Catherine “Cat”  Kahn is a longtime resident of Montgomery County who has been actively involved in hunger issues for many years. She’s been a Master Gardener since 2009 but food gardening wasn’t a primary interest until the Covid pandemic hit.

Through the founding of  the nonprofit HarvestShare, Cat is excited to have created an organization that combines her love of gardening, helping others and supporting her community while giving others  an opportunity  to give back as well. 

With a master’s degree in adult health nursing, she recognizes the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables in optimizing health and believes that all should have access to nutritious food.

Karen Willetts hails from Frostburg where she graduated from Beall High School. While attending the College of Wooster, she spent her Junior year in Dakar, Senegal. She taught a few years in Ohio and then returned to Senegal as a short term missions teacher. After learning the local language, Wolof, she decided to study with Wycliffe Bible Translaters in Texas. 

At UTA, she received a 2 year Fulbright grant to Cote d’Ivoire. In Abidjan she worked at the Institute of Applied Linguistics and received her Masters in African Languages. Karen returned to the states to take care of parents and later married Dr. Pascal Kokora, former Ambassador from Ivory Coast to the US, and Georgetown French professor.

She worked in MCPS for 27 years enjoying her time at Springbrook H.S. as a French teacher in the International Baccalaureate program.
In retirement, she and her husband are supporting work on building a library in Esiama, Ghana and a health clinic in Fresco, Ivory Coast.

With over 43 years of distinguished service in law enforcement, including as Chief of Police for the Supreme Court of the United States, Swope is a recognized expert in police leadership, ethics, and community policing. A Fulbright Fellow and highly decorated officer, he has worked with agencies from the FBI to Scotland Yard and has been published internationally on policing and leadership.

We’re pleased to welcome Ross Swope back to the club – his last visit featured fascinating stories from his life in law enforcement.