Our people
people carrying the work forward
Who does the work
Executive Director
Granddaughter of Raleigh Martin Carter, who purchased the first 160 acres of the Carter Farm in 1889. Bethann founded Timeless Traditions Foundation to carry that legacy of land, family, and mutual aid into the present through community wellness, economic opportunity, and cultural memory.
Director of Health & Wellbeing
Jerelle Carter brings more than two decades of community health experience to his role as TTF's Director of Health & Wellbeing, work that is also, for him, a family calling. The great-grandson of Raleigh Martin Carter, one of the Carter Farm's original 1889 landowners, Jerelle carries his family's legacy of land, health, and mutual aid into TTF's Roots programming: from the Rooted in Motion accessible trail corridor to the Roots to Resilience Community Wellness Garden, and TTF's broader Ancestral Health and Wellness work.
Jerelle holds a Master of Public Health in Health Promotion and Safety from Eastern Virginia Medical School and a Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion from Appalachian State University. His career spans community health education, chronic disease prevention, and mental health skill-building.
He holds certifications in Diabetes Self-Management and Chronic Disease Self-Management through Stanford University, along with credentials as a Community Health Worker, Mobile Crisis responder, and Qualified Mental Health Professional-Associate (QMHP-A). A CrossFit Level 1 coach and longtime group fitness instructor, Jerelle brings the same hands-on, relationship-centered approach to wellbeing at TTF that has shaped his entire career, now rooted, quite literally, in his own family's ground.
Director of Cultural Stewardship
Jeanette Cruz brings a career built on precision and compliance, paired with a personal passion for genealogy, to her role as TTF's Director of Cultural Stewardship, preserving and sharing the Carter family's story and the broader history of Black land stewardship in Pittsylvania County, honoring local centenarians and ancestors while building new traditions for generations to come.
With a background in genealogy research, Jeanette helps families trace their ancestry and provides documentary research for families navigating heirs' property situations, drawing on her proficiency in real estate title search to help untangle land ownership history and protect families' claims to their land. That same research discipline anchors TTF's own work tracing the Carter family's line back well before the farm's 1889 founding generation.
Before joining TTF, Jeanette spent nearly two decades in banking, human services, and disaster recovery administration. She holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees from Liberty University, in Psychology/Christian Counseling and Paralegal Studies. At TTF, her genealogical expertise, title research skills, and career-long discipline for documentation combine into a rare pairing, equipped to help families reclaim and protect their own history while safeguarding the Carter family's legacy, from the Legacy Grant Program to the planned 1889 Society, for generations to come.
Master Naturalist
Co-presenter at the Global World Dietetic Conference on "Beyond the RX: Food as Medicine as a Tool for Community Autonomy in Rural Virginia." Neal brings naturalist expertise to the Roots to Resilience Community Wellness Garden.
Keepers of the story
Aunt Pat and Aunt Ruth hold the Carter family history that everything here is built on. The foundation's work starts with what they remember and what they were taught, going back to the 1889 land purchase.
Working alongside us
Coach, NRHA Rural Health Community Capacity Academy
Sovah Health
VCU / Massey Cancer Center
Get involved
We are always looking for land stewards, garden volunteers, and community partners who want to put time into this work.
Questions about volunteering or partnership are welcome by email.
