Meet The Team
The Think Alive Foundation currently is a group of student and adult volunteeers poised to make a difference. The Think Alive Action Committee is based in Amherst, Massaschsetts, and handles much of the day-to-day operataions. On the contrary, Santa Fe's Board of Directors serves as the Selection Committee for our grants and together with the Action Committee, the organization's course.
The Action Committee
What Is It?
The Action Committee was formed in Fall 2010 to provide Founder/Executive Director Tim Enfield with much needed assistance to grow Think Alive.
Specifically, the Action Committee will collaborate with the Board of Directors, and organize grassroots fundraising and giving efforts. Its goal is singular and straight forward: enact local efforts to grow the organization.
The Action Committee will lead and direct the emerging internship program at UMass-Amherst, and, as Think Alive expands, other universities as well. The team looks to establish a long-term internship program to ensure both the
foundation's future growth and a constant infusion of new ideas.
Members are UMass-Amherst students from diverse backgrounds whose course students vary from Business, Journalism, and Political Sciene to Afro- American studies, Psychology and even Sociolgy.
Such diversity in thought has proved a valuable asset and great way to infuse innovative ideas into the organization.
The Members
Christian Waterman--Sports Management '13
Chief Strategist, Think Alive
Founder, Who is LeBron? Panelist Event
Kenny Francis--Sociology '12
Community Relations Coordinator, Think Alive
Community Service Director, Association of Diversity in Sport
Robert Desrosiers--Operations Management '13
Action Committee Member, Think Alive
Dean Curran--Journalism and Political Science '13
Director of Donor Services, Think Alive
Co-Founder, Student Action
Vuk Whallon--Psychology '12
Action Committee Member, Think Alive
You may read more about how the Action Committee came to exist by reading an article in the Springfield Republican here.
The Board of Directors
Who Are We?
Our Board is a group of caring and generous individuals selected by Founder Tim Enfield because each and every member fully understands the process of achievement and overcoming challenges. Each has a constant belief in abilities, focusing on what an individual can do well instead what they cannot do.
Very different backgrounds have coincided with a shared belief in dedication, hard work, and perseverance—values that define the Think Alive Foundation. Such diversity and innate understanding of our core values enable the Board of Directors to properly understand the spirit of our Achievement Grant Program.
The Directors
Founder and Chairman Tim Enfield
Tim's passions are his guiding star, and they are not hindered by
the obstacles he has had to overcome to achieve them. He succeeds at
everything he tries—and he does so with inspiring optimism,
equanimity, and self assurance."
- Mrs. Lisa Fisher, his high school academic advisor and teacher.
Tim Enfield: Growth One Goal at a Time
For Tim, growing up with cerebral palsy, he found comfort through athletics. It was here that overcoming his physical disability was most visible and successes most obvious. Year after year, during the summer he worked hard, with the support of family, to achieve one simple goal.
One year it was riding a bike, another it was learning to swim, and then later on goals included making, and then starting on, his high school basketball team. Each goal was achieved through baby steps, but eventually these lead to significant accomplishments over time. But as a high school Senior, Tim Enfield saw the lack of funding for disabled students like him.
Whether it was a disability, geographic, age, or some other restriction, something always disqualified him. And then the next year, as a freshman at Wake Forest University, he aspired to become a Paralympian, but without the funding for additional costs, he gave up the idea. He couldn't see a way to get to finance all the necessary travel.
The Think Alive Foundation is his way to fill these voids—a general fund set aside for disabled adolescents to help continue their dreams by providing financial support for those willing to challenge his or her disability.
Read an article Tim wrote in The Morgan Horse magaizine about his latest achievement, this time in the equestrian world.
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Vice Chairman Zaxxr Guerro Llewellyn
"Zaxxr has taught me the power of transformation.
He has taught me to envision the way to not only
see change in my own life, but through my example
and my words how to promote change in others
and in our world."
- Jeffon Lee Seely, friend
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Zaxxr Guerro Llewellyn: The Visionary |
Caption: A video describing one of Zaxxr' s traveling exihibits through the Walk the Line Project.
Click to watch!
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Zaxxr is Think Alive's resident advisor on all things related to foundation administration. He serves as a Chairman on the Board of See Change USA, a 501(c)(3) registered organization devoted to promoting awareness of worldwide violence.
See Change USA's primary program, The Walk the Line Project, is a traveling exhibit designed to inform, inspire and ch allenge its viewers to stop the American national culture of violence. It is a simple strand of 15,000 bullet casings, one for each of the US's annual murders. The traveling exhibit usually has only 5000 casings and still is 1/4 mile long.
To date the exhibit has be en in 21 cities in 6 countries including San Francisco, New York, London, Berlin, Germany, Beijing, Washington DC, and Jaurez, Mexico. As we expand, Zaxxr's knowledge of international programming will become very valuable.
A fierce independence and assertiveness makes him a great advisor—he has been successful with running a foundation and can tell the Board exactly how he feels. Zaxxr can help bring decisiveness to the Think Alive Foundation, while understanding the intricacies of fundraising, fund allocation, serving as our "go-to" man for questions regarding Think Alive's management.
Furthermore, his knowledge of the non-profit granting process has been quite valuable as we begin to apply for our first major grants.
Important Media
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Bill Vanbibber
"None of that understanding would have been possible without
my Uncle Bill....who had already fought through what
I was dealing with."
- Tim Enfield, Bill's nephew
Read Bill's Bio
| Bill Vanbibber: Mentoring at its Best | |
Bill Vanbibber may be Tim Enfield's uncle, but he firmly knows and understands the effects of a disability and the work involved to overcome it. When he was 20, he was in a car wreck in which he broke his neck.
While he is now as productive as ever and lives a normal life, it took years of rehabilitation to relearn how to at first write and read, but later to rebuild the strength in his arms. But he stuck with it, and eventually reached the success that the accident had taken from him.
He has always enjoyed hearing of others' success and helping them succeed, something that comes with his past love/hate relationship from rehabilitation overcoming his car accident. Since his accident, he has raced vintage Porsches, further exploring his childhood fascination of cars. |
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Tove Shere
"Tove often tells her athletes of a young man
who she coached.The athlete had an accident only weeks before
a marathon, leaving him in a wheelchair. What does Tove do?
She flys to London and literally pushes him the whole way, together f
inishing the marathon! It is this sort of loyalty and dedication
that separates Tove and makes her unique."
- Tim Enfield, athlete under Tove for 4 Years
Caption: An avid Cyclocross racer and cylist, Tove won the National Championship in 2005. Her high school track teams at Santa Fe Prep have won several State titles and many District Championships under her watch. |
Tove Shere: Always Pushing the Limit | ||||||
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Regardless of the ability of the individual, Tove sees the best in him or her. She takes those that desire more, and show them how to improve. If the athlete shows the effort, Tove shows them how to get the most out of their body, taking each to the heights he or she desires.
Tove firmly believes that all achievement requires work and dedication—that it is choice the take the more difficult but more rewarding path for success.
She pushes her athletes, and yet she understands that it is their ultimate success or failure, and not hers. She deeply cares about each and every one of her athletes, and wants the best for them, whatever path it takes them. She doesn't pressure them about any decision—it is ultimately their individual choice to live with.
Tove wants them happy more than anything. Over time, her philosophy of achievement has influenced Tim Enfield. The Think Alive Foundation takes after her philosophy, supporting disabled youth with whatever passion they love. |
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