Our Team
Mary Van Kampen
Mary is the President and Founder of Reason2Hope. She travels each year to The Gambia and meets with staff, students and parents at Burong Lower Basic School. Since her first visit to Burong in 2010 she felt called to help children, especially girls, who were unable to attend school due to poverty. She spent a year formulating her intentions and the following year she met with village elders, shared her ideas with them and asked for their blessing, which she received. Mary believes that understanding cultural traditions, building trust within relationships, listening and learning with patience and respect are the most important keys to having a successful organization in The Gambia.
Mary is also an artist and resides in Holland, Michigan.
Tresa Surbeck
Though they had not worked together before, Tresa says it was her respect and appreciation for Mary's passion and clarity of purpose that called her to say yes when asked to join the Reason2Hope's founding board as VP. She is proud of Reason2Hope's transparency and focused application of funds. She remains confident in how they have applied resources in a basic way over time to address a real need and affect a real difference in real lives while forming real relationships.
Tresa currently lives with her husband, horses, dogs...cats, and what-may-come in the remote ranch country of Northwestern Nebraska where she drives a school bus transporting small people of 'incalculable value and potential' over a 59-mile dirt road route.
Dan Van Kampen
Dan is the Secretary/ Treasurer of Reason2Hope. As secretary he takes minutes and keeps track of charitable donations that are completed through PayPal online or by check. He also keeps a list of those who gift R2H and sends out year-end emails for income tax purposes. As treasurer he keeps track of expenses, keeps R2H up to date for all annual paperwork and makes annual reports.
He is employed by a South Korean company as Director of two departments. He currently lives and works in Busan but also enjoys
spending time in his hometown of Holland, MI when possible. He thinks/hopes retirement may be in his near future.
Sheriffo Tamba
Sheriffo has been the R2H Gambian Director since 2015. He is responsible for receiving the funds sent to The Gambia, purchasing uniform materials, school supplies, and rice. He has direct contact with all suppliers, requires receipts for all transactions and sends them all online to be recorded. He delivers materials to the tailor and arranges for all items to be transported by truck to the school. Sheriffo also maintains contact between the headmaster of the school and Mary, keeping her well informed. He is also a photographer and provides photos for social media. Sheriffo is an excellent negotiator which is the traditional way of making most purchases in the Gambia. He prefers to get all tasks done in a timely way…which is very rare and very much appreciated. He has a very caring heart for his people and enjoys helping the children through R2H.