our staff...

Bonnie Bessor joined Rebuilding Together Baltimore as Executive Director in January 2004. Immediately prior, she worked at Associated Catholic Charities as a development officer for homeless service programs in Baltimore. She has also worked in housing and poverty advocacy organizations as a legislative advocate, community organizer, and volunteer manager. She began her career by serving chronically mentally ill individuals. Bonnie holds a Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland. She is active in her community association and is a member of the advisory board for the Waverly Main Street Initiative, a program that promotes the development of local business in her community.

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Becky Kuk joined Rebuilding Together Baltimore in 2006 as a social work intern from the University of Maryland. After staying on in the summer of 2007 to work as program manager, she left for a year to finish up her Masters degree, and returned in August 2008. Becky has experience working with many different types of cultures and age groups. She volunteered for all of 2005 at a children's home in Nicaragua, and also spent a college semester in Costa Rica. She has worked with both children and seniors in the past and enjoys interacting with the seniors that Rebuilding Together often serves. Becky has helped create both the energy efficiency program and the homeowner orientation. She is passionate about labor standards and has helped to ensure that Rebuilding Together Baltimore uses fair trade or union made hats, T-shirts, and other volunteer gifts as much as possible.

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Jim Diel joined Rebuilding Together Baltimore in 2008 as a member of the CapacityCorps program, and was hired as full time Project Manager in August of 2009. Before joining the CapacityCorps, Jim served in the AmeriCorps as a carpenter for Opportunities in Industrialization Center of Washington. His service with O.I.C. consisted of new home construction for low-income homebuyers and weatherization of low-income homes in Washington State. Prior to his service in the AmeriCorps, Jim attended the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater for Sociology with an emphasis on Social Inequality, and Environmental Studies with a focus on Sustainable Institutions and Communities. While attending UW-W, Jim launched a successful student organization that promoted social and environmental sustainability on campus and within the community by utilizing the Natural Step Framework for sustainability. Jim enjoys snowboarding, reading, and long walks on the beach.

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Amanda Malone joins Rebuilding Together Baltimore as the new AmeriCorps Resource Coordinator in the CapacityCorps program. Amanda was born and raised in Baltimore, and is excited about fulfilling her AmeriCorps term of service in her hometown. She recently graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Development, concentrating in Gerontology, Social & Personality Development, and Life Course, Social Context & Social Policy. Amanda has always been highly active in service work. She has gone on several community development work trips, including a trip to the Dominican Republic with International Students Volunteers. While attending Cornell, she interned with several continuing care retirement communities and an affordable housing organization, all of which sparked her interest in non-profit organizations. Rebuilding Together will engage Amanda’s interests in architecture, aging and social issues, service work, and the non-profit sector.

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Violette Green joined Rebuilding Together Baltimore as the new AmeriCorps Project Coordinator in the CapacityCorps program in August, 2009. Prior to coming on board, she worked in Montana as a Field Crew Leader in a different AmeriCorps program, the Montana Conservation Corps. In the MCC, she led crew members in doing trail maintenance, planting, weed control, and fencing on public lands. Before she headed west she graduated from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago in 2007 with a degree in Elementary Education. Her interest in housing and low-income home repairs extends back to several years of home repair mission trips to Appalachia. In addition, she also spent a summer working in Tennessee for Appalachia Service Project, a non-profit home repair ministry that works in rural areas. Violette enjoys Montana, traveling, reading anything she can get her hands on, and baking.

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