Board Members

The Board of Directors: Promoters of Volunteer Service

Founder- Crystal Steinmueller 

Crystal’s passion for helping others and providing volunteer service started at an early age. With her twin sister, Jennifer, they volunteered where their special needs aunt worked during their middle school years. Crystal continued volunteering in high school, and was first exposed to international travel through International Club. Once she started college at Portland State University, she began her 9 year stint volunteering with the Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp, as well as getting involved with the Special Olympics.

In early 2005, Crystal lost her twin sister, Jennifer. Since that moment she has dedicated herself to traveling the world and helping others who are unable to help themselves. Out of these trips and experiences, Crystal came up with the idea (with a push from a good friend) of starting up a non-profit to help others find volunteer opportunities abroad and in their local communities. Thus, 2 Hands 7 Continents was born.

Crystal has traveled to 48 countries and volunteered in 21, and has no intention of stopping any time soon. Crystal lives in Vancouver, Washington. She works in alternative education in the Battle Ground School District. Locally, she volunteers with the Southwest Washington Humane Society, Clark County Food Bank, Free Hot Soup, and Friday Night Out.

Ramou Sowe 

Ramou Sowe was born and raised in The Gambia, West Africa. She and her family have been living in the US since 1997. Ramou graduated from Portland State University with a degree in Community Health. She has volunteered with several organizations throughout the years, including: NUNM, The Vancouver Co-op, Lift Urban Portland, Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp, IMPACT, and Kids First. Ramou finds it very rewarding to volunteer, and she hopes to do more volunteer work on a global scale. She is super excited to be a member of the board, “Let’s change the world!” she says. 🙂

Kirk McKenzie

Kirk McKenzie was born in Logan, Utah, but grew up in Corvallis, Oregon. Kirk attended Oregon State University, and graduated with a degree in Humanities. Shortly after graduating from OSU, Kirk made the move east to the University of  Southern Mississippi, where he entered the Teacher Corps and received his teaching credentials. This led Kirk to teach all over the world with the DoDDS. Highlights from his teaching career include organizing trips to Eastern Block Countries to volunteer at orphanages, refugee camps, and schools with children with disabilities. Kirk raised a family in his 33 years of service traveling all over the world with the DoDDS. Since retirement, he has volunteered in South Africa, China, Guatemala, as well as locally with the Clark County Food Bank, Free Hot Soup, the Humane Society for Southwest Washington, Friday Night Out, Friends in Service to Humanity.

Brad Brown

Brad Allen Brown was born in Portland, OR. Raised in Fairview, Brad graduated from Reynolds High School in 2004. Although up until 2017, Brad had never really done any formal volunteering, he’s always had a deep compassion for helping his fellow man. Everything from repacking food at the Clark County Food bank to planting trees and hanging out with foster kids, Brad has enjoyed getting more involved in his community. This new found lifestyle has had a profound change in regards to how Brad not only views his local community, but also humanity as a whole. He cannot imagine his life before volunteering. “There’s plenty of extra time we all have to give. It’s up to the individual if that’s a sacrifice they want to make.” – Brad