About LLI

How We Started

Lara DeVries, founder of LLI, first went to Peru in 2007. After meeting with locals in Huaycan, Lara returned to the United States, graduated college, and began work on forming Light and Leadership. In 2008, LLI was officially formed and recognized as a US 501(c)3 nonprofit. In May of the following year, LLI began operating programs in Huaycan, Peru. Because of our Board of Directors, volunteers, and supporters, LLI has had continued success in bringing impact to Huaycan!

Our Board

"To hope for a better future in this world-- for the poor, the sick, the lonely and depressed, for the slaves, the refugees, the hungry and homeless, for the abused, the paranoid, the downtrodden and despairing, and in fact, for the whole wide, wonderful, and wounded world--is not something extra, something tacked on to the gospel as an afterthought. And to work for that hope is not a distraction from the task of mission and evangelism. It is a central, essential, vital and life-giving part of it."
--N.T. Wright
Surprised by Hope

Lara DeVries - Executive Director, Founder
Lara@lightandleadership.org

Lara graduated from Trinity Christian College ('08) with Bachelors' Degrees in History and Spanish. She first visited Peru in 2007 and volunteered in a shantytown in Lima. She returned to the U.S. with a passion to help the people of Huaycan. She founded the Light and Leadership Initiative with the help of Huaycan locals, Louella DeVries, and Jessica Beukema. Lara is a member of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, IL. She currently lives in Lima, Peru.
Lara
Louella

Louella DeVries - Treasurer
Louella@lightandleadership.org

Louella is a graduate of Trinity Christian College and holds a Master's Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from the Adler School of Professional Psychology. She is the President of Olive Branch Counseling Associates, Inc. in Oak Forest, IL where she provides psychotherapy and counseling to clients as well as clinical supervision for other therapists. Louella shares the passion for helping the people of Huaycan through literacy skills training and health education believing that empowerment and education are essential for bringing about positive, lasting change in any community.

Mary DeLange
Mary@lightandleadership.org

Mary DeLange lives in Orland Park, Illinois, where she has taught English and served as a volunteer for several causes. She and her husband have two grown children and are members of Hope Christian Reformed Church in Oak Forest. In January 2009, the DeLanges visited Peru for the first time and Mary has since been back with her daugther to volunteer.
Mary
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 Yanina Gomez
Yanina@lightandleadership.org

Amy Ravenhorst
Amy@lightandleadership.org

Amy is a current graduate student at NEIU and a former long term volunteer of LLI. She lives in Chicago, IL.
Amy Ravenhorst
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 Stephanie Willard Worrell
Stephanie@lightandleadership.org

Monica Kendall
Monica@lightandleadership.org
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Amanda Cleary
Amanda@lightandleadership.org

Amanda is a mother, wife, teacher, and writer. She serves as the assistant director of public relations and communications at Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, Illinois, and is also an adjunct professor of media writing and journalism. She leads creative writing workshops for teens at the Bridge Teen Center in her hometown of Orland Park, Illinois, and is a contributor to catapult, an online magazine. She and her husband Dan, a former missionary to India, have eight children between them. She is very excited about the opportunity to serve the LLI.