About: Volunteer Staff

Katie Masferrer, Founder and Executive Director

Katie Masferrer founded Managing, Executing and Joining Opportunities for Rural Communities (MEJORC) February 5, 2007, following a Peace Corp deployment to Cajamarca, Peru.

Born in 1981 in Portland, Oregon, Mrs. Masferrer grew up in Tillamook, Oregon. While in college at Whitman in Walla Walla, Washington, she participated in a Perry Grant Project, and co-published a paper as Elizabeth Turner in the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. She graduated from Whitman College in 2003 with a bachelor of arts degree, majored in psychology and minored in art and geology. She married Roberto after his graduation from Whitman in Walla Walla.

Following her graduation she joined the Peace Corps in 2004. She and Roberto were sent to Cajamarca, Peru, to live and work in a poor, remote community called Salacat for two years. While in the Peace Corps, Katie focused on nutrition, hygiene, and family values. Specific projects included school health classes, community health fairs, growing community gardens, constructing improved wood stoves and organizing a group of 30 women artesans. In 2006, upon returning from Peru, she founded MEJOR Communities.

Katie spent a year studying chinese medicine at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine. She has also taken classes in public administration. Currently Katie is focusing on fundraising and strengthening our relationship with Expand Peru in preparation for our volunteer projects in 2012. That is of course while also raising her son, Teo, born in June, 2009.

Despite her hectic schedule, Mrs. Masferrer has made community service a priority. Current and past affiliations include: Catholic Charities, and Hospice. Her hobbies include peruvian weaving, sewing, and being a great "Mama".

Katie Masferrer may be reached at kati@mejorc.org.