STAFF

Rev. Bonnie J. Gatchell, Executive Director & Co-Founder

Rev. Bonnie J. Gatchell is an ordained minister with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. In 2010 she co-founded Route One to serve women sexually exploited in strip clubs. She desires equality for each person and seeks to remove blindspots around women, sexual abuse, domestic violence, and sexuality. Given Bonnie’s background, she seeks to equip church leadership, staff, and volunteers to meet the needs of women who have suffered sexual or physical abuse no matter their age, race, or sexual orientation. Before coming to Route One Bonnie worked as the Family Advocate for homeless women with children at The Salvation Army. She holds a Masters of Divinity and Women in Church History, ThM from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and The Boston Theological Institutes that include Harvard and BU. She also has a Trauma Narrative Response Certificate from the Allender Center of the Seattle School of Psychology and Theology.

Lori Ptaszkiewicz, Site Coordinator – Springfield

Lori came on staff in January 2020, before stepping into the Site Coordinator role Lori volunteered for Route One’s outreach team for five years. She seeks to support women trapped in the commercial sex industry and help empower and provide them with the resources they need to pursue alternative opportunities. Lori appreciates meeting with and listening to women in strip clubs who wish to share their stories, sorrows, and hopes. She has assisted many women to take their first steps at exiting the industry. Lori is not new to working with trauma and trauma survivors, she has worked in the trauma units of Bay State Hospitals for more than 15 years. She is a certificate holder of the Sage Trauma Care Series from the Allender Center located in Seattle Washington.

Shea Pugh, Site Coordinator – Worcester

In addition to her work at Route One, Shea teaches Special Education and Nutritional classes within the Worcester Public Schools. She appreciates the opportunity to work with vulnerable women seeking services to overcome challenging circumstances. Prior to joining the RouteOne staff, she served as a volunteer on the Worcester Team. She shared that working with RouteOne has been some of the best, most challenging, and most life-giving work of her life. Shea holds a Master of Education.

 

 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sharon Nambudripad Schiffer has been serving as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Route One Ministry since February 2021. Sharon serves on the board to serve the marginalized; she believes that everyone has inherent value. She is originally from Punjab, India, and immigrated to the United States when she was a 3-month-old. Her Master’s thesis focuses on how a sense of nationalism within India, a highly stratified and caste-oriented nation, would end sexual violence within the nation. She then went on to do a Master’s certificate in Life and Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where she studied the intersection between Human Rights and Christianity. From 2010 to 2018, she worked and volunteered for the North Shore Rape Crisis Center (now known as the YWCA) and the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. She has worked on developing anti-violence curriculum and has presented at many conferences, workshops, and student groups.

She has a heart for ministering to women who are working in the strip club industry and meeting them where they are, with no judgment, and forming authentic connections with them. In her free time, she loves reading, going to the beach, nature hikes, writing short stories, and singing. She lives on the North Shore of Massachusetts– quite close to the beach– with her husband and three daughters. Sharon’s faith in Jesus is essential to her. She believes that Jesus served everyone without judgment and desires to do the same in her life.

Jasmine Grace is a survivor of domestic sex trafficking and was in “the life” for eight years. She believes God is redeeming her story to offer hope to other women caught in the snares of exploitation and to raise awareness of this issue by using her voice to tell her story at schools, colleges, churches and conferences. She believes education about this issue can help prevent and abolish it. Jasmine has worked at prevention organizations as a mentor and group facilitator to at risk youth girls. She has also been a passionate advocate for women at a residential safe home. In 2015, she had the privilege of speaking at two sides events at the United Nations in New York. In her work with these agencies and at speaking engagements, it became clear that people are deeply impacted by hearing her testimony of survival, faith and victory.

Elizabeth Klein developed a passionate concern for the sexually abused and exploited through the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements, as well as watching Rev. Bonnie Gatchell’s TEDx Talk about Route One. Additionally, Elizabeth graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2017 with a master’s degree in spiritual formation, and is the associate principal flute of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Lisa Powers is passionate about the mission of Route One, believing in the worth of ALL women, that no matter their circumstances, they deserve unconditional love and care. Lisa works full time as the Director of Administration at Orchard Christian Fellowship, one of several area churches that is honored to support this vital ministry. Her education includes a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology as well as a Master’s in Elementary Education. She and her husband, Chris, are parents to two young adult children. A self-proclaimed crazy cat & plant lady, Lisa loves doting on her three fur babies as well as multiple houseplants and enjoys visits to the ocean, gourmet dining, traveling, and reading suspense novels.

Johnny Woo has been an Advocate Speaker for Route One since the fall of 2016. He is passionate about ending the exploitation of women, especially those that society has forgotten. He loves telling the stories of these women and inviting others to join God’s mission of compassion for the exploited.
Johnny loves to read and has recently taken up baking bread.

If you are interested in joining an outreach team, or developing a new outreach team in your area, for support and training contact us at info@lovedbyrouteone.org