Julie Bond has joined Rick DeAngelis as co-executive director of Good Samaritan Haven. Good Sam provides emergency shelter and support services, offering stability, safety, and hope for people experiencing homelessness.
DeAngelis, a long-time affordable housing and community development professional, has served as executive director of Good Sam since March 2020. Prior, he was on the board, including recent past president. He delayed his retirement to assume the role of executive director in 2020. During that time DeAngelis has led the organization through the extraordinary challenges of the Covid pandemic and has brought Good Sam’s new shelter and central campus to a reality in Berlin.
Julie Bond joined Good Sam in 2021 as director of operations. With her, she brings 25 years of fundraising, operations, compliance, and project management experience. Julie has worked in community development, higher education, government, and nonprofit administration and is completing graduate training in chaplaincy and community ministry.
“Moving to a shared leadership model comes at a time when there are record numbers of unsheltered Vermonters and the organization is implementing a strategic plan to serve the central Vermont community in more expansive ways,” said Melissa Battah, chair of the Good Sam board. “The Board is pleased that Rick and Julie will share the responsibility of leading the organization as it creates a sustainable leadership path for the demands Good Samaritan Haven currently faces.”
A shared leadership model will combine the strengths of DeAngelis and Bond so that they can provide intensive management at all levels of the organization. While the heart of the model requires mutual collaboration, each director will have their own areas of focus: financial management and external relations for DeAngelis and internal staff relations, training, and general administration for Bond.
“Julie brings an amazing array of skills and great compassion to the leadership of Good Sam” said DeAngelis. “These are the qualities we are aiming to cultivate throughout the organization to address the challenges of homelessness. This will help us to do more and do it more effectively.”
“I’m thrilled to partner with Rick in leading Good Samaritan Haven into the future,” said Bond. “The organization is deeply committed to investing in the well-being, equity, and professional development of its invaluable staff. We believe that sharing the myriad responsibilities incumbent upon an executive director also speaks to the kind of balance and care we aim to foster across the organization.”
About the organization: Good Samaritan Haven is a shelter network for those experiencing homelessness in Washington county. The organization operates emergency shelters in Barre City, Barre Town, and will open its third location in Berlin in July. Good Samaritan Haven has operated seasonal emergency overflow shelters with community partners and has an extensive meal program and peer-to-peer street outreach team. To learn more, see Good Samaritan Haven’s 2021 Gratitude Report at: http://www.goodsamaritanhaven.org