Bev Bishop, Board Chair
Bev Bishop, happily retired since 2006, is active in the community of Westminster, and lives about six blocks from Growing Home’s offices. Besides volunteering at the food pantry several days a week for the last four years, she is also a member of the City of Westminster’s Inclusivity Board, and was previously on the Parks, Recreation, and Library Board, as well as the Adams County Cultural Council. Never having had children herself, Bev feels a strong commitment to contributing to Growing Home, whose mission provides her a way of giving back to the community. During her paid working years, Bev worked in several occupations, including being a teacher, bookstore manager, secretary, and 24 years as a human resources professional.
William Marquez, Treasurer
William and his family have been involved with Growing Home for the past 10 years. They were introduced to Growing Home when their church participated in the Holiday Adopt a Family Program and William’s wife Kathy has volunteered at Growing Home’s Food Bank since that time. William’s family has developed a strong bond with the dedicated Growing Home Staff and they continue to support the annual Holiday Adopt a Family Program. William grew up in northern New Mexico. He has a BS and MS degree in Industrial Engineering and has lived in the north Denver metro area for 25 years. He is a Senior Manufacturing Manager at Amgen specializing in Operational Excellence and has worked in the Pharmaceutical industry in Colorado for 20 years. William loves sports, traveling, and spending time with his family. Kathy and William have three children; Amanda 26, Ryan 24, and Devin 18.
Mary Ellen Litzau, Vice Chair
Mary Ellen Litzau is a retired Colorado native who enjoys cooking, painting, traveling and spending time with friends and family. Mary Ellen first became involved with Growing Home many years ago through the Adopt-A-Family program and the Canopy program through her church. She became more involved with Growing Home on a weekly basis following retirement in 2013 by doing office tasks, serving as an Ambassador and as a member of the Sustainability Committee. Prior to retirement, she worked in credit unions as a human resource professional and served on various committees and boards in the industry. Mary Ellen is passionate about meeting basic needs of food and shelter for families and more importantly helping others move beyond their current circumstances to a more stable environment.
Kathleen Drozda, Founder
Kathleen is the recently retired Pastoral Nurse Coordinator at St. Anthony North Hospital, and holds her RN, BSN, and MSN. She supports the mission of the hospital through services in the communities surrounding St. Anthony North; targeting those who are elderly, underserved, uninsured, disenfranchised or at-risk, and promoting wellness as a lifestyle. Kathleen has served Growing Home and the Board of Directors in a variety of ways over the years, most currently as Treasurer of the Board. Kathleen has been a Host Site Coordinator for the Interfaith Shelter Program, a committee member, active volunteer, and helped establish the Med Van Program that provides health services for Growing Home Families. When Kathleen is not working, she enjoys time with her husband Gregg and their two dogs. High on her list of favorites are reading, baking, snowshoeing, and exploring the endless beauty of Yellowstone.
Bill Gonzalez
Bill has been involved with Growing Home since he moved to Denver in 2009. Over the last 9+ years, he has participated in numerous drives and volunteer opportunities as well as serving on the Programs and Sustainable Funding committees and being a member of the Building Homes Society. Bill has a passion for Growing Home’s dual-generation mission of helping families build the tools and resources needed to break the cycle of poverty. Prior to setting his roots in Colorado, he grew up in the border city of Laredo, TX and studied at Texas A&M University and The University of Texas School of Law. Bill currently serves as an appointed Commissioner to the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. Additionally, he has previously served on the Board of the Denver Association of Petroleum Landmen in various roles including President from 2014-2015.
Michelle Bettis
Michelle is the co-founder of 3W Races, Westminster-based event production organization which has been fundraising, organizing food drives and creating awareness for Growing Home programs since its inception in 2011. She has been a volunteer at numerous food banks and home building projects for decades in addition to leading youth service projects around the world. Her family mantra of ‘Do What You Can, When You Can, Where You Are,’ grew into the company motto as 3W Races seeks to benefit humanitarian charities specifically local to neighborhoods in which they produce events. As a Westminster resident, Michelle believes in caring for those in need right next door which is exactly the need addressed by Growing Home.
Carmen Atilano, Secretary
Carmen has been involved with Growing Home since 2018. She participates on the program advisory committee helping to achieve strong service delivery for families in need.
Her work passions are in the areas of community relations and civil rights. After 25 years with the City of Boulder, Carmen became a Manager of Neighborhood Partnerships with the Urban Land Conservancy in 2018. While in Boulder, she addressed delicate community-relations issues through relationship building, program management, grant making, policy development, team leadership and ordinance enforcement. Among the policies she prepared for presentation to City Council are a Living-Wage Resolution, a Failure to Pay Wages ordinance, expansion of anti-discrimination legislation to include gender variance and the establishment of an Immigrant Advisory Committee. As the Manager of Community Relations she supervised Boulder’s Youth Opportunity Program and Community Mediation Services.
Carmen is a graduate of the Colorado College and earned a masters degree in social anthropology at the Escuela Nacional de Anthropologia e Historia in Mexico City. She is a native of southern Colorado and has lived in northwest Denver since 1987.
Kate Skarbek, Board Member
Bio coming soon.
Lea Brown, Board Member
After spending most of her life in Houston, Texas, Lea moved to Denver in 2018 to enjoy time with her daughter and son-in-law and to spend time in the Rocky Mountains. As a long time volunteer with various Houston based food pantries, Lea sought to continue that activity and soon began volunteering at Growing Home in the food pantry. Lea spent her professional career as a C.P.A. specializing in income taxes and now volunteers as a member of Growing Home’s finance committee.