STAFF
Jennifer Cavazos
Executive Director
Jennifer began volunteering at Camp Discovery in 1990 as a cabin counselor, spending more than a decade in the Red Girls cabin with the 7-8 year old girls. After taking several years off from volunteering at camp to raise her own children, she returned as a Camp Discovery volunteer in 2016 in the program office. Jennifer had worked as the part-time administrative assistant for Discovery Camps since 2013, assisting the Executive Director with the administrative duties required to provide our programs. In 2021, Jennifer assumed the role of Executive Director after the death of her husband Joey, who had been the founding Executive Director of VisionWorks (now Discovery Camps).
Jennifer is a retired pharmacist and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy. Her pharmacy career spanned over 33 years, working in both retail and mail service pharmacy practice. In January 2025, Jennifer earned a Master of Science degree in Nonprofit Management with a concentration in Camp Administration from Gratz College.
Zeff Gomes
Director Of Operations
Zeferino “Zeff” Gomes, a U.S. Army Veteran, has worked as a Medical Laboratory Scientist for 35 years. He has worked for several hospitals, and clinics across the United States and overseas, most recently in the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Lab at the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio. Due to his career as a soldier and working in the hospital environment, he understands the values of having a serving mentality. “Working with children and their families has brought me more joy, success and accomplishment than any other job ever could.”
Over the years, Zeff has held a variety of roles for Discovery Camps. He began as a cabin counselor for the 7 and 8 year old Red Boys in 2005, then he progressed to head counselor, planning committee member, and eventually Camp Discovery Co-Director. In 2019, he gave
up his job in the Lab and has been the full-time Program Director for Discovery Camps since then.
Heather Donnella, MA, LPC
Director Of Special Programs
Heather is a Licensed Professional Counselor and the Director of Special Programs at Discovery Camps. She has been involved with Camp since 2015 where she began by volunteering on the ropes course. She officially joined the team in 2019 during the first year of their in-hospital program, Camp Brave Hearts.
Heather received her Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Texas State University in 2021, and is a practicing psychotherapist at a private practice in downtown San Antonio. Heather strongly believes in the benefits of camp, and loves being able to utilize her background in mental health to emphasize the naturally occurring therapeutic component that camp has to offer.
Esther Ko
Camp Intern
Esther graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2024 with a Bachelors of Science in Human Biology and is currently a matriculant at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.
She has attended Camp Discovery for more than 10 years both as a camper and a cabin counselor. Her experiences at camp among other survivors largely sparked her passion for medicine and inspired her to pursue a career in pediatric hematology-oncology.
We Are Hiring!
Discovery Camps is hiring a Part-time Social Media Manager. To learn more about the position and how to apply please click the link below. Applications are due by February 28th, 2025.
