The Board is a dedicated group of individuals who believe that building houses one at a time, will make a difference in the Mid-Columbia Gorge.
Brian Baynes
Brian is serving as Treasurer to Mid-Columbia Habitat for Humanity. He was trained as a Chartered Accountant in England and moved to the USA in 1966 and has held many positions in accounting, administration, and marketing. Brian is now retired and is a member of the United Methodist Church in White Salmon, WA.
David Elkins
David was elected to the MCHFH board in the spring of 2009. He, his wife and two German Shepherds reside in Lyle. Since his retirement as the President of an Aerospace and Defense electronics company in 1996, David has been an active volunteer. He has been a member of the Lions Club, Volunteer firefighter, volunteer Emergency medical Technician for a fire department and ambulance service and served as a volunteer fire chief. He has served on the Skyline Hospital Board of Commissioners for over a decade. David also serves as a volunteer marketing representative for the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum. He also enjoys acting and is a member of The Pretenders Theater Company.
Ambler FitzSimons
Bio forthcoming...
Mike FitzSimons
Mike was elected to the Board this spring. He is an attorney in Hood River and has graciously agreed to share the Secretarial duties for the Board with his sister Ambler Fitzsimons.
Janet Holen
In addition to serving on the Habitat board, Janet currently belongs to Sorpotimist International of Mt. Adams, is on the boards of the West Klickitat County Historical Society, the White Salmon Arts Council , Skyline Hospital and is a disaster relief volunteer for the American Red Cross.
Roger Holen
Roger Holen was elected to the MCHFH board in February 2007. He served as Mayor of White Salmon for a total of nine years and he and his wife Janet owned and operated the Inn of the White Salmon for seventeen years. Prior to coming to White Salmon in 1990, he was employed in the computer industry for 30 years most recently in international marketing at Intel. While serving as Mayor, the need for affordable housing became a constantly recurring theme with no solution in sight. MCHFH is the best hope for the future.
Holen says, “I look forward to years of service and great success providing affordable housing to low income families.”
Stan Horack
Stan Horak is the Chair of the Construction Committee. He is an Electrical Engineer and had worked in engineering and construction for more than thirty years before moving to the gorge. For the last eleven years, his efforts in the gorge have been voluntary with Habitat and other organizations.
John Ihle
John Ihle is currently the Church Relations Chairman for MCHFH and has worked on other Habitat projects in the past. He has been a retired pastor from the Hood River Valley Christian Church for the past ten years. In addition to support MCHFH, John works in the Master Gardener Program, is a hobby bee keeper, and a fix-it person around the church. John and his wife Shirley have been married 53 years and they have four grown sons.
Oren Johnson
Bio forthcoming...
Linda Scott - Volunteer Coordinator
Linda is currently a school bus driver for the White Salmon Valley School District.
Patty Tessmer
Bio forthcoming...
