Foundation Staff
The mission of the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation is to provide enduring support for the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center through funding, community relations and through the cultivation of community friendships, partners and donors.
Serena Cruz Executive Director
Serena Cruz is Executive Director of the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation supporting the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center to provide high-quality, comprehensive, and culturally appropriate primary health care to the communities of Washington and Yamhill counties, with a special emphasis on migrant and seasonal farmworkers and others with barriers to receiving healthcare. Serena oversees the Foundation’s fundraising, public relations, advocacy and community partnership activities. She’s active in community organizations as a Founders Circle Member of ninety-nine girlfriends, an Oregon Historical Society Board Member and a Foundations for a Better Oregon (Chalkboard) Board Member. Before joining Virginia Garcia, Serena co-founded and managed Albina Construction LLC, a construction and development company. She served eight years on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners representing North and Northeast Portland. Taking office at age 31, she was the youngest woman and first Latinx ever elected to Multnomah County government. She earned her BA at Lewis & Clark College, her MPP at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and her JD at the University of California at Berkeley. Serena was born in Seattle, raised in Eugene and now lives in Northeast Portland, where her 11-year old daughter attends Tubman Middle School.
Stefanny Caballero Development Officer
Stefanny Caballero is the Development Officer at Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation. In her role, she works closely with our individual and corporate donors and supporters to engage them in our work and secure financial support for the critical work we do in our community. Prior to joining Virginia Garcia, Stefanny was a corporate relations staff at United Way of the Columbia-Willamette and worked with key corporate partners and donors to run top workplace giving campaigns and engage them United Way’s regional efforts. Stefanny has a background in Corporate Social Responsibility, community engagement, volunteer management, event management, strategic planning, and development of strategies to better serve communities of color.
Born and raised in Honduras, C.A., Stefanny moved to the United States at age 15 and has made the Northwest her home. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Portland State University. She is committed to contributing towards creating a stronger community and has volunteered on the board of directors at Bienestar and Familias en Acción.
Stefanny is passionate about working with and promoting the success of the LatinX community, specifically, in the Portland Metro area, and encouraging youth to thrive and persevere in pursuing goals.
Rachel Flores Development Associate/ Volunteer Coordinator
Rachel Flores is a Development Associate for the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation where she works closely with individual and corporate donors to engage them in supporting the work of Virginia Garcia. She also manages marketing for clinic programs and events, and coordinates event planning.
Rachel has lived in Oregon for most of her life and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Oregon State University. She enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter and volunteering for causes she cares about.
Michele Haynes Foundation Relations Officer
Michele Haynes is the Foundation Relations Officer of the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation where she oversees relationships with local, regional and national foundations in support of the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center. Before joining Virginia Garcia, she worked for the Library Foundation in Portland, building private support for Portland’s library system. Before that, Michele was in Anchorage, Alaska, working at the Alaska Humanities Forum as the grants officer and office manager.
Michele has served on the advisory council for the Washington County Nonprofit Network and as vice president for Grant Professionals Association of Oregon and Southwest Washington. She earned her BA of English at University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) and completed her graduate work for an MA in Literature at UAA.
Born and raised in the Northwest, Michele has lived up and down the west coast, including 11 years in Alaska. Michele and her husband Bob live on a small acreage in the hills above Saint Helens where they plan to raise chickens and miniature horses and enjoy plenty of family time with their kids and grandkids.
Suzanne Jefferson Grants Officer
Kayla Mahiko Development Associate/Clinic Communications
Kayla Mahiko is the Development Coordinator for the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation where she manages the donor database and assists with website management, financial reporting and events. Kayla recently relocated to Oregon from her hometown Honolulu, Hawaii, where she spent three years working in non-profit health care. She has a background in database management, project management, program implementation and process improvement. Kayla received her Bachelors of Science in Business Management from Oregon State University.
She is excited to be a part of the Virginia Garcia family and having the opportunity to use her abilities and experiences to contribute to the community.
Felicita Monteblanco Policy & Advocacy Officer
Felicita Monteblanco is the Policy and Advocacy Officer at Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation, where she supports the efforts of the internal Equity Team and leads the efforts of the Advocacy Team.
She is excited to bring her passion for lifting other voices to create change within the health care community.
She has over ten years of experience working for nonprofit organizations, most recently as the Washington County Nonprofit Network Coordinator at Vision Action Network.
Outside of work she serves on Board of Directors for the Hillsboro Library and in 2017 was elected to the Board of Directors for the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District. She also hosts quarterly gatherings for Latinx leaders in Washington County providing opportunities for her peers to connect and discuss social justice issues impacting our community.
Felicita earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of San Francisco with a minor in hospitality management. She loves to tango and travel.
Wendy Owen Internal Communications Officer/ Grant Writer
Wendy Owen is the Internal Communications Officer and Grant Write for the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation where she writes grant proposals to help fund Virginia Garcia’s amazing programs and gets the word out to employees about all the cool happenings in our clinics and health centers.
Before joining Virginia Garcia, Wendy worked as a reporter for The Oregonian for 16 years. In that time, she wrote stories from the South Coast of Oregon (remember the New Carissa?) to the Columbia River Gorge (remember the mad cow disease scare?). For the last decade, she covered education in Lake Oswego, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Forest Grove and Tigard. In fact, she wrote stories about some of the young patients helped by Virginia Garcia.
Wendy was born and raised in Montana and comes from a long line of Montana pioneers. She likes to joke that to graduate from second grade to third grade, students have to be able to kill a Grizzly bear with a toothpick.
It was far easier for her to graduate from the University of Oregon with a degree in journalism – no bears. She and her husband live in unincorporated Beaverton.
Julie Titus Development Associate
Julie Titus is the Development Associate, providing support to our Corporate and Individual Partnership Officers and Public Relations Officer. Prior to joining Virginia Garcia, Julie spent more than a decade in fundraising, leading teams to reach out door-to-door, over the phone, and with major individual asks on health care, environmental, and consumer protection campaigns.
Julie received her Bachelor of Arts in Women’s and Gender Studies from Macalester College. She also spent two years studying, traveling, and volunteering in Central and South America. She serves on the Board of Directors of OSPIRG Foundation and The Minga Foundation. Julie has lived in Oregon since 2004, and currently resides in western Washington County with her husband and dogs, where she enjoys gardening and photography. She feels privileged to help expand Virginia Garcia’s resources to benefit her neighbors and community.
Kasi Woidyla Public Relations Officer
Kasi Woidyla is the Public Relations Officer of Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation where she oversees publicity, communications, social media and events for the Foundation and Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center. Kasi began her career with the Intel Foundation where she worked as the Operations Manager before moving on to the Marketing Department where she supported the Branded Products Division. After leaving Intel her next step took her to The Oregon International Air Show where she served as both the Sponsorship Director and Marketing Director. Most recently she has been an independent marketing consultant for organizations such as Veritas School and the Sherwood Youth Soccer Club.
Kasi received her degree in Rhetoric and Communication from the University of Oregon and enjoys spending time with her husband and three kids, coaching soccer, watching soccer and most importantly, playing soccer and has served on several non-profit Boards over the years.
Kasi has lived in Oregon since she was young and enjoys using her experience and talents towards making our community a better place for everyone that calls Oregon home
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