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Meet the Team
Pastoral Director
Father John Schopfer
Father John Schopfer is the Pastoral Director for the Brady Faith Center. He has served in this position for many years to meet the spiritual needs of individuals and families in the neighborhoods of Syracuse’s South West Community.
Kevin Frank
Executive Director
Kevin Frank joined Brady Faith Center as the Executive Director in May 2010. Formerly the pastoral associate at St. Lucy’s Church, Mr. Frank brings extensive experience working in the urban community to this position.
Jessi Lyons
Associate Executive Director, Farm Coordinator
Jessi Lyons is a native of the Pacific NW but has been happy to call Syracuse home since 2006. At the Brady Farm, Jessi gets to combine her background in ecology and community development with her passion for food, agriculture and people. She loves to teach food preservation and experiment with eating and growing.
Asia James
Brady faith Center Program/ Outreach Coordinator
Program Coordinator who brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to her new role at the Brady Faith Center. With a background in social work and community outreach, Asia has dedicated her career to serving individuals and families in need, particularly in the Syracuse area where she was born and raised.
Kayo Green
Brady Farm - Farm Manager
Kayo transplanted herself to the US in 2012 from her home country, Japan. She joined the Brady Farm team in 2021, due to her bursting desire to learn land stewardship and cultivating grace from nature in the form of food. She often wonders "how can I create a space for us to connect with ourselves and others (human and non-human) deeper through farming?" while she executes whatever needs to be in the field to get the farm going. She loves drinking tea, reading and writing poetry, and learning ideas that can turn her world upside down.
Sarah Grey
Brady Faith Center and Stone Soup Garden Coordinator
Sarah Gray was raised in Vermont and that is where her foundational love for the Earth started. A recent graduate from SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry majoring in Environmental Studies, she has a deep passion for remediation and mending the Earth and community around her. A fun fact about Sarah is that she kept bees for 10 years when she was growing up. Also, she has two cats.
Julia Nosovitch
Drop-In Center and Hospitality
Julia brings a background in accounting and IT and many years of experience in the not for profit sector to her work at Brady. Outside of Brady, she loves to cook, volunteer, travel, and spend time with her family.
Melody Holmes
Women's Bible Study and Ministry Support
Melody E. Holmes is a native Syracusan and a well known community advocate. Her training, advocacy and teaching has centered on community dialogues, political concerns, community change that can help define and educate ourselves and our neighbors all centered around the city and specifically, the SouthSide. She currently is affiliated with the Brady Faith Center, Syracuse City School District, Interfaith Works, and Syracuse University.
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