About Us
SevaChild has developed a unique network of Indian humanitarian organizations that serves the
most critical needs of the world’s largest population of impoverished people.
SevaChild is an American 501(c)(3) public nonprofit organization.
Our international headquarters is in Idyllwild, California and our Indian affiliate’s headquarters is in Delhi.
Our Focus
- The prevention of vitamin A deficiency disease (VADD), the world’s number one cause of childhood blindness
- Disaster Relief--providing one-month food rations to thousands of families facing hunger and starvation due to natural catastrophes.
- The prevention of disease from contaminated water; drilling wells and installing water pump systems in remote rural villages where the availability of clean drinking water has become a serious issue.
Board of Directors
Rick Carlton
Rick began volunteering In the 1980s to bring international attention to the plight of the Tibetan people while maintaining a career in the health and nutritional industry. He has served for the last 12 years as the president of SevaChild. His focus has been on protecting young children from the ravages of vitamin A deficiency disorders; providing micronutrients to women of childbearing age; and, most recently, on providing clean drinking water by constructing water wells in rural villages where contaminated water sources are causing serious health problems. His interest in, and concern for, the plight of impoverished families in India is the driving force behind this initiative.
Ed Kelly
Chief Financial Officer and Director, Planned Giving
As President of Hearthstone Wealth Management, Ed worked with 14 financial planning professionals in six states, imparting comprehensive financial strategies to clients. His expertise includes tax diversification and Roth conversion strategies, as well as charitable giving approaches that benefit both the donor and the 501(c)(3) organization. Ed is a founding member of SevaChild’s board of directors and serves its donors with his wise counsel for alternative giving.
Ed’s wife Val has been the President of the Peninsula Committee Children’s Hospital in Palos Verdes, California, through which she was instrumental in garnering over $500,000 per year for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Ed and Val have been married for 38 years.
Lynn Wallace Walker
Having moved west to California from Pennsylvania in 1966, Lynn majored in communications at Chapman University, then received her Master’s and Ph.D degrees in communications from Honolulu University in 1995. She has served as the director of the Plantation Health Spa in Hawaii, consulted on holistic health, and traveled the world as Social Director with Holland America Line for Semester at Sea. Having performed and lectured nationwide on the environment to hundreds of audiences for 14 years, she is an avid environmentalist, videographer, producer, singer, and mother. Among her colorful achievements is working with the USO, performing in Thailand and Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
Over the years, Lynn has assisted many authors in bringing their works to publication. With a background mainly in production, video production, and the organization of large events, Lynn brings her considerable acumen to SevaChild. Her passion for helping to make a difference in the lives of children is a formidable asset for SevaChild International.
Jeff Bibler
Jeff has been passionate about serving the world’s poor since studying international relations as an undergraduate. After earning his MA in international relations in 1993, he volunteered full-time in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to provide hospice care to the terminally ill. He then served with the nonprofit organization Trees for Life for five years, where he managed sponsorship programs at rural schools in India and was a member of a groundbreaking vitamin A campaign in the Orissa state of India that reintroduced knowledge of the moringa tree and its vitamin A-rich leaves. The campaign has since spread to West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central American countries.
Jeff has also been an educator for over fifteen years and taught English and video production skills to students in Allahabad and Orissa. He also founded and ran his own tutoring business in Encinitas, CA. He is currently a substitute teacher and the development director for SevaChild.
His passions include tennis, hiking, meditation, and international travel. He lives in Encinitas, where he spends time in nature when he’s not teaching or serving the work of SevaChild.