Katherine was born and raised in Holland, Pennsylvania, with her sister Eileen. Her mother was a WWII Navy Veteran and her father was a marine engineer who worked on U.S. passenger ships, including the S.S. United States and S.S. America.

Katherine received her BS in finance from Monmouth University and was awarded a graduate research fellowship to complete her MBA. Katherine worked at Merrill Lynch Insurance group for 10 years, with her last position being manager of accounting.            

After her daughter Jennifer was born, she began a 15-year career as a real estate broker on the New Jersey shore. During that time she was chairperson of the annual toy drive which benefited the Head Start program in the community. 

Katherine’s daughter, Jennifer, is currently a second year college student at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, studying to be an electrical engineer. Katherine’s move to Florida last year fulfilled her and her husband Ronnie’s dream of moving to Florida as empty nesters.

Katherine feels blessed to be associated with Habitat, an organization that can provide the stability and pride of home ownership. Through her volunteer role - calling ReStore donors to thank them - she hopes to show Habitat’s appreciation for their kindness and generosity. 

"I like to extend happiness and gratitude through my voice,” Katherine says.

Katherine has been volunteering with us since April 2011 and we appreciate her caring ways with our donors.

Mark works at SRA in Jupiter, Fla as vice president of the SRA Research Group. SRA is a full service marketing research company in new product/service development and spending/funding priorities.

Mark has been a volunteer at Habitat for Humanity of Martin County for the past five years as a member of the Family Selection Committee. Three years ago, he became Chair of the Family Selection Committee and at the same time was asked to join the Board of Directors.

Mark moved to Martin County about nine years ago and currently lives in Stuart with his wife Karen. In his spare time, Mark has personally renovated more than a dozen homes. This, combined with his professional work with builders, developers, and research on sub-standard housing conditions in areas around the state, made volunteering at Habitat a natural fit.

"Working with Habitat allows me to use the skills I’ve developed to give a hand up to families in our county who just need that little bit of help to succeed and prosper. I’m passionate about our mission at Habitat and am so lucky to work with a great staff and group of volunteers who care and give so much to our community.”

When he is not working or volunteering with Habitat, Mark spends his time golfing, boating, gardening and cooking.

Anna Shope is originally from Bridgewater, New Jersey.  She moved to Martin County four years ago and resides in Stuart. She is employed with Marriott International as a sales specialist.

Anna has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity of Martin County for two years. She became involved with Habitat because she wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Habitat for Humanity is an organization that is very near and dear to her mother.

Anna can be found helping on the construction sites on Saturdays. She helps our Volunteer Director on Saturdays with greeting volunteers, sharing devotion and taking pictures. Anna also serves on the Rock-A-Thon committee, an annual fundraiser for our affiliate, and has become involved with special events for Women Build. 

In her spare time, Anna enjoys scuba diving and being at the beach with her husband. She also loves animals.

Anna is a wonderful supporter of Habitat for Humanity of Martin County and is an absolute blessing.  Her smile is contagious and she is always willing to help wherever needed. It is volunteers like Anna that make coming to "work” such a pleasure.

Denise Izzillo was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut with five siblings. She has two children, son Grayson and daughter Heather, who reside in New England. Denise’s recent move to Florida was prompted by the desire to be closer to her parents who reside in Naples. Her parents met in England where her father served as a Corporal in the U.S. Army’s 29th Combat Engineers Division. Family is a top priority for Denise.

After graduating from culinary school, Denise worked in the food service industry for more than 40 years. At first she volunteered with a soup kitchen and shelter in Connecticut, which resulted in a full-time job as the soup kitchen coordinator, feeding more than 100 people on a daily basis. Her responsibilities also included supervising volunteers and community service personnel. During this time, Denise attended city-wide functions to advocate awareness for the shelter.  

When Denise moved to Stuart, she volunteered as an Ombudsman at Martin Memorial in the emergency room. Her passion and concerns are for homeless relief efforts. She feels very blessed to have her own home and by volunteering in our ReStore, she is helping others indirectly to have a home. Denise has been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity of Martin County since March 2011.

Jane is originally from Medfield, MA and after many years of cold, snow and ice she had enough, and decided to move to Stuart in 2009.

She served  in the US Navy Medical Corps for five years  and worked as an office manager for a chemical company and as a senior buyer for a high tech company.  Jane retired from Teradyne on Sept. 11, 2001, a day she will never forget.              

Deciding that retirement was not for her and since her golf game was expensive, she went to work at the Medfield Town Hall in town government. She stayed there for seven years.  This is where Jane began her volunteer life.  She ran and was elected to the Medfield library Board of Trustees, serving three two year terms.  She was a member of the Lions Club, VFW, and the Town Cultural Arts Committee.  At the same time she ran the Medfield Garden Plot Committee.

Jane acquired her appreciation for volunteer groups at this time.  When she moved to Florida she wanted to continue her volunteering.  She knew that it would either be at the local library or in the Habitat for Humanity office.  She has been a dedicated volunteer in our office since November 2010.

We truly appreciate Jane’s dedication as a Habitat volunteer. She plays an integral role in the office doing database entry, helping with our phones and performing any task that we ask her to do.

Kris has lived in Florida since 1975, after moving from Wisconsin. Originally she lived in Pompano, Delray and Lake Worth while raising her two sons, Mark and Eric.  Kris later moved to Port St. Lucie where she still resides today.               

Kris has recently retired from her career as an RN. In her spare time she enjoys playing golf, tennis, bridge, reading and going to dinner and a movie with friends. Kris is active in the Caring Ministries of First United Methodist Church in Stuart.              

Her involvement with Habitat started in 2008 and came as a result of her friendship with another longtime volunteer Jane Woerner, a friend from church. Kris has served in different capacities as a volunteer at Habitat on the Family Support Committee. She has been a mentor to partner families and also has joined the education and training team to bring valued information about finances to our new home owners. With her knowledge she has truly helped people who are preparing for home ownership.              

Since Kris has joined the Habitat Family Support Committee, she has become a valued asset to this committee and affiliate. Her warm personality lends itself to helping others. Kris is truly a delight to work with. In her words, she has said, "Habitat has given as much to me as I have given to them. Through Habitat I have met some wonderful people.”

Diana Hess is originally from Berlin, Wisconsin. She graduated college from the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. Diana moved to south Florida in 1989 and has been a resident of Stuart since 2004.

Diana has been a volunteer at Habitat for Humanity of Martin County since 2007. Her first build was our affiliate’s first Women Build in Indiantown. Diana said she wanted a way to "pay it forward” after seeing so much support from friends, relatives and strangers as her sister battled Hodgkins lymphoma. Diana is happy to report her sister is now cancer free.

Diana works as a Project Manager at Brainware, Inc. You will find Diana on the Habitat build sites on Saturdays. Diana says that "in the big scheme of things it is only four to five hours out of the week and it is always an adventure and a good time.”

Diana enjoys to ride her Harley Davidson motorcycle and to travel. She has had the pleasure to explore five out of seven continents. In her love of travel, she managed to include two Habitat for Humanity Global Village trips and has participated in Habitat builds in Chile and Guatemala.

Habitat for Humanity of Martin County is blessed to have Diana as a volunteer. She has become involved with special events for Women Build and is an active member of the Rock-a-Thon committee. She helps on Saturdays with greeting the volunteers and sharing the morning’s devotion. Diana is also involved with leading the Volunteer Orientation Classes for our affiliate.

Diana is a true friend and a wonderful supporter of Habitat for Humanity of Martin County. She continues to "pay it forward” and helps to make our community a better place.

Fred Ziffer worked for York International, a heating and air conditioning company, for 40 years. He worked in New York City, Houston, TX and York, PA and was the manager of service operations when he retired.

Fred has been married for 45 years and has 3 children with 7 grandchildren.

Not one to sit idle, Fred decided to become involved in his community and we are very thankful he chose to help in our ReStore. Since he began volunteering with us, Fred has met some really great people and believes they are the best part of volunteering. The flexibility of no assigned hours doesn’t hurt either!

Soon Fred and his wife will be returning north for the summer. He looks forward to returning to the ReStore in November and so do we. His only request is that we don’t save up all the work until he returns!

We truly appreciate Fred’s time and talents in helping to make our ReStore the best it can be. Thank you, Fred; we’re counting the days until November.

As a successful sales and marketing executive in the Computer Industry for more than 20 years, Rocco worked for industry leaders McDonnell Douglas Systems Integration Company & Electronic Data Systems (EDS). 

In his second career, Rocco provided results oriented Management & Organizational Development Consulting to Fortune 1000 companies.

Rocco moved to Florida in 2002 and in 2005, he created Preferred Home Watch & Concierge Service, LLC, a property management firm located in Stuart, catering to seasonal residents in Martin, St. Lucie, Palm Beach counties.

Active in the local community, Rocco is past president and board member of the Rotary Club of Stuart-Sunrise. In 2007, he was the recipient of the "Rotarian of the Year” Award and is a "Paul Harris Fellow." Roc was appointed to chair the community service committee for the rotary and became involved with Habitat because of a fellow committee member, Karen Kerwin, a past director of the Habitat board of directors. 

In 2004, Roc was recruited to become a member of the family support committee. In that role, Roc was responsible for engaging the Summerfield Garden Club to partner with Habitat of Martin County. Through his efforts, all proceeds from the garden club's annual tour of the member’s gardens are donated back to Habitat to buy necessary garden tools for our new home owners. These tools are presented at the Habitat home dedications by members of the Garden Club. Roc plays a dual role at Habitat these days as he is also a member of our board of directors representing family support.

Rocco also serves on the board of directors for the ARC of Martin County and is an affiliate member for the Realtors Association of Martin County. Within his home community, Roc is a trained member of CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) and past chairperson of the security committee and served on the exercise facility design committee for the Summerfield Homeowners Association.

Rocco has given exemplary service to his community and Habitat for Humanity of Martin County.

Jane is originally from Bristol, VA where she spent the first half of her life. She attended college and received a teaching degree. Her focus on both undergraduate and graduate levels was history and geography. She taught high school for the next 10 years.

Bill Hauke grew up building. He started spending days on the job after World War II, and at age 16 his Dad thought that he had enough knowledge to start building on his own. Bill built many cottages on Lake Champlain and got valuable experiences in all facets of building.

After college, he decided to continue in the building business. At first he worked in commercial construction, but by 1960 he switched to single family construction. Bill built close to 1000 units in Vermont for the working class people. These were small homes under 1,100 square feet and served similar homeowners that Habitat for Humanity does today. Due to high land and development costs this was no longer possible so rather than change his business plan, he retired. Bill had supported Habitat for Humanity in Vermont for many years.

Once he moved to Florida it seemed only natural that he work for Habitat to help the very people he had devoted most of his life to. In Bill’s opinion, Habitat for Humanity is the only truly affordable housing being constructed in the U.S. Bill loves helping once a week on the build site and is eager to do whatever is needed. He is a great team player and is willing to share his construction knowledge with all of our volunteers.

Bill has shared his passion for Habitat with other members in his family. One day, we had three generations of Hauke men on the build site in Indiantown (father, son, and grandson). In addition to Bill’s contribution on our build sites, he and his wife have also purchased and donated land to Habitat for Humanity of Martin County. Our affiliate in Martin County is honored to have Bill Hauke build with us. He sets a great example for all of our volunteers.

George Marvin was born in Bangor, Maine and lived there until he graduated college in 1972. At that time he entered the U.S. Navy and continued to serve our country for more than 24 years, retiring as a Captain in 1996. During his naval career, he served on eight different ships and was the commanding officer of two.

Following retirement from his naval service, George and his wife Nancy spent 10 years living aboard their 45-foot sailboat cruising the waters from the Caribbean to Newfoundland. They decided to move to their home in Hobe Sound in 2006. At that time, George began volunteering at Port Salerno Elementary School along with Nancy. In 2008, George began volunteering in the Habitat ReStore with pickups while Nancy was in the Habitat office. In 2010, Nancy joined George in the ReStore and together they have made a huge difference in reorganizing our ReStore showroom.

An interesting fact: George graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, NH and is a fellow alumnus of Habitat for Humanity International CEO, Jonathan Reckford.

Our Habitat affiliate is truly fortunate to have George as one of our valued volunteers.

We look forward to Nancy’s cheerful way on a weekly basis as she is another of our treasured volunteers.