Habitat for Humanity East Bay
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2011-12 Service Team Members
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Originally from the Bay Area, Anna Bachman graduated from UC Berkeley with a major in development studies and a minor in city planning and moved to Oakland to work with Habitat East Bay as the Homeowner Relations Coordinator. After spending a fun yet challenging year assisting families through the application process, she decided to sign up for a second year of AmeriCorps service. This year, she will be working as the Neighborhood Revitalization Coordinator in the Bay Point area. She is excited to explore more of the Bay Area while frequenting the most delicious ice cream shop in the East Bay, Guanatos. And as always, she is proud that her data entry helps build houses. |
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Bridget Basham was born in Rural Victoria, about an hour from Melbourne and spent her teenage years growing up close to Melbourne's Downtown. While completing her Bachelor's in Architecture, she went on a semester abroad to Los Angeles where she met Paul Matys. After they were wed in Las Vegas, they lived and worked as architects in New York before joining Habitat of Greater Baton Rouge as Construction Crew Leaders. Having thoroughly enjoyed this experience, they signed on for a 2nd year with Habitat East Bay. |
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Laura Browne hails from harsh New England, where she spent her childhood enjoying ice hockey, snow forts, and the constantly changing weather. Here in the East Bay, she has learned to enjoy eating amazing produce all year long, avoiding going inside at all costs, complaining about the constant sunshine, and smiling all the time. She was sufficiently charmed by Bay Area and the incredible world of Habitat, and couldn’t tear herself away after her first year….so she’s back for more! She’s excited to learn more about building, spend more time with our awesome volunteers, and watch her once-red hair continue to fade into a distant memory in the California sun. |
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Born in Kentucky, raised in Maryland, and glad to finally be in California, James Cunningham comes to Habitat East Bay excited to get some work done. A recent graduate of the [acclaimed] Evergreen State College where he studied sustainable business and political economy, James hopes to pursue his passions for law and green building. To heal the headaches brought on by ambitions of changing the world, James enjoys playing basketball, following the news, volunteering, writing, reading, and cooking. Despite doing most of those things without any trace of talent, James is happy to be giving his all to the East Bay through his work with Habitat. |
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J.C. Dala is a Bay Area native who lived in the area all her life until she attended Cal Poly SLO, where she got her B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Sociology. She has a true passion for service, leadership, and community involvement. This will be her second year serving as an AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator through the Volunteer Infrastructure Program. One day, she hopes to expand her service area into the foreign arena and attain a Masters in International Affairs/Diplomacy. She’s also a political junkie and enjoys kickboxing, Zumba (Latin dancing), and cooking. |
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Alicia Ellis, originally from the East Coast, came to California 3 years ago. After deciding that research was really not that fun, she quit her job in Davis and came to the Bay area to serve her first year as an AmeriCorps member on the construction site. For her second term, she is working as a project assistant for new construction in the Real Estate Development department. She misses the construction and volunteers, but is excited to learn what goes on behind the scenes. On the side, she is training with the hopes of doing a half ironman triathlon next year. |
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Charlie Enscoe grew up in Berkeley and moved back after graduating from Pomona College where he majored in English. This is his first year working as a Construction Crew Leader at Habitat for Humanity East Bay; previously, he worked at Adventure Playground at the Berkeley Marina, teaching kids safe tool use and helping them build together creatively. He enjoys sandwiches and Americanos; running, biking around cities, and flying kites; and, most recently, making not-yet-satisfactory cribbage boards. And (table) shuffleboard, of course. He’s excited to work with homeowners and volunteers at Habitat, and to learn more about and partake in building houses. |
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Jared Fields is originally from the town of Snellvile, 30 minutes outside of Atlanta, Georgia. He attended college at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, GA and majored in Graphic Design. Then he spent the past year in Frederick, Maryland serving as the VISTA PR Coordinator with the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate. Now, he’s decided to take a more hands on approach to volunteer service and is very excited about his position as Construction Crew Leader in the upcoming year. |
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Jeff Goodwin spent his youth as a child laborer for Ben and Jerry's in the cow pastures of northern Vermont, leaving only briefly to experience the sophistication of upstate New York. With a freshly printed diploma in hand from Ithaca College Jeff set his sights on the season-less glories of California. After spending his first year of AmeriCorps as a construction leader with Habitat for Humanity East Bay Jeff hung up his tool belt and took his talents to the East Bay office in downtown Oakland. His second term will be focused on a variety of tasks around bolstering marketing and development efforts. |
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Carrie Kretsch is originally from Saint Paul, Minnesota and studied Biology and Spanish at the University or Wisconsin-Madison. She spent some time after college working for non-profit community development organizations in Latin America and joined Habitat as an AmeriCorps members upon returning to the U.S. She loves serving at Habitat East Bay and is excited to spend her third year of AmeriCorps service as a Construction Crew Leader.
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Chris Laster is an AmeriCorps VISTA serving as a Renovation Programs Specialist within Real Estate Development. It will be his second term at Habitat East Bay, as he served 2010-2011 as an AmeriCorps Homeowner Relations Coordinator. Chris graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2008, currently lives in Berkeley, and looks forward to the coming year!
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Paul Matys grew up in Connecticut in a Polish family and town. He went to university in New York, then worked a string of random jobs in equally random places. Finally decided upon pursuing a Master's degree in Architecture in Los Angeles where he met his future wife who was studying abroad at the time. They got married in Vegas, moved to Melbourne, Australia, New York, and then to Louisiana where they served as Americorps Habitat members. Now they’re leaving Melbourne again heading to the East Bay for yet another adventure! |
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Born and raised in Connecticut, Ali Nelson makes her way to East Bay by way of Columbus, Ohio where she studied Landscape Architecture and Design at The Ohio State University. Having had the opportunity to serve with many Habitat chapters while in school, she is more than excited to start as a Construction Crew Leader at Habitat East Bay! She enjoys running, cooking/eating and all things OSU (Go Bucks!). Ali is looking forward to having fantastical adventures exploring all the West Coast has to offer and her first winter without snow…hopefully! |
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Ally Peerenboom is originally from central Wisconsin. She graduated college with a Bachelor's degree in Spanish and has since dedicated her career to using her Spanish skills to help others in the non-profit sector. She served at the Greater Fox Cities Habitat for Humanity in Menasha, WI as an AmeriCorps VISTA focused on homeowner education. Ally recently moved out to the Bay area and is very excited to be serving as a Homeowner Relations Coordinator. |
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Andy S. is an East Bay native, born and raised. Andy has volunteered with Habitat since he was young and is now serving his second AmeriCorps term on the construction site. His interests include rock climbing, hiking and backpacking, and all things agricultural. He continues to enjoy learning the construction trade and understanding more environmentally-sound ways of building by serving with Habitat. It's his belief that the most important thing in life is to contribute, and he is very excited to get to work! |
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Julie Trinh joins the Habitat family as a Homeowner Relations Coordinator after recently graduating from UC San Diego. Among the more jubilant employees of Habitat East Bay, Julie enjoys intelligent nutrition, intense exercise, and afternoon cups of tea. Infamous for her strict leadership of morning workout breaks in the office, she has proven herself to have an iron will and steadfast discipline. These skills will guide her to many successes here at Habitat, and into the future in pursuit of her interests. |
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Sonya Ursell grew up in the East Bay and is excited to be back after attending Pomona College in Claremont, California. Appropriately equipped with a degree in History, Sonya hopes to pursue a career in architecture and she looks forward to learning about the building process firsthand as a Construction Crew Leader. Sonya's passions include games of all kinds, anything French, and gourmet sandwiches. She also dabbles in classical piano-playing. |
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