US Team

For nearly fifty years, David Rodich has been a committed advocate for the interests of working families both in the United States and world-wide. His experience includes serving as the national director for a public employee organization with Service Employees International Union (SEIU), followed by 20 years as the executive director of SEIU Local 500 in Maryland and Washington, DC. During his tenure, the union nearly tripled in size of the union and built a culture of collaborative problem solving. David’s advocacy has included workers in public education including teachers and other school workers, university professors, childcare workers, and promoting collaborations in economic development.

On the international front, David has been a consultant to the Solidarity Center, AFL CIO, working with the emerging independent trade unions in the post-Soviet countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Asia, and the Middle East, by providing skills training and strategic planning support.

He and his wife Lauri are no strangers to CFP, having served twice as host parents with participants from both Cyprus and the Middle East programs.

Originally from Indiana, Amanda has called Texas home for over 20 years. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Management from Purdue University, she joined her husband in Houston, Texas, where they run a civil engineering consulting firm and raise their two teenage daughters. Giving back to others and supporting building community are two driving forces for her family.

After serving as a host family for two summers, Amanda has stepped into the Houston region’s Area Coordinator role. Her strong organizational skills and network in the community will be an asset for spreading awareness of CFP and growing support in the Houston Region.

After working full-time for 30 years as a science teacher, Anne now enjoys teaching part-time for a local high school and as an adjunct professor at a community college. She loves working with teenagers and has developed and chaperoned experiential learning courses for cultural programs to New York City and for study in butterfly ecology in Florida. She has also co-led teens to the Mexican Yucatan peninsula for terrestrial and aquatic research.

In college, Anne lived abroad in France for one year serving as an au pair, nanny, to three French girls. During that time, she traveled throughout Europe and grew an interest in foreign cultures and customs. Anne continues to travel abroad when she can and is interested in ecological conservation efforts around the world. Anne earned a B.S. in Zoology and a B.A. in French Language from the University of Rhode Island. She also holds an M.A. in Environmental Studies from Antioch University New England.

Anne and her husband have hosted two Cypriots in the CFP program. They fully enjoyed the experience to meet the two young women from Cyprus and introducing them to life in New England. More importantly, they learned from their Cypriot guests about their lives and customs in Cyprus. In the past, they have hosted children from New York City for several summers through the Fresh Air Fund.

Anne has one adult son and lives with her husband and their three mini donkeys on a small farm in New Hampshire. They both like to spend time in the outdoors either hiking or kayaking in New England.

Meibh Mckinney will be working with CFP staff in the US to help CFP reconnect with the 2,000 CFPNI alumni in Northern Ireland and conduct research evaluations.  Meibh is currently employed by Community Restorative Justice Ireland (CRJI) as a Support Worker with the Health and Wellbeing Programme in West Belfast, working with people that have been affected directly by the Troubles and with young people that have been inter-generationally impacted as well. She also is interning with Amal-Tikva helping them develop a program with Rethinking Conflict, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  She recently finished her M.Sc. in Peace and Conflict Studies from Ulster University and has served as an intern with Cooperation Ireland focusing on cross-border peacebuilding.

Meibh lives in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland with her family.  She is a member of the selection committee for the Creating Friendships for Peace Scholarship in Memory of Henry John McKinney, B.Sc., M.Sc. to Haifa University.

Alexis Eskenazi is the CFP U.S. Teen Liaison. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a junior at Castilleja School. Alexis and her family hosted an Israeli-Palestinian pair of teens with CFP in 2019. The following summer, she worked with a team of CFP alumni, administrators, and American teen volunteers to develop CFP’s first alumni survey, which was designed to explore strategic initiatives under CFP’s consideration. She aided in interpreting the survey results, which led to the development of CFP’s 2021 Pilot Peacebuilding Seminar for U.S. teens in the spring and the creation of new alumni initiatives and programs held that summer. Alexis participated in the U.S. Pilot Seminar as well and graduated with excellence. In Alexis’s ongoing role, she is collaborating with CFP’s leadership and alumni from the U.S., Cyprus, and Israel-Palestine to enhance the long-lasting bonds between alumni. She is exploring the possible expansion of the role of U.S. teen hosts and aiding in the opening of new hosting areas to accommodate the increasing international interest in CFP’s peacebuilding program. She hopes to continue highlighting the importance of peacebuilding in her own community and looks forward to hosting a pair of CFP teens in the summer of 2022.