About Us

Jack has long held a passion for serving others, and homelessness in particular is near and dear to his heart. While in college, he set up a nonprofit, Warm for the Holidays, which partnered with local businesses to provide thousands of coats and jackets to Sonoma County's homeless every year. This experience further motivated Jack to serve this population. Jack loves the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul because he appreciates the anonymity and humility with which the Society serves the poor in our community.

Uriel came to the United States in 1999 from Oaxaca, Mexico. His determination to achieve success in the United States gives him a unique perspective in finding solutions for people in need. He is the first to say that his life experience – growing up very poor in Mexico, and then living in a garage in Roseland with his family, without any stable housing for many years – is the reason he is dedicated to helping those who are struggling to find stable housing. Uriel, who holds a certification in property management, now oversees the St. Vincent de Paul Commons permanent supportive housing development.

Lonnie has been with SVdP-Sonoma for more than a decade. He manages the warehouse, the Thrift Store, and staff operations. He also oversees partnerships with other local organizations that help keep the warehouse and Thrift Shop running.

Allison has been with St. Vincent de Paul for more than two years, first as a shelter supervisor and now as Manager at Los Guilicos. With a degree in Computer Business Administration and Human Services Advocacy, Allison previously worked as a Teacher's Assistant at Santa Rosa Junior College. She was also a teacher and counselor for students in Addiction Counseling classes, and is experienced working with troubled youth in a group home setting. 

Dan Sullivan has a B.A. from the University of Santa Clara and a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University. He is also a professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, where he held the Cowles Chair in Media Management and Economics. For more than 30 years, he also served as an expert witness for the government and private plaintiffs in civil rights litigation against the public higher education systems in several southern states. Before returning to the Bay Area, Dan volunteered at Cookie Cart, a nonprofit urban bakery that provides job readiness, leadership, customer service, and financial literacy skills to low-income youth aged 15-17 from Minneapolis and Saint Paul. 

Patty is a diligent, detail-oriented, organized and highly accurate bilingual office manager who keeps everyone in line. From answering the telephones and distributing information to callers to managing billing for 10 different agencies, in collaboration with the Human Services Department of Sonoma County, along with Catholic Conferences of Marin and Sonoma County. She assists with daily deposits and sales data, and tracks a variety of databases for volunteer hours, daily food calls, donation calls, and monetary assistance given through clothing vouchers. She also keeps track of monthly number of people attending the Community Kitchen for lunch, collection and submission of quarterly reports, and donations and thanks to donors.

Helen has written grants for Saint Vincent de Paul since 2018 and raised millions of dollars for our programs and services. Previously, Helen has written grants for agencies focused on homeless services, foster youth, and health. These have included Community Action Partnership, Community Support Network, and Pediatric Dental Initiative in Santa Rosa and Good Samaritan Family Resource Center in San Francisco. She especially enjoys the research that leads to finding creative ways to best position the work of the non-profit agencies, building relationships with foundations, and telling good stories.