Elizabeth grew up as a pastor’s daughter and moved around quite a bit. She attended high school and college in the Midwest. She majored in elementary education and art history at Knox College. For grad school, she attended the University Leicester and received a Masters degree in learning and visitor studies in museums and galleries. She is a marketing project manager for a Catholic hospital system. She currently serves as a wedding coordinator at her church and volunteers with women’s events and in running the church’s resource center. In the past, she served in the children’s ministry as a Sunday school teacher. She loves crafting of any kind, but she can usually be found sewing, quilting, or crocheting. She has served on a few other boards including the Knox College Alumni Council (member at large, secretary), Illinois Association of Museums, and Kidzeum of Health and Science.

She has known of Living Vine since its inception and knew the Director, Hedwick Fonbeh Chia from her ’01 visit to Cameroon. Elizabeth enjoys serving Living Vine and adds, “Mental health is a personal topic for me and my family. While it is far from being as available as it needs to be in the US, I can’t imagine living in a place where it isn’t available at all.”

Rita Hipp grew up in the small town of Cameron in Central Texas. She graduated from The Texas Woman’s University in Denton with a BA in English & sociology with a teaching certification and a social work credential. She earned her MA in Sociology at TWU and North Texas University. After that she worked on her PhD. Rita was a teacher and after retirement, a church secretary. She was married for 43 years. Her past ministry roles include: Sunday school teacher and director, Children’s Church teacher, Choir member, Missions Committee, International Triennial Committee, Vacation Bible school director, Regional Church Mission Fund Banquet, Personnel Committee, and Christian Education Materials Committee. Her past board involvement include: church membership board, and the prayer and financial contributions board. She currently leads a Bible study, a virtual Christian book study, and a weekly virtual prayer meeting for Living Vine. She likes to spend her free time with God–one-on-one.

Rita connected with Living Vine through its founder, Ron Presley, with whom she worked for many years in the 90’s, as well as Hedwick while he studied in Texas before he became Living Vine Cameroon’s Director. Cameroon’s deep need for a mental health clinic compels Rita to serve on the Board of Living Vine. She adds, “I am convinced that God began this work in the hearts of Ron and Hedwick and has given me the opportunity to participate.”

Jennifer grew up in Colorado, suburban Dallas, and rural Iowa. She earned a BA in biology with minors in psychology and chemistry at Knox College where she was in leadership in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and president of the handbell choir. She worked in a home for mentally disabled adults for some summers. She studied for a couple of years at the Rush Medical College where she joined the Christian Medical Association and the Moody Church Choir.  She met her husband in Chicago and shortly after they moved to west Michigan. They have two girls and two boys born 2013 to 2020.  Jennifer attends Bible Study Fellowship and leads a weekly Moms in Prayer meeting. She and her husband teach children’s church and host a weekly church prayer meeting. In her spare time she enjoys good food, gets outdoors with her family, and dabbles in carpentry.

​Jennifer fell in love with Anglophone Cameroon on her trips in 2003 and 2005, feeling more at home there than any place she had ever lived. She has known Living Vine’s Director, Hedwick, through her late father’s work in Cameroon since the 90’s. She loves partnering with Living Vine to see Cameroonians restored from the darkness experienced in mental health disorders and substance abuse to the light and true hope of Christ through the loving work of the ministry.

Lacie, our newest board member, joined us January, 2023. Lacie grew up in Streator, IL, but now lives in Chicago in the Logan Square neighborhood.  Lacie attended Illinois Valley Community College and studied nursing.  She currently is a clinical staff nurse for a large Dermatology practice.  Lacie goes to Soul City Church where their mission is to lead people into a transforming relationship with Jesus. In addition to this, they have a strong focus for the mental health of the Chicago community.  In her free time, she loves music/street festivals, trying new restaurants, and binging Netflix.
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Lacie came to know about Living Vine when Ron Presley was the lead pastor at her church in Streator. In 2005, she and her mom, Gayle, were blessed to be able to travel to Cameroon.  It was here that Lacie witnessed first hand their underdeveloped healthcare system. While it isn’t what we expect here in America, the doctors and nurses are doing their best with the resources they have. Her prayer for Living Vine is to lift the stigma of mental health and for those to have easy access to much needed treatment.  The Bible reminds us often that Jesus is our light and hope, and I long that the people of Cameroon experience stepping from darkness to light. ​