Our small core team is assisted by many volunteers and interns, working to make dreams real.
Donna Baranski-Walker
Founder & Executive Director
In August of 2010, I was given a Medal of Gratitude in front of 25,000 people at the Gdansk Shipyard in Poland for an initiative I started in support of Poland’s Solidarity Movement when it was made illegal under martial law. I had just spent a summer in cold war Siberia, and then nearly a year in Poland just before Solidarity arose. I launched Support of Solidarity Chicaog, the year I graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. If I had only known then that my avocation would become my life’s work, I would not have searched so hard over the next 20 some years! My graduate degree in engineering is from the University of Hawaii with thesis research in mainland China. After many varied engineering jobs, I was recruited by MIT, then Stanford, then SRI International to evaluate, file patents for, license and/or form start-up for their telecommunications technologies.
My connection with the Middle East began in 1990, during the stand-off that led the US into the first Gulf War. I drew upon lessons learned from the Polish Solidarity Movement to pose a nonviolent way to end the then stand-off with Iraq — maybe 10,000 people participated in my idea. Just after the McNeil-Lehrer News Hours spent a week filming at my house and letters were pouring in from all over the country, I knocked on the door of MIT president emeritus, Jerry Wiesner, to ask his advice. My op-ed to the New York Times, “Small Lights in the Darkness”, was printed on Christmas Eve, 1990 and translated into Arabic by the First Lady of Greece who carried it to the Iraqi Women’s Federation where they were deeply moved. The war began a week later — we were too late, too small to stop it.
My mentor, Jerry Wiesner, and I watched like everyone did: why can’t we connect and here from Iraqi families? — or even Saudi families? How will this end? What are children learning from this? The world had not evolved beyond battles — but communications tools could link good neighbors across vast distances. That had never happened before in all history — maybe there would be a way to be creative enough to use this for good. We decided to start by linking teachers together. Professor Wiesner passed away and I continued to work on our ideas each night after putting my 2 babies to bed.
First, I focused on linking teachers together in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and Egypt. In 1996, I visited education ministers and schools meeting everyone, staying in their homes, seeing what they see. They all said yes, they would participate in my Project Dialogue. In 1999, I got up the courage to I leave my technology licensing job to work on this full time, really struggling to figure out how to find funding, then struggling to find my way when the World Bank took the project without me. In 2002, I launched a Global Campaign to Rebuild Palestinian Homes, joining a group of Israelis and Palestinians who worked together to rebuild Palestinian homes. A director from Habitat for Humanity International flew in to tell me our work was the most important peace project in the Middle East, urging me to dot i’s and cross t’s to form a a nonprofit organization. In 2003, recognizing our village-centered model is applicable to most every conflict zone, we formed Rebuilding Alliance.
Karen Jamison
Accountant
Monica Quinn
Clerical Associate
I can’t believe I have been rebuilding homes and communities in war – torn areas for six years. My name is Monica Quinn and I am the clerical associate at the Rebuilding Alliance. I process all donations, sign – up sheets, e-mail and print thank you notes, organize and speak at Rotary clubs all over the Bay Area, etc. My job gives me satisfaction in where I help people rebuild their lives after such destruction. I get them back on the road to recovery! When I am not working, I like to exercise, read, listen to music, watch TV, spend time with family and friends, and travel! I hope to continue working here for a long time!
Rudy San Miguel
Global Giving Coordinator
When I started my Technical Writing degree from San Francisco State University, I was expecting to enter into a profitable career in the high tech sector; however, I quickly realized that a career that provides me meaning and purpose was more important to me than financial benefits. That is why I focused on grant writing and other related professional writing skills.
I have worked since 2007 writing grants and supporting the development of small nonprofits throughout the Bayarea, from Josie’s Place to The People’s Legal Center. As a member of the Rebuilding Alliance team, I coordinator fundraising for our projects on GlobalGiving (GG). I ensure that GG progress reports are current, track how close we are to our funding goals and analyze projects for improvement.
