Kristan Pitts joined Casa Alma in August 2024 as a resident volunteer. She serves as our Director, coordinator of the resident community, and manager of Carlton House. Kristan (she/her) hails from Greenville, SC, and is a 2021 Master of Divinity graduate from Wake Forest School of Divinity. For Kristan, the essence of ministry is the pursuit of ‘collective liberation’ for all individuals, a testament to her deep-rooted belief in inclusivity and social justice. She champions the notion ‘we bring all of who we are to the spaces and places we frequent’, positioning herself as a dynamic facilitator of ideas and practices that bridge diverse communities and disciplines.
As a non-profit professional, Kristan has honed her skills in fostering community engagement, program development, and advocacy. Currently, she works as the Program Coordinator for Bread and Roses, a food and ecological justice ministry of Trinity Episcopal Church located in Charlottesville, VA. Further expanding her expertise, Kristan recently completed her Master of Urban and Environmental Planning with a Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Virginia. This additional academic pursuit underscores her commitment to sustainable development and the conservation of cultural heritage, reflecting her holistic approach to ministry and community engagement.
Kristan’s multifaceted career is driven by her unwavering dedication to creating spaces of belonging and resilience, demonstrating her visionary leadership in both religious and civic spheres.
Virginia Osterman and Joel Gonzalez joined Casa Alma as resident volunteers in September 2022. They coordinate the gardens and manage garden volunteers.
Virginia (she/ella) and Joel (he/el) are dedicated earth stewards who strive to cultivate self-sufficiency by means that honor both land & people. They work with others in the Casa Alma gardens, enriching the community with their creativity and sharing their gregarious daughter with those who stop by! In 2024 they welcomed a son, the first baby to be born at Casa Alma.
Virginia’s calling is rooted in being close to creation, sharing self-empowerment via horticulture sovereignty and holding space for both person and earth to heal. Virginia received her B.A. in Psychology, Religion and Art at the University of Redlands, CA (2013) and has served as an Agriculture extension agent for the U.S. Peace Corps in both Ethiopia (2015-2017) and Panama (2017-2018). She works part-time as a Migrant educator/support specialist for Albemarle County Public Schools in the Migrant Education and Families-in-Crisis support programs.
Joel comes from an agrarian village in rural Panama and learned from a very young age how to raise livestock and grow sustenance grains; truly a person-of-place. Joel studied Architecture at the University of Panama (cd Azuero) and has a gifted touch with both animals & plants. Currently, he works as a subcontractor with the intention of gaining skills needed in order to construct their future home one day. Joel finds joy in building community around playing soccer, spending time with family & fixing all things in need of repair.
Jason Obergfell joined Casa Alma as a resident volunteer in February 2024. He coordinates our faith-based gatherings and our finances. Jason came to Casa Alma after serving 18 years in Bolivia as a Catholic lay missioner. While in Bolivia, he used his civil engineering background to help on numerous water and basic sanitation projects. He also grew in his Catholic spirituality, while also noticing and appreciating a shared underlying wisdom with the indigenous spirituality. He collaborated on projects addressing human rights, empowerment of the marginalized, and topics like forgiveness.
While serving in Bolivia, Jason came to sense that he was able to be a bridge between peoples in a way that fosters greater understanding and compassion. He has come to Casa Alma with a hope to do the same here. Jason is new to the Catholic Worker movement, but he is motivated by the one of the last lines in Dorothy Day’s book, “The Long Loneliness,” which says, “We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.”
Casa Alma was founded by Laura and Steve Brown in 2009 with the support of the Church of the Incarnation community. We were inspired by the words of Dorothy Day, who said, “I wanted life and I wanted the abundant life. I wanted it for others too” (from The Long Loneliness). Resident volunteers over the years have included these wonderful, talented, dedicated folks: Hunter Link, Christine Hitchins, Sarah Frazer, Craig Green and Cleo Keller, Claire Hitchins and Julio Quispe, and Heidy Coleman. We are deeply grateful for their contributions to the Casa Alma community!
Interested in volunteering? We rely on non-resident volunteers to help cultivate the gardens, support our hospitality and affordable housing efforts, make repairs and help maintain the homes, and help with administrative tasks. Please contact us for more information and to share your time and skills. Thank you!