Working together, we can end homelessness in Falmouth.
About BTEO
BTEO provides transitional housing for adults experiencing homelessness in Falmouth during the cold weather months. And housing restoration services year-round.
People can survive rough in the summer, but it’s another thing in the winter. Freezing temperatures, wet weather, snow, mud, and no place to get warm. Or cook a meal. Or take a bath or shave or do laundry. Or plug in anything. Or have any privacy.
By providing temporary housing, BTEO gives our neighbors experiencing homelessness access to basic amenities. And our housing supportive services in their transition to stable housing.
Put yourselves in the place of our less fortunate neighbors, and think how you can help.
Video production by Alison Leschen
2024 Impact Report
- BTEO Highlights
- Celebrating our 10th Season
- BTEO’s Past, Present and Future
- 2024-2025 Transitional Housing Program Begins!
- Alumni Story: Teamwork!
- Engage with us as a Volunteer
- Fundraising Events
- Give
- BTEO’S Role in Nourishing Our Community
- Our Strategic Plan
Attend our General Volunteer Meetings
3rd Monday of the month
September – May, except for April
6pm
Meet the Team
You know, and we know, everything depends on people. People helping people, people trust people, people with big hearts and strong hands. BTEO has been lucky to find leaders who realize our desire to make a difference for our neighbors experiencing homelessness.
Our Board of Directors and Officers
Annie Polachi
Board Chair
Annie Polachi, Board Member
Annie has spent several years participating in socially conscious nonprofits including Belonging to Each Other, The Greenlight Fund as well as a Private Charitable Foundation Trustee supporting the Nantucket Dreamland Performing Arts Center. She has also been involved in The Boch/Citi Performing Arts Center in Boston, Nantucket Community Sailing, Friends of the Children-Boston, The Waquoit Congregational Church, the Literacy to Lift Lives (LLL) project at St. Clare’s Residential Home in Hyannis and St. Joseph’s Homeless Shelter in Hyannis.
Annie is currently employed with Bracebridge Capital LLC.
She is a childhood summer resident of Falmouth and has been a permanent resident since 2011.
Dana Mohler-Faria
Vice Chair
Dr. Dana Mohler-Faria, Board Member
Few people personify the spirit, mission, and character of Bridgewater State University more than its eleventh president, Dr. Dana Mohler-Faria.
Not unlike many of the students who attend Bridgewater State University, President Mohler-Faria was the first member of his family to attend college. Dr. Mohler-Faria was the first person of color to lead Bridgewater State University and, at the time of his inauguration, was the first Cape Verdean in the United States to be elected the president of a four-year institution of higher education.
Prior to becoming president, Dr. Mohler-Faria served for 11 years as Bridgewater State College’s vice president for administration and finance. He has also held numerous senior administrative positions at Mount Wachusett Community College, Bristol Community College and Cape Cod Community College.
Dr. Mohler-Faria holds a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, master’s and bachelor’s degrees in United States History from Boston University, and an associate degree from Cape Cod Community College. He has participated in the Oxford Roundtable, the Millennium Leadership Institute, The New England Resource Center for Higher Education and Harvard University’s Institute for Education Management and Senior Executives Program. He also served on the faculty at the Harvard University New Presidents Seminar for ten years.
In addition to his work as president of BSU, Dr. Mohler-Faria served concurrently for 18 months, from January, 2007 to June, 2008 as Governor Deval Patrick’s special advisor for education. He was instrumental in developing and establishing the Executive Office of Education, and served for three years as a member of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
President Mohler-Faria retired from his position in June of 2015. Following retirement Dr. Mohler-Faria served as the President-in-Residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2015-16. He currently serves on numerous public and private boards. He has served as a consultant on numerous issues related to education, leadership, and diversity, in Massachusetts, throughout the country, and internationally.
Dan Persechini
Treasurer
Dan Persechini, Treasurer
A vast business background with 35 years in corporate finance at large financial institutions. Dan started his own successful coaching & consulting business and has strong ties to the Falmouth business and social community. A member of the Falmouth Chamber of Commerce, a member of BNI (a local business networking group), a member of Falmouth Newcomers, a member of Cape Cod Curling, and also a member of Falmouth Country Club.
Current owner of Dan Persechini Coaching and Consulting a business that works with individuals and small businesses around financial wellness and financial literacy providing personal and business coaching.
• 13 years in Banking in various senior finance positions, auditor, controller, and Senior VP of financial reporting.
• 21 years at Fidelity Investments in various senior finance positions, planning, strategy, employee engagement, variable compensation modeling, education, project and meeting facilitation, and financial reporting, cost accounting, and regulatory reporting
• Taught a personal finance course that he developed at Stonehill College for 5 semesters, also taught corporate finance for 3 semesters.
• Became a certified professional coach and started his own business after retiring from Fidelity in 2017. He works with individuals, couples, and small businesses in helping them to achieve their financial vision.
BA from Stonehill College, MBA from Suffolk University, Certified Professional Coach from IPEC. Skills include strategic planning, financial reporting, auditing, cost accounting, learning and development, employee engagement and variable compensation planning.
Served on the board of Bishop Feehan High School for 5 years, 2 on the finance committee, 2 as board chair, and 1 as past chair serving on the executive committee.
Served as Vice President for BNI networking group for most recent term.
Christina Hepner Brodie
Board Clerk
Christina Hepner Brodie, Board Member
Principal, Christina Brodie + Associates
Past President, Newcomers Club of Falmouth
Co-President, Encore of Falmouth Newcomers
Christina Brodie is founder and principal of Christina Brodie + Associates, a Boston area consulting firm that specializes in delivering an accurate understanding of customer needs and turning that insight into action.
With over thirty years of experience facilitating the direct engagement of the right people within client organizations with the right sampling of their customers, Christina has consistently succeeded in helping companies and non-profits make optimal decisions and move forward to implementation. Her work throughout Asia-Pacific, EMEA, Latin America and North America includes developing customer-grounded strategies, new product platforms, service transformations and optimizing supply chain dynamics.
Christina spent fifteen years as a Principal with PRTM and its successor, PwC, where she was a Director. Prior to that, she headed CHB Consulting, working for several years in association with the Center for Quality of Management. While associated with CQM she evolved Voice of the Customer methodologies including Concept Engineering©, the FOCUS Method, and the Language Processing© method. In 1996 she received CQM’s Ray Stata Outstanding Contributor Award.
Christina is the author and co-author of multiple publications, including the widely acclaimed book, Voices into Choices: Acting on the Voice of the Customer. During the height of her career, she was a sought-after speaker and was frequently invited to deliver keynotes, presentations and workshops at professional conferences and events, both domestically and abroad.
Christina earned an MA from Ohio State University and a BA from Capital University where she received the 2005 Outstanding Achievement Alumni Award. She is a Past President and Board Chair of the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and a certified New Product Development Professional (NPDP).
Christina may be contacted at cbrodie@christinabrodie.com.
Merrill Blum
Board Member
Merrill Blum, Board Member
Merrill was the Former Executive Director Veterans Outreach Center Cape and Islands and is currently retired. In his free time, he volunteers for BTEO and serves on the Board of Directors.
Prior to his retirement, Merrill worked with homeless veterans for 15 years and served on numerous committees including Governor Patricks’ Advisory Board on Veteran Services, Congressman Keatings’ Advisory Board on Veteran Services, and the VA Advisory Board on Homeless Veterans.
Merrill was a member of the Cape Cod Homeless Committee and was the Chair Barnstable/Mashpee Disability Commissions.
Merrill attended Bryant University, where he received his BS/BA.
Lynn O’Neill
Board Member
Lynn O’Neill, Board Chair
Broker-Associate at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Robert Paul Properties. A second-generation realtor with 20+ years of experience, Lynn grew up in Falmouth, attended Falmouth schools, and was a lifeguard at Falmouth beaches. Lynn started her real estate career in Maine after a successful career as a human resource executive.
Kathleen Smith
Board Member
Kathleen Alward Smith, Board Member
Kathleen Smith is a lifelong educator and school administrator who served five communities as Superintendent and Interim Superintendent of Schools including Brockton, Salem, Weymouth, Dover-Sherborn and Newton Public Schools. In these roles she has been instrumental in developing strong leadership teams, building staff morale and working with school boards to develop strategic plans to support educational excellence.
Dr. Smith was named the first female Superintendent of Schools in Brockton in 2013, a district she served for over 42 years. She began her career as a special education teacher and served as a school counselor and administrator in numerous positions throughout her career in education.
She has a reputation as a strong leader and relentless advocate for students as she collaborated with elected state leaders on Beacon Hill to pass the Student Opportunity Act of 2019. This legislation supports students throughout the Commonwealth to receive fair and equitable funding.
Kathleen has earned distinction as a sought after speaker both locally and nationally on issues of social and emotional learning and supporting educational excellence for under-served students and narrowing the achievement gap at every level of education.
Dr. Smith was a VIP Delegate and Presenter with the RTM Business Group. A Superintendent Emeritus and former member of the Education, Research and Development Institute (ERDI) and a former board member of the Renaissance Learning Advisory Board. She was also co-chair of the Massachusetts Urban Superintendents Network.
She has served on the boards of directors of several worthy organizations including the DJ Dream Fund, the Metro South Chamber of Commerce, the Children’s Museum in Easton and the Brockton Area Workforce Investment Board.
She has received numerous awards and recognition for her work in education including the Dr. Marilyn Barry Graduate Alumni Award from Bridgewater State University, a leadership award from the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, the Grow Hope Foundation Award for serving the Brockton community and the Athena Award for supporting women in the workforce.
She is presently consulting with the Teaching Learning Alliance (TLA) organization in developing strategic plans and coaching administrators in schools throughout the area.
Dr. Smith holds a bachelor degree in special education and elementary education from Westfield State University, a master’s degree in guidance counseling from Bridgewater State University and a juris doctorate from New England School of Law.
Kathleen has been married to Gerald Smith, a former school administrator, for over 40 years and have two grown daughters. They reside on Cape Cod in Falmouth, MA where they enjoy traveling, biking, golfing and enjoying time with family and friends.
roker-Associate at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Robert Paul Properties. A second-generation realtor with 20+ years of experience, Lynn grew up in Falmouth, attended Falmouth schools, and was a lifeguard at Falmouth beaches. Lynn started her real estate career in Maine after a successful career as a human resource executive.
Rev. Christina Williams
Past Board Chair
Rev. Christina Williams, Vice Chair
Pastor, North Falmouth Congregational Church. Christina was formerly a street chaplain with Chaplains on the Way in Waltham, Mass., which offers the ministry of companioning to those experiencing poverty and homelessness.
Our Staff
Gina Torielli
Executive Director
Gina Torielli, Executive Director
Gina Torielli was appointed in 2020 by her peers on the Board of Directors to be Belonging to Each Other’s first administrator and then Executive Director. As such, she is the key management leader of BTEO, responsible for overseeing the administration, programs and strategic direction of BTEO.
Prior to joining BTEO’s board of directors in late 2017, Gina served on more than 18 nonprofit boards, including charitable, professional, political, and civic organizations (including city and gubernatorially appointed positions). She served as an officer many times, in all roles. She especially treasures her Board and volunteer work over 40 years with organizations in service to vulnerable populations, specifically battered women, abused children, low-income taxpayers and people experiencing homelessness. She was named volunteer of the year by the Washtenaw County United Way.
A resident of Falmouth, Gina serves as an elected representative town meeting member and an appointed member of Falmouth’s Affordable Housing Committee.
Professionally, Gina had a 30-year career in the law, most recently at Dykema, a leading national law national law firm with offices across the country, in the firm’s taxation and public finance groups. Her practice focused on advising nonprofit organizations and governmental entities on issues relating to tax exemption, tax-exempt financing, and state and federal tax issues. Gina’s capstone career projects include: serving as a consultant to the mediators in the court-ordered mediation of the City of Detroit’s bankruptcy negotiation; and advising on the creation of the Glacier Hills Legacy Fund – Golden Opportunities, a multimillion-dollar community foundation fund supporting vulnerable older adults in Washtenaw County that was the result of the acquisition of a stand-alone retirement community by a regional health care organization.
Gina’s executive experience includes running her family’s business, and becoming the first woman to serve as president of a major Michigan law firm when she became President and CEO of Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC, a regional business law firm with more than 75 attorneys. After Howard and Howard, she served more than 10 years as a tenured professor and Director of the Graduate Tax program at Thomas M. Cooley Law School, where she taught courses about tax practice and procedure, standards and ethics of tax practice, and tax-exempt organizations. Teaching a diverse group of students who, like Gina, were the first in their family to go to college, was especially fulfilling.
Gina was designated one of the Top 10 Business Women of the Year by the Detroit Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, and was also named one of Corp! Magazine’s 95 most powerful women in Michigan.
Gina received a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and her B.S., with high honors, from Michigan State University.
Carol Greeley, LMHC
Program and Clinical Director
Carol Greeley, LMHC, Program Clinical Director
Carol came to BTEO in the Fall of 2022 from her private clinical practice in Falmouth, MA. She has a MA in Counseling Psychology and has been a Mental Health clinician for more than 20 years in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Prior to becoming a therapist, Carol worked in the field of housing and economic development at regional community action agencies developing housing and employment programs for adults living in shelters.
What Carol likes most about her work with BTEO is that she is able to bring both parts of her previous work experience together to support the guests as they work towards developing greater community connections and housing stability.
Jay O’Connell
Volunteer Coordinator
Jay O’Connell, Volunteer Coordinator
Jay and his wife have owned property in Falmouth since 2005 and been full time residents since 2012. They have two grown sons that, luckily, living close to Falmouth.
Jay’s professional career spanned 40+years in the computer hardware and software business. His job took him around the globe and he was able to experience many varied cultures.
He is passionate about the causes to end homelessness and feels honored to be part of the Belonging to Each Other team. Together we can make a difference.
Maria Baillargeon
Administration
Maria Baillargeon, Administration
Maria brings to her administrative duties at BTEO years of experience running a family business along with a can-do spirit and a commitment to serve those in need.
After raising her family in the suburbs of Boston, she and her husband have made their summer “happy place” a full time home.
Brittnay Wiley
Housing Case Manager
Brittnay Maley, Housing Case Manager
Brittnay came to BTEO as a Case Manager in 2022 after graduating from Cape Cod Community College with an Associate’s Degree in Human Services. She is a Certified Drug and Alcohol Assistant Counselor and is currently working on becoming a Certified Recovery Coach. A lifetime learner, she would like to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and eventually a Ph.D. in the social sciences. Brittnay has worked extensively and directly with people with mental illness and has lived experience with trauma, addiction, and homelessness, and is currently in recovery. Brittnay, a Webelo’s 2 Den Leader for the Cub Scouts, is a mother of 4 young children with whom she shares her passions. Those include arts and crafts, science, collecting minerals, reading books, and most recently, learning how to garden. Brittnay enjoys helping people, and seeing them evolve to reach their full potential. Learning and growing from the people she helps is what Brittnay loves most about her work at BTEO. By focusing on their overall wellness, she strives to enable people to overcome the stigmas of substance abuse, mental illness and other societal issues that contribute to homelessness.
Casey Costa
Intern
Casey Costa, Intern
Casey is a student at Bridgewater State University and works as an intern at BTEO. She is pursuing her MSW (Masters in Social Work) at Bridgewater State. Casey was born and lives in Falmouth, and is passionate about being involved with the community. She has volunteered serving meals at the Place at the Table program held at St. Barnabas Church. She feels that stable housing is essential to wellness and believes everyone deserves a safe place to live, and looks forward to assisting BTEO achieve its goal of ending homelessness in Falmouth.
Advisory Board
- Troy Clarkson, CFO, the City of Brockton
- Rev. Nell Fields, Minister, Waquoit Congregational Church
- Michael Kasparian, Falmouth Chamber of Commerce, President & CEO
- Jeffrey Lourie, Chief, Falmouth Police Department
- Nancy Robbins Taylor, Chair Falmouth Select Board
- David Vieira, Massachusetts State Representative and Falmouth Town Meeting Moderator
- Allan Wilson, President, and CEO, Wilson Consulting