John Garesché is a fundraising professional, philanthropic advisor, science educator and high-altitude balloonist who has been working with Susan since 2022 to help build sustainable fundraising for ACWPS.  He has spent over 25 years helping a variety of organizations around the country develop sustainable fundraising strategies, and for the last 10 years worked as a classroom science teacher.  

When not helping to raise money, he now flies high-altitude balloons to the stratosphere to inspire students from kindergarten to graduate students to be involved in STEAM – Science, Technology, Art, and Engineering.  These are lightweight (under 12 pounds) launches always sent with cameras and trackers to be recovered, and he launches lightweight items for aerospace testing, student experiments, electrical and mechanical engineering, and public relations campaigns using high-resolution video.

This work combines his love of teaching using hands-on inspiring projects with engineering, outdoor orienteering (to recover the launches), and travel around the world.  His company, Launch With Us, has been featured on Inside Edition, by You tubers launching Kermit the Frog, and many PR campaigns; they are working with the National Eclipse Ballooning Project, and they launched a balloon for students in Siaya, Kenya, in April of 2023.  He hopes to launch for some of the students served by ACWPS partners in the next few years to provide educational opportunities and inspiration to students everywhere.