The Rev. James L. Risk, MDiv, BCC. / Executive Director
Phone: 312-563-4824 / e-mail: james_l_risk@rush.edu

Fr.Risk came to Bishop Anderson House in 2003 from an active career in parish ministry. He has held various positions in the Diocese of Chicago, including Co-Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, Standing Committee, Chair of the Hunger Commission and Vice Chair of the Diocesan Commission on Ministry. As Executive Director he is involved in personnel and administration, Board development, fund raising and program development. He is the editor of Chaplair, the newsletter of the Association of Episcopal Health Care Chaplains and takes an active leadership role in national chaplaincy affairs. He also serves as a Board Certified Chaplain at Rush University Medical Center visiting Episcopal patients throughout the hospital and as a Unit Chaplain in the Johnson R. Bowman Center for Geriatric Medicine.

Jay and his wife, Paula, live in Park Ridge. Jay has four adult children and enjoys backpacking, bird watching and biking with them in their backyard – California, New York and New Mexico!

Cherryl Holt, MSW / Associate for Chaplaincy and Development
Phone: 312-563-4825 / email: poverino@aol.com

Cherryl joined the staff on a full time basis in January 2004 as Associate for Chaplaincy and Development. Cherryl has over 25 years experience in not-for-profits, including five years as Director of Supportive Housing at Cathedral Shelter of Chicago. At Cathedral Shelter, she was instrumental in developing its’ supportive housing program for persons formerly homeless and in recovery from addiction. Cherryl is a graduate of the Parish Lay Chaplains’ Training Program at Bishop Anderson House. She is the point person for development in addition to her chaplaincy work at Stroger Cook County Hospital where she visits women in trauma in gynecology and obstetrics, children and orthopedics. Cherryl utilizes the Teddy Bear Ministry in her work with children and grieving mothers as well as supervises volunteer Chaplains at Stroger. She is a member of the Stroger Hospital Ethics Committee.

Cherryl lives in Oak Park and is an active member of Grace Episcopal Church. She enjoys knitting (and is quoted in Bernadette Murphy”s Zen and the Art of Knitting: Exploring the Link between Knitting, Spirituality and Creativity), reading, spending time with her godchildren and jewelry making.

The Rev. Jacqueline Cameron, MDiv, M.D. / Associate for Education and Outreach
Phone: 312-563-4823 / e-mail: jrcameron@earthlink.net

Jackie joined the staff of Bishop Anderson House in 2005.She has a strong interest in the relationship between spirituality and medicine and brings it to her practice in Palliative Care as well as her work at Bishop Anderson House. She has convened lectures for medical students and introduced them to medical practitioners from Africa who integrate their faith and their call to medicine. She has presented Geriatric Grand Rounds on the topic of Spirituality and Medicine at Rush University Medical Center where she is a lecturer in the Department of Religion, Health and Human Values. Her background in medical ethics and her interest in at risk populations as well as her research in palliative care, religious struggle and spiritual care of the dying, led her to explore the interface of religion and medicine. Jackie teaches ethics at Rush University Medical Center. She has worked closely with Christina Puchalski, MD, Director of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health on publications to advance the medical profession’s understanding off the spiritual care of the dying.

Jackie is the Associate Rector of Church of the Atonement in Chicago. She enjoys her two dogs, travel in England and exploring the world of medicine in central Africa. She has life long friends serving as medical volunteers in the Congo and has joined them in serving the victims on both sides of the civil war.

The Rev. Deb Seles, MDiv, MSW / Chaplain
Phone: 312-563-4822 / e-mail: d.seles@sbcglobal.net

Deb joined Bishop Anderson House in 2006 following three years’ service as Executive Director of the Chicago L’Arch community. She serves as Chaplain at Stroger Cook County Hospital where the patient population is disproportionately poor and underserved. She has an extensive background in vocational rehabilitation and with people with disabilities. A special interest of Deb’s is the connection between mind/body and spirit, and she in an InterPlay® practitioner. She’s been published in The Living Pulpit and two of her entries are included in Louie Crew’s 101 Reasons to be Episcopalian.

Deb serve congregations in the Diocese of Chicago and has a spiritual direction ministry. She also provides pastoral care for residents of Alexian Village, an assisted living facility. A widow, Deb lives in Elk Grove Village with Rocky, her Norwegian Elkhound. She enjoys performing improvisational comedy and doing watercolor and swing dancing. Her favorite vacation is hiking through national parks and discovering new trails.

The Rev. Linda F. Green, MSW / Chaplain

Although born in New York City, Linda has been a resident in the greater Chicago area since her graduation from Augusta College, Rock Island. She completed an MSW degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Linda subsequently spent nearly 20 years as a psychotherapist and program administrator in mental health; she developed a continuum of services for chronically mentally ill persons in DuPage County before becoming the Executive Director of TriCity Family Services in Geneva. While serving the agency, Linda experienced a call to ordained ministry. She was ordained to the transitional diaconate, then priesthood in 1991. As an ordained minister Linda has primarily served as a transitional priest in conflicted or otherwise troubled congregations. During the transition between Bishops Griswold and Persell, Linda served for four years as a senior member of the diocesan staff working in deployment, the ordination process, diocesan convention and various other tasks and responsibilities. She retired from parochial ministry in 2006. Linda joined the Bishop Anderson House staff of chaplains in January 2009. She visits Episcopal patients in both Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and she has initiated a new ministry of pastoral care at Warren Barr Pavilion in Chicago.

Linda and her husband Dru, also an active retired priest in the Diocese of Chicago, married in 1989 and live in Batavia. Dru currently serves as the diocesan Chaplain to Retired Clergy and Surviving Spouses. Their daughter, Finda Fallah, born in Liberia, is currently a student at Spellman College in Atlanta. Dru, Linda and Finda have two dogs: Danke, a Bernese and Daisy, a Cavalier. Linda and Dru enjoy traveling, reading spending time with each other with Finda and family and friends.

The Rev. Trenton Pitcher, MDiv / Chaplain
e-mail: Deapit@aol.com

Trenton is past Executive Director of Bishop Anderson House, and he continues to serve as Chaplain to the All Angels Guild for the Deaf. Trenton is one of a handful of Episcopal priests nationwide who are skilled in American Sign Language, and he uses this skill in providing pastoral care and leadership to a community which has been marginalized throughout history. All Angels Guild is the oldest ministry with the deaf community in the state of Illinois. If offers monthly educational opportunities to help access medical care for the deaf, social programs for Seniors and pastoral care with individuals throughout the Chicago metropolitan region.

Trenton enjoys theatre and the arts as well as spending time at his home in Delavan, Wisconsin.