Volunteering is central to our work at Historic Fair Hill and one of the biggest commitments that a volunteer can take on is joining our Board of Trustees. Made up of sixteen people, each of our board members brings unique talents and perspectives with a shared passion for our work. This January, we welcomed our two newest additions – Roxanne Bell and Rudy Fabry.
Roxanne has been involved with Historic Fair Hill for many years, participating in events and volunteering her time at the grounds. She is also an active member of Fairhill Neighbors, the Die Dumping Die community clean up effort, Taller Puertorriqueño, and was elected by neighbors to serve on HACE’s Team NAS. Roxanne is always seeking ways to be a community leader for her neighborhood and has become involved in a variety of initiatives that includes offering suggestions for designs that improve the safety and accessibility of parks. She also brings her experiences as a teacher and army vet into all that she does.
Rudy is an experienced accountant with a long history of supporting Quaker organizations. He is currently the Director of Finance at Friends’ Central School where he has worked since 2017. He is a St. Joseph’s University graduate and the proud father of four. Rudy is also an avid basketball fan – coaching, refereeing, and serving as treasurer for the Friends School League. We are excited to add his financial expertise to the mix as we continue to make sure that our services are sustainable.
Roxanne and Rudy will come together with the rest of our board every other month to provide oversight, make decisions, and strategically plan together, so that we can ensure the work that we are doing in Fairhill is equitable, impactful, and sustainable. Collectively, the board is able to pool their skills and experiences to help guide the work that we do. We utilize Quaker based decision making to ensure that everyone’s voices are heard and that instead of just voting yes or no on something that we’re all able to come to a sense of agreement. This often means that we’re thinking about each issue deeply and taking lots of perspectives into account before moving forward.
As an organization, we are constantly striving to do better and make sure that we are taking meaningful action to live out our values. One way that we have been holding ourselves accountable is by engaging in the Quaker practice of queries as we have discussions about diversity, equity, and inclusion. We have also made sure that we are looking at leadership as power with, not power over. We have made a concerted effort to include more lived experiences and more voices from Fairhill. One of our board members actually attended our partner schools and grew up coming to our programs as a teenager. This has added so much to our work and really helped us strengthen what we are doing.
It is very important to us that everyone on the board is committed to our mission and that they feel included. When new members join, we hold an orientation and pair them with a board buddy. We also ask them to complete a survey that lets us know if they need childcare, transportation, or learning accommodations. To make our meetings more accessible, we rotate between three locations, have moved our meetings to later in the day, and offer pizza and snacks. We have also built in ongoing orientation sessions on various topics for all members at the beginnings of meetings, so that everyone can get refreshers and we’re not just singling out new folks. All board members complete a self evaluation each year and there is also a separate feedback tool for new members after their first year, which has allowed us to continue to improve our processes.
Committees are a great way to get involved at the board level and an opportunity to share your talents while learning more about the inner workings of the organization. This year, we are also adding two new committee members – Tonika Winchester has joined the Grounds Committee and Adrienne Schulman is now part of the Development Committee. If you are interested in learning more about committee or board work, feel free to reach out.
2026 Board of Trustees – Sally Harrison, Chair; Dwayne Grannum, Vice Chair & Secretary; Tom Williams, Treasurer; Roxanne Bell, Betsy Caesar, Willie Colon, Rudy Fabry, Jean Hurd, Steve Kaufman, Benjamin Moore, Stasia Monteiro, Nicole Juday Rhoads, Marilyn Rodriguez, Rebecca Romero, Jocelyn Rouse, Marc Sonnenfeld
