Our vision

Avi Lipkin studied for an MA at Israel’s Conservative Jewish Seminary, is a spokesman for the Israel Defense Force (reserves) and is a former Sr. Editor and translator for the Israeli Government press office under Prime Minister Shamir.

He grew up in the liberal, northeastern part of the US. His experiences there, along with the horrific events of the Holocaust, led him to believe that all gentiles hated the Jews. Wanting to escape this hatred and feeling that the future of the Jewish people lies in Israel, Avi decided to move to Israel (make “aliyah”).

Avi Lipkin has written several book including: Is Fanatic Islam a Global Threat?,Christian Revival for Israel’s Survival, Islamic Threat Updates Almanac #1, Israel’s Bible Bloc, and Islam Prophesied In Genesis.

Chris is a longtime Lake Houston Area volunteer and mother of two Humble ISD students. Chris is a graduate of Kingwood High School and is the first KHS graduate to serve on the School Board. She earned her Bachelor of Science from Stephen F. Austin State University and is a licensed Property and Casualty and Life Health Agent. She works as an insurance trainer, insurance agent and small business owner. Chris, her husband Jason and their daughters, Payton and Sheridan, are members of Second Baptist Church North Campus.

Her community involvement includes participating in the Humble ISD Community Leadership Academy, Leadership Lake Houston, Precinct 4 Citizens Police Academy, PTA Board at Deerwood Elementary, Delegate to Council of PTA’s, National Charity League and Mothers Against Cancer. She is an advisory board member for the Holocaust Remembrance Association, Mighty Mustang Military Marching Band Mom, and a Creekwood Colt Band Mom. Chris is also a FamilyTime Woman of Achievement volunteer and an Evelyn Walter Award for Excellence winner.

Chris serves as a member of the Advocacy and Safety Committees and the Board and Superintendent Evaluation Committee. She also serves as a member of the Humble ISD Education Foundation Committee.

Christine developed a love of travel and other cultures early in life. By the time she was 14, she had lived in numerous U.S. locations and connected with friends from different cultural backgrounds. This experience motivated her to pursue degrees in Russian, German, and French Languages and Literatures with a year of post-graduate work in interpreting and translation at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. After living in Norway for several years, she and her husband Steve settled in Texas, where they have served in various volunteer capacities.

A leader with the March of Remembrance Texas since 2013, Christine is passionate about taking a stand against modern-day antisemitism. She also serves as executive director for a local anti-trafficking organization, where she leverages her baking experience to distribute thousands of cookies each year to grateful recipients.

David Lawhon is professor emeritus of American history and Holocaust studies for Texas A&M University at Galveston, where he was the university’s Honors program director. The Holocaust has always been a part of his family’s history, wherein, at the age of 18, his father was a liberator in World War II with the American 49th Rainbow Division who liberated Dachau concentration camp near Munich, Germany, and Mauthausen near Linz, Austria. He has been a member of Holocaust Museum Houston for five years and is Education Director for Holocaust Garden of Remembrance at King’s Harbor.

Devon is the Director of Community and Public Relations at HCA Houston Healthcare Kingwood. With expertise in strategic marketing, communications and social media integration, she is responsible for public affairs as related to the hospital and the role it plays in the community.

Dr. Bron Barkley is an accomplished  musician, teacher of the Jewish roots of Christianity, ministry leader and former senior pastor. He is the author of Designed Life.  He is also part of Dr. Victoria Sarvadi’s First Genesis Team.

Dr. DM Woody Woodward is an experienced pastor with a demonstrated history of working with nonprofit organizations, project management, systems oversight, communication, writing, discipleship. He is the leader of the March of Remembrance marches located in Kingwood and Austin, Texas. Dr. Woodward graduated with a doctoral degree from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary in the track, “The Preacher and the Message,” with an emphasis on teaching people to communicate well.

Dr. Gideon Greif is an Israeli historian who specializes in the history of the Holocaust, especially the history of the Auschwitz concentration camp and particularly the Sonderkommando in Auschwitz.

Dr. Greif served as a visiting lecturer for Jewish and Israeli History at the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Texas at Austin during the academic year 2011-2012.

Dr. Hily Rosenblum is the Head of Art and Movement Therapy Program, The Academic College at Wingate, Netanya, Israel. Dr. Rosenblum focuses on the impact of embedding emotion within professional development of educators, and how that contributes to teaching in the classroom.

Dr. John Garr has served the Christian church as theologian, minister, presbyter, and educator for over 50 years, including the past 25 years as Founder and President of Restoration Foundation (Hebraic Christian Community), an Atlanta-based transdenominational, international, multi-ethnic networking organization focused on publishing and education. His career has been devoted to equipping Christians with insights into the historical and theological truth of Christianity’s Hebrew foundations and to promoting rapprochement between the international Christian and Jewish communities.

Thilo M. Schimmel, Ph.D., history professor, joined LSC-Kingwood in 2011. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Universität Regensburg in Germany and a Master of Arts degree in American Studies from Purdue University. He earned a Ph.D. in History from the University of Illinois.

Dr. Zsuzsanna Ozsváth is a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor who founded the Holocaust Studies Program at The University of Texas at Dallas. A professor of literature and history and the Leah and Paul Lewis Chair of Holocaust Studies,

Dr. Ozsváth retired on September 1, 2020 after 37 years of teaching, research and writing. She has published a number of articles, dealing with aesthetic and ethical issues in French, German, and Hungarian literature as well as with the relationship between art and totalitarian ideology. Since the eighties, she has undertaken several translation projects and worked on various branches of Holocaust Studies.

Elizabeth Moreno retired from teaching junior high in Bay City for 20 years. Her father was a soldier in WWII and a concentration camp liberator. She is also an author, having co-authored Helen Colin’s autobiography My Dream of Freedom: From Holocaust to my Beloved America and authored Sancho, the Silly Billy Goat and other children’s books.

Heinz Reuss is the international director of March of Life and part of the pastoral team of TOS Church in Tübingen, Germany. Heinz is in charge of the training programs, young adult ministries, and public relations for TOS Ministries internationally. Heinz has been married to Ann-Caroline since 2013.

Deborah (“Debbie”) Riddle is a former Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 150, which encompasses much of northwest Harris County in and about Houston, Texas. 

Debbie is a horse breeder who lives in Tomball with her husband Mike, an attorney. In 2010, she self-published Taking Back Your Community, Your Country and Your Kids, which she described as, “a practical roadmap for anyone who chooses to make a difference in their country and community.

Janice Sturkie serves on the Board of the Institute for Hebraic Christian Studies and taught for several years at the campuses in Houston and Brenham. Janice has a passion for introducing Christians to the Hebraic Roots of their faith and connecting them to God’s purposes for Israel – to become “A Light to the Nations”.

Mrs. Sturkie is a US Representative for the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ), with Aliyah projects and other humanitarian needs in Israel.

Judy served more than 30 years with FamilyTime Crisis and Counseling Center. She started training as a volunteer in March of 1987 and worked as a legal advocate before taking on the promotion of executive director for 14 years. Judy retired in 2020 and is now the director of HRA18’s annual Beauty for Ashes fundraising luncheon at the Kingwood Country Club.

Mark Dreistadt is the founder and President of Infinity Concepts, a company committed to helping clients think more strategically, operate more efficiently, and communicate more effectively. Mark has a long and distinguished history of transforming organizations through his strategic counsel and blended approach to branding, advertising, fundraising, and media management. Mark is passionate about Israel and Holocaust education and brings a unique blend of creativity and strategic thinking to help HRA18 with the mission to sensitize hearts to the issues of the Holocaust.

Maryann Gremillion is a writer and educator working with elementary schools, teachers, and nonprofits to build transformative communities. She taught elementary school for fifteen years in Houston where she discovered a passion for creative writing and integrating fine arts in the content areas.

Maryann also worked for twelve years as a writer-in-residence and then program director for Writers in the Schools (WITS) in Houston. Her work has been published in The Ekphrastic Review, Glass Mountain, Teachers and Writers magazine, and several local anthologies. She recently completed a book chapter with a colleague called Innovation and Integrity: Working

Through Disruption to Support Teachers in Their Roles as Literacy Educators. The book is Developing Knowledge Communities Through Partnerships For Literacy by Emerald Publishing.

Maryann has a passion for educating children about the Holocaust and investing her talent in developing unique mini-lessons and curricular materials for the Holocaust Garden of Hope and HRA18.

Mike Riddle is the Managing Partner of Riddle & Butts, LLP and has been practicing law in Harris County and surrounding counties for almost 40 years. Mike has been a guest speaker for the White House Conference on Aging and he spoke before the International Association of Financial Planners in Washington, D.C.

Mike has been a guest speaker for 30 years on Christian radio station KHCB 105.7. He has three grown children and lives in the Tomball area. He is a member of Champion Forest Baptist Church, where he serves as a Sunday school teacher. Mike is married to former Texas State representative Debbie Riddle.

Rabbi Brian Strauss is the senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Yeshurun, the largest synagogue in Houston, Texas.

Rabbi Strauss is passionate about social action, which is a major focus of his senior rabbinate and believes very strongly that citizens can and should do more for the greater Houston community.

Rabbi Strauss is a long-term, generous supporter of the Holocaust Garden of Hope and an active member of the Executive Advisory Council.

Rev. Jim Welch is the former senior pastor at Kingwood United Methodist Church.

Mrs. Sanja Zoričić Tabaković is from the Shoah Academy, president of the Jewish Community of Zagreb and the Coordination of Jewish Communities.