Meet Our Board of Directors
The Friends of South Family Board of Directors are a group of committed lovers of the Abode who are gathered to steward it’s legacy, land, founding mission and purpose. We are dedicated to the Abode lands as a sanctuary for promoting inspiration and renewal into the future. We care deeply for the Abode extended family and friends.
Friends of South Family’s Board of Directors represents a cross-section of Abode history over many years. Our life stories are intertwined with that of the Abode story. We are also a group with many professional skills. The FSF board presently consists of two lawyers, a market research librarian, a business manager and marketer, an engineer, a past Mountain Rd. School teacher and director. Our group represents many years of service to the Abode with two prior Abode directors, several prior Abode board members and many of us also having worked for the Abode in other capacities. We are all residents of New England with one Abode resident and several living in near-by towns.
Whitney Scott - President
Whitney Scott esq. was an Abode director for four years and a resident with his family there in the 1980’s. In addition he served in several positions for Sufi Order International including treasurer, director of Omega publications, and was a member of the group responsible for the Hope Project from 1984-1990. His interest in the Abode comes from his having spent four years there as a resident, having attended many retreats there over the years and having many friends in the community, the Northeast and beyond who have been nourished by their experiences at the Abode with Pir Vilayat and Pir Zia.
Kimberly Martel - Vice President
Kimberly is a knowledge and user interface consultant. She supports online spaces for Fortune 500 companies with an eye to elemental forces of nature as a palate. This work was preceded by her many years as a weaver and production designer in the interior decorating trade, as well as a caretaker of personal properties. Deep immersion in the natural landscape has been her primary inspiration, especially her earliest memories of childhood at the Abode of the Message in the 1970’s. She has always had a great calling to be in service at the Abode and spent many decades involved in the local community; working for Abode Programs, maintenance and Mountain Road School in her 20’s and residing with her own family there in her 30’s, while also studying with many wonderful teachers at the Abode and beyond. Her children attended Mountain Road School and Flying Deer Nature Center. Later in life she has turned to service as a Healing Representative to the New England Area.
Al Bellenchia - Secretary
Al Bellenchia is an executive with global experience in marketing, management and organizational development. He has worked with or at for-profit and not-for-profit organizations of many sizes and specializes in leading organizations through needed change. Currently, Al serves as Executive Director/CEO of Columbia County Habitat for Humanity. He was Executive Director of the Abode from 2016 to 2021.
Christopher A. H. Steadman, Esq. - Treasurer
Christopher Steadman first came to the Abode when he was in college, taking a temporary leave of absence to explore Sufism. Once there he was assigned to the building crew and learned the trade of carpentry working on Shaker buildings under the tutelage of a long line of Abode Sufi carpenters. He there met his wife, who had been in residence since 1976, and who built her own house on the Abode property. A daughter, Sarah Noor, was born to them in 1991, and was blessed on Mt. Lebanon by Pir and Taj. She attended Mountain Rd. School and is now one of the Abode farmers. Fourteen years after taking a leave of absence to come to the Abode, Christopher retuned to school ultimately obtaining his J.D. and has been a member of the NYS Bar since being admitted in 2000. In addition, he has contributed 38 years of service to the New Lebanon community as a volunteer fire fighter, upholding a long standing Abode tradition.
In 2015 he became a member of the Abode Steering Committee when the the Sufi Order decided to move to Richmond, VA. Thereafter he was a member of the Abode Board of Directors serving as co-chair, chair and treasurer until dismissed by the Inayati Order in May of 2022. A steadfast supporter and devoted lover of the Abode, and all it is, was and will be, he could not sit idly by while Pir Vilayat’s inspiration and legacy, and the work of so many Abodians and friends of the Abode, was put up for sale, and helped to start Friends of South Family, Inc.
Blair Davis
Blair Davis arrived at the Abode well over a decade ago. He began attending Universal Worship Services regularly and over the years developed a deep connection to the Sufi path.
While strengthening his commitment to the organization, Blair has been called to serve on numerous committees, been involved with various infrastructure projects for the property and has held the positions of Treasurer and Chair of the Abode Board of Trustees.
As a musician, he has planned and operated sound systems as well as played regularly for events at the Abode.
Since 2005 he has headed a Systems Automation Integrator business. Prior to this he worked in the field of sales, electrical engineering - design, as well as profit and non-profit management positions.
Aimée Brodeur Johnson
Aimée came to the Abode in 1988 to live and to work at Mountain Road School. During the intervening years she married and raised a family at the Abode, serving on many committees as well as the boards of both Mountain Road School and the Abode of the Message. The Dances of Universal Peace and the unity of religious ideals led her to the Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan (and thus to Pir Vilayat and on to the Abode), where she serves as a Cheraga in the Universal Worship. She retired from Mountain Road School in 2013 and enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, gardening, and doing volunteer work for the Abode, the New Lebanon Historical Society, and the New Lebanon Library.