Bios

In January 2018, I decided to start our nonprofit organization because I have always helped people especially those who belong to the underserved population. I often ask myself, “What can I do to be of service to others?” I realized just how amazing it would be if I could help other low-income individuals find affordable housing, providing a hand up and not a hand out. I was so excited, and I told my roommate, Mary about this vision. She encouraged me to go for it and advised me to write down all my ideas for this project. I am proud to say that from January 2018 until today, the ideas keep flowing opening more ideas to connect with more people in the community. As a result, I have met many people from different sectors of the community. I am honored to have developed strong connections in the community and have made many friends. With each individual interaction I affirm that I am on the right path by continuing to move forward with building community. I will NEVER quit!

Lisa Gillotti, Founder, Vice-President, & Executive Director

Peter is an engineer, economist and urban planner who has been a community volunteer working in areas of homelessness response in Olympia over the last 5 years.

• He helped organize the Faith Alliance Initiative for Tiny Houses (FAITH)
• He has worked closely with the Providence Community Care Center partners to provide emergency funds for homeless people looking for jobs and housing
• He has worked with Just Housing Olympia and the United Churches of Olympia to develop mitigation measures for Nickerson homeless encampment (Shelter in Place strategy)

Before that he led a 35-year career in international transportation planning, water systems improvements, urban and regional planning and information systems. He worked on projects ranging from small transportation studies to national and regional-level transport planning and policy studies in over 60 countries. During this career he developed many different types of innovative cost-benefit analysis for dealing with urban problems. He was part owner and manager of a medium sized business. He is the author of numerous published papers and has taught university-level courses. He has conducted seminars on his work at MIT, University of Washington and The Evergreen State College (TESC), among others. He is supervising independent studies of the cost of homelessness at TESC.

Education: B.Sc., MIT; M.B.A, Harvard University; Special Program in Urban and Regional Science, MIT.

Peter D. Cook, President

Larry Pederson, Treasurer

With a BA in sociology Larry began a 30-year career serving children and families in
Washington State’s Department of Social and Health Services. He earned a graduate degree in Social Work in 1976 and worked in a number of program development, supervisory and administrative roles until his retirement in 2000.

After retirement he directed the Thurston Community Network and worked with the Family Support Center in addition to acting as a consultant to the Washington Family Policy Council and Casey Family Programs. He currently splits his time between Arizona and Washington, traveling, managing real estate and volunteering with BABH.

Karyn Wejemark, Secretary

Karyn is the Founder & Executive Director of Turn the Tables Foundation providing 10,000 lbs. of food every week to 16 different organizations in Thurston County.