Our People
Volunteers
Angelica Candelas
Angelica cares deeply about the plight of migrant children suffering conditions of homelessness on the border. She is bilingual and grew up in Guatemala, is a businesswoman, teachers aid, and certified barrista with management experience, event planning, volunteer management, content creation and customer service.
Currently she is employed by the Cypress School of Autism and Behavioral Services as a teachers aid, developing curriculum and providing one-on-one student assistance as well as many other functions in the classroom. Previously she was a manager at The Good Cup Coffee Shop in Xela, Guatemala. She also served as a quality control tech at Straus Family Creamery in Petaluma. She holds a Minors degree in Psychology from University Rafael Landivar in Guatemala. She coordinates volunteer events for the Church Unstoppable in Santa Rosa. She lives in Santa Rosa, holds an Entrepreneur Certificate from the SRJC and is in the process of starting a drive-through coffee shop.
Harrison Friedes
Harrison is a research and marketing analyst interested in understanding the true roadblocks to addressing the housing crisis and promoting what we can do to overcome them. Contact him at harrison @h4h.degive.com for all questions or comments.
Stephanie Wanjugu
“We rise by lifting others.” The quote by Robert Ingersoll summarizes Stephanie Wanjugu’s mantra in life, her choices, and her life purpose. She believes in working with people and making the world a better place because no man is an island, and we are social human beings who depend on one another in one way or the other. She is a trained Lawyer, PR expert, and philanthropist who has been involved in numerous charity works in Kenya. The three areas of expertise include working with people, listening to their needs and challenges, and providing required solutions geared towards promoting the success and happiness of her clients. She is an experienced legal researcher on policy formulation, data collection, and study with demonstrated experience in general advisory, reviewing policies, and legislation, drafting pleadings and briefs. She has been a freelancer for about six years now, and one of her policy formulation works was adopted by the Kenyan Government through the Ministry of Education. She was among the team involved in drafting the Office of Career Services in Kenya (http://careerservices.uonbi.ac.ke/), which was meant to enhance the production of prepared holistic graduates for entry into the workforce and entrepreneurship as a way of curbing joblessness in the country. Seven universities have since adopted the policy in the country.
She is also a skilled Public Relations expert with the ability to relate to different publics. Moreover, she is adept at formulating, designing, and implementing clients’ feedback and crisis management.
Finally, she is a philanthropist who dedicates her time and resources whenever necessary to ensure that she makes the world a better place. She has volunteered for numerous organizations in the country, including but not limited to ONWARDS Kenya, PAMBIO, Muthengi Foundation, and Ficha Uchi Campaign, where she served as the head of operations.
She possesses strong writing, proofreading, and editing skills because of her career background in both law and PR. Her other areas of expertise include copywriting, managing social media accounts, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and Keyword research to promote the visibility of both social media pages and websites.
She attended the University of Nairobi for her LLB degree, UC Berkeley for her LLM, and Daystar University for her Public Relations degree. Currently, she has enrolled at the Kenya School of Law for her diploma in law and admission to the bar.
Diana Rumrill
Diana is a top-performing training and development specialist. With expertise in directing cross-functional teams to improve business efficiencies and employee engagement levels for substantial revenue growth, Diana is skilled in collaborating with team members to identify and achieve business objectives.
Ronald Montgomery
Ronald Montgomery has worked in construction for 34 years and specializes in operating heavy machinery, equipment and tractors. He has especially fond memories of his first big project for Ghilotti Construction, building Coffey Park in Santa Rosa.
Anthony Thomas
Anthony Thomas lives in Newark, New Jersey and was one of the volunteers instrumental in helping to complete the landmark shelter Newark Hope Village, praised so highly by Mayor Ras Baraka and featured prominently in the local press. Mr. Thomas said when he was younger he went down a wrong path, but with the help of his mother, a former police officer, and his close friend Pastor Max he has turned to street ministry to help others, volunteering his time at several local shelters doing motivational speeches and leading support group discussions.
He started his own nonprofit charity called Love-Helps Inc. providing a holistic approach to solving some of our society’s biggest challenges. Currently he works in the service department at a local dealership. In his spare time he is studying IT and digital marketing.
Miguel Cruz
Miguel has had some experience with homelessness as a young man in Mexico and now with Homes 4 the Homeless he wants to give back. He lives in Sonoma County with his wife and two children. An experienced carpenter, Miguel has his own business MC Junk Removal.
Ernesto Rivas
Ernesto learned to weld in 2006 saying “The moment I saw the fusion process I was hooked.” In 2007 he graduated from Clearfield Job Corp with a certification in welding. He started working with Dan Lowe of WELD=N=THINGZ™ in 2008 and the two have been working together ever since.
Alexes Aragon
Alexes has wanted to help the homeless ever since the 2017 wildfires devastated our community. She was a cosmetologist for many years and had always wanted to help out by giving haircuts to the homeless. She has experience in the auto industry, working at dealerships and helping customers with vehicle registration services.
John McAuliffe
McAuliffe is General Manager of the Hyatt. Since graduating in 2010, he has worked in ten different hotels in seven cities and six states.
Jerry Lang
Jerry has been an auto dealer for 55 years and wants to convert his property in Santa Rosa to a modular village for those experiencing homelessness.
Kevin Harper
Kevin is a builder and fabricator living in Santa Rosa. He is a licensed mechanical engineer and SRJC certified welder with more than 20 years for Keysight Technologies. Kevin has been volunteering for several organizations to help those affected by the recent wildfires and is happy to join us to continue this effort.
Vincent Horn
Vince is an electrician who provides extensive guidance on the planning and preparation of our modular housing solutions.
Karen Kusanovich
Karen dedicated twenty-five years to educating both teens and adults in the public school system. She is now eager to apply her leadership and organizational skills to support efforts in connecting individuals with affordable housing and finding solutions to combat poverty and homelessness in our county. Currently, she works as a musician and artist in Sonoma County.