League. He stays up with and remains involved in the lives of many of his former players.
Paul also is a founding director of Chain Bridge Bancorp and Chain Bridge Bank, N.A. of McLean, Va., and is Vice Chairman of the Board of Chain Bridge Bancorp. He is Vice President of Shiffman & Shiffman, PC, and a litigator with extensive trial experience in state and federal courts in the District of Columbia and Virginia. He is admitted to the District of Columbia Bar, the Virginia Bar, the US Supreme Court, the Virginia Supreme Court, the Military Court of Justice, the US Court of Appeals and the US Court of Claims.
Paul also was an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law and a past trustee of Landon School in Bethesda, MD. He is a member of the Cosmos Club and the United States Supreme Court Historical Society.
Paul Shiffman, Founding Director
George Kimball is California native, father of three daughters and resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he now teaches at the law school he once attended. George became a lawyer for lack of better ideas with vague hope that it might suit him (math was not required) and could possibly lead to something interesting, as it has, rather surprisingly, through 40 years in law practice, at big law firms, a small law firm and a big company. As a husband and father, a professional and now a law teacher, he has learned that lives are more important than careers, and informed choices about education and careers provide solid foundations for fulfilling lives.
George Kimball, Director
Lynley Ogilvie spent 17 years as a lawyer until she woke up one day and decided to be a garden designer. Well, not really, but the truth is long and boring! Lynley loves working with youth and believes that the world would be a much happier place if we encouraged people to identify and build on their innate strengths and interests. God has a plan for each of us if we listen.
Lynley Ogilvie, Corporate Secretary, Director and Program Manager
Wally is a CPA with over 50 years’ experience. He feels that his experience with youth makes him particularly suitable for the Harraseeket Foundation’s mission. He was a youth track coach for the McLean Youth organization for 13 years. He has helped organize and participate in yearly Habitat for Humanity missions for church youth for more than 20 years. Perhaps more importantly he has been involved in Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Foundation where he tutored and mentored at risk minority youth for 10 years.
Wally Hamsher, Treasurer