Diane McGehee founded Together in Hope with her husband Jack. Diane first heard the call to the work of justice for marginalized communities, when as a small girl, she clung to her father’s hand as together they watched the Ku Klux Klan burn a cross on the front yard of their small house in Milledgeville, Georgia, because of her father’s involvement in the civil rights movement in the early 1960’s.
That call to justice continues as she works with Together in Hope to help communities in Africa, the Philippines, and El Salvador find a future with hope. Diane is a graduate of Mercer University, the Harvard Law School, and Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.
She practiced law for more than 20 years, served as a pastor of a Filipino Methodist congregation for 5 years, and serves as the Director of the Center for Missional Excellence of the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Empowering people and communities as loved by God and of infinite worth is her life’s passion and greatest joy.
Jack McGehee founded Together in Hope with his wife Diane out of a firm conviction that the poverty in this world should not be, especially not among the world’s children, and that it could be eliminated one community at a time if we all worked together in hope to bring change in the lives of those who live at the margins of society.
Jack is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and of St. Mary’s Law School. He is the senior and founding partner of McGehee, Chang & Barnes law firm in Houston, Texas. Before starting his own practice representing primarily brain-damaged children, Jack was a lead medical malpractice trial attorney with the Pentagon in Washington, DC, personally responsible for a docket of over $1 billion.
Jack’s motto as a trail attorney has always been, “If it’s wrong, fight it; if it’s right, fight for it.” By founding Together in Hope, Jack seeks to fight against the wrong of poverty and to fight for the right of honoring the dignity and worth of every human being by working to ensure that all people have sufficient resources to not only survive, but also to thrive.
Just as at trial he fights for disadvantaged children and others, so with Together in Hope he is fighting for the children and communities of the world who live in poverty and disadvantage. He believes that together in hope we can build a better future for all of the world’s children and he is putting his money where his mouth is. Go to www.lawtx.com and click on “Jack’s money” to read Jack’s story of hope.
Laura Power joined Together in Hope at the beginning of 2011 to take on her current role of improving established projects, developing new programs, and operating as liaison between our organization and the communities in which we work. Laura is a founding member of Irish sister organization, YouthRelease, which works with street children in Ethiopia.
Laura graduated from Dublin City University in Ireland with a degree in International Relations and Spanish. She has experience working with marginalized communities in her home country of Ireland,as well as with developing communities around the globe. Laura has worked in developing communities around the world, including Hungary, Ethiopia, the Philippines, El Salvador and Ireland.
Her expertise in developing and implementing programs in marginalized communities, as well as her effective communication skills, makes her a valuable addition to the Together in Hope staff and adds to the development and success of all of Together in Hope’s current and future programs.
Jonathan Feiler has been helping Together in Hope develop and grow since the organization’s beginnings in 2007. Through development of funding resources, and assistance with programs, he continues to enhance the assets that our organization has to offer developing global communities. Jonathan graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in political science.
He has also studied politics and international relations at the Corvinus University of Budapest. He has experience working with international communities around the world, including Hungary, Ireland, Africa, El Salvador and the Philippines.
While working with sister organization, Youth Release, Jonathan helped to develop education and community programs in Ethiopia, as well as facilitate the development of a relationship between our two organizations. In his role with Together in Hope, Jonathan acts to help people find ways to utilize their resources to make a difference in local and global communities.
