About Us

About us

ABOUT US

How the foundation began

The Engage & Heal Foundation began with the creation of the Erik Hanson Scholarship in 2019. Erik was a highly accomplished 2017 Lake Travis High School graduate. He was a varsity football player and an Eagle Scout, and then was a cadet in the Corps at Texas A&M. The foundation raised over $10,000 in his honor and awarded three $2,000 scholarships to Lake Travis football players who did not receive athletic and academic scholarships. In our second year, we opened the scholarship to all athletes and club members at Lake Travis High School.

Erase the Stigma

ERASE THE STIGMA

Our mission: Encourage a conversation about mental health.

Our goal is to help start conversations so that we are more aware of the traits and triggers associated with mental-health issues. We also aim to be an excellent source of mental-health resources, educating and caring for first responders and their families, teachers, parents, seniors, and veterans. One effort to accomplish this is hosting conversations at libraries, churches, and community groups.

PEOPLE

PEOPLE

Meet the Team

Amelia Floyd

As Vice President of Circle F Media LLC, Amelia Floyd produces local market TV segments covering toys, gaming and STEM/STEAM. She also participates in the day-to-day operations of the company with her husband, which has been in business for 18 years. Prior, she was responsible for overseeing event planning at National Geographic Magazine.

As a mother of 2, Amelia has held the position of Vice President for fund raising at several booster clubs at the local High School where she consistently exceeded budget goals. During this time she witnessed first-hand our youths’ challenges, struggles, and determination inspiring her to co-found the Erik Hanson Scholarship in memoriam for one of her daughter’s friends who lost his struggle. Because of the need Ms. Floyd has seen in our community, she co-founded the Engage & Heal Foundation to erase the stigma of mental health and shatter the silence that surrounds this issue. Her determination and devotion to community will help her excel as President of the Engage & Heal Foundation.

Tom Kilgore

Mr. Kilgore is retired US Army officer. Following his public service, he worked in the Energy Industry with public corporations and private equity. His specialties include strategic planning, risk management and fund raising. As the Foundation Vice President, he will use those skills to help direct the foundation’s fundraising and service mission. He is a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, and of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Kerri Cohen Elliott

Ms. Elliott is a self-employed local entrepreneur who currently owns and operates two local businesses. She has been in the Lakeway community for over 17 years. She is an active and long-term volunteer in the city. Her contributions include volunteering with LTYA as a baseball coach for my son and a cheer coach for my daughter. She has also worked with the Boy Scouts of America as the pack treasurer, and fund raiser (popcorn kernel mom). She has also volunteered as the Team rep for a national all-star cheer team.

Kerri Elliott’s experience is directly applicable to her role as the Treasurer of the Engage and Heal Foundation. In her own businesses, as well as being a Scout Treasurer and fund raiser she has demonstrated her financial expertise and extraordinary ethical standards in service to her community.

David DeStefano

David DeStefano brings a wide variety of experience and knowledge to the table. Originally from Connecticut, David moved to the Lake Travis area in 1993. He holds a BA in business management from St. Edward’s University. After pursuing a career in professional golf, David found banking. He has over 25 years of experience in the industry and is currently the market president for Texas Regional Bank in Bee Cave.
David also has been extremely involved in the Lake Travis/Bee Cave community. His wife grew up in Lake Travis and he has three daughters who were also born in the area. He has become extremely involved in the district and eventually served as president for the Lake Travis Education Foundation. He is still on the advisory board for LTEF and continues to support the school in any way he can, such as volunteering at the CAVS Lounge, attending as many sporting events as he can and supporting various clubs. He also serves on the board for A Kind Hart Foundation and is the current treasurer for CC4C, a non-profit for children with Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases.

In his spare time, you can find David with his family, who are involved in cheerleading, sports and dance. He loves the Lake Travis community and enjoys giving back in any way that he can.

Kathleen Hassenfratz

Kathleen Hassenfratz, LPC (licensed professional counselor) has embraced working with youth for 30 years in various roles: middle school teacher, middle school counselor, chemical abuse prevention counselor, ropes course manager, health/social-programs coordinator, teen whisperer (and mom of 2!) She is an experienced counselor and psychotherapist who utilizes experiential strategies to guide youth beyond life’s barriers into a healthy and productive life! She has a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Texas at Austin and Master of Education in Counseling and Guidance from Southwest Texas State (now Texas State Univ). She also is licensed as a Professional Counselor in the State of Texas (LPC) and specializes in supporting young people struggling with anxiety, depression and self regulation. Kathleen is also the founder and President of a Texas Non-Profit called Tune into Life, with the mission of giving rise to safe, healthy communities by equipping parents with tools, and teens with a voice, to be better equipped in supporting youth mental wellness while decreasing the rate of suicide amongst 15-25 year olds.

Bob Yang

Bob is a local resident with 38 years experience working for a large energy company in management, planning, operations, marketing and sales. He also has 20 years of experience volunteering for charities and managing fundraisers. He is dedicated to assisting those in need throughout our community and will use his expertise/experience to promote mental health awareness and raise necessary funding for the foundation. Bob is a graduate of Washington State University.

Danielle Lair

Danielle Lair has served children and families in the local church since 2010, including her recent role as the cirector of Children’s Ministry at Lake Travis United Methodist Church (LTUMC). Danielle is administratively gifted, detail-oriented, and knows how to balance logistics within a relational ministry. She also has extensive experience in planning events for 10-5,000 people.

Through Danielle’s own trauma recovery journey, she has become increasingly passionate about mental health and wellness. She believes healing begins when we share our stories with others in safe spaces. To this end, she is launching a new mental health ministry at LTUMC as the Director of Wellness and Community Empowerment. In this role, Danielle will promote overall health and well-being in her community by leading efforts to create, mobilize, and sustain upstream mental health promotion practices and policies. She is focused on programs that support a holistic view of health and foster community-wide well-being.

Danielle graduated from Abilene Christian University in 2007. She has two kids, Tommy (6) and Lucy (5), and one fur baby named Teva. She enjoys time with her kids, eating all the food, reading, new adventures, and traveling.

Oscar Thomas

Oscar is a business transformation leader with 25+ years of experience helping organizations with strategy required to enable success. He has worked at large organizations and multiple start-ups where he has driven transformation across several verticals. He has not only strategized growth for an organization through technology or process change, but also executed on the strategy and seen it to fruition. Oscar is not new to the non-profit space. He successfully developed and executed on a marketing and technology plan for a non-profit in Southern Ontario, Canada that was addressing mental health for migrant workers.

Oscar is married with three teenage children. They moved down from Toronto, Canada in 2021 to the Lake Travis area. Oscar and his wife have always volunteered in their communities, whether through their kid’s sports, fundraising or through the school’s PTO.

Oscar has a bachelor’s degree in computing science from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

Gretchen Vance

As a small business owner of Electric Avenue Athletics (EAA), I am proud of this passion project that grew from my youngest daughter’s love of the sport. EAA is the only dedicated Junior Olympics Acrobatics & Tumbling (A&T) gym in the nation. This facility is home to the 2018 & 2019 USA Gymnastics National Champions in both the Senior and Junior Division, as well as the 2021 & 2022 NYATA National Champions. Acrobatics and Tumbling is the fast-growing sport in the NCAA (my daughter is currently on the Baylor University Acrobatics & Tumbling Team) and is a gateway for scholarships for women who want to be collegiate student athletes. Celebrating five years of business in January 2023, we have grown from 15 students to over 600 in various classes such as A&T, Little Ninjas, Tumbling and Cheer Prep. I spend my days heading up the gym’s marketing efforts, public relations, social media campaigns and children’s programming, dedicating my time and energy to helping these athletes grow, set and achieve goals, and be the best versions of themselves.

Engage & Heal helps coordinate a panel discussion on ‘Screenagers’

This local panel of experts sheds light on how screens, social media, family dynamics, and today’s landscape of uncertainty all affect teen mental health. Learn tools to equip yourself as a parent, community member or friend around supporting teen mental wellness. The panel also discusses tools to help youth grow with resilience and confidence.