Meet RETA board member, Richard Armington. He began serving on the board in January of 2018. Richard grew up in New Paris and graduated from Fairfield, where he participated in football, basketball and baseball. He attended Bethel College, where he played basketball and met his Middlebury-raised wife, Deb. They have been married for 38 years and have four children, three of which are married and have children. Richard and Deb have six grandchildren under the age of 7, with another due this July.

While at Bethel, Richard’s major was in education and he spent four years teaching and coaching locally. He has been in the food distribution industry for 29 years and is currently employed by Troyer Foods in Goshen. He previously spent 4.5 years in development with Compassion International.

Richard first learned of RETA through longtime friends, Wendell and Peggy Norwood, who helped start RETA. His wife taught him even more when she began volunteering. Richard believes in the sanctity of life and how RETA lovingly embraces those who need help and doing so in the way Christ modeled for us. He has been involved with RETA for over ten years. He prays that he is found faithful in his service and helpful in any way and area where God might lead and RETA might find need.

Feeling fortunate to have traveled extensively through his mission's work, Richard has been to Africa, India, Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, Mexico, Dominican and Haiti. He has also enjoyed recreational trips to England, France and Italy, as well as many locations in the Caribbean and the United States. If he could travel anywhere in the world he would go to Israel - the Holy Land.

If Richard could choose only one food item to eat for the rest of his life - and if nutrition wasn't an issue - he would dine on nothing but chocolate. His realistic choice would be pizza because he could periodically make sure it had a good mix of vegetables to create a somewhat balanced diet along with pepperoni and sausage.

We're glad to have you on board, Richard!