Founder and Executive Director
Mike Martin
Mike is the founder and Executive Director of RAWtools. A former youth and young adult pastor at Beth-El Mennonite Church, Mike is licensed for specialized ministry for the work of RAWtools by Mountain States Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA. He has a BA in Biblical studies.
Mike learned to blacksmith in order to turn guns into garden tools and is passionate about connecting people to nonviolent skills like restorative justice and conflict mediation. He is trained for restorative justice facilitation, dialogue circles, and encourages everyone to explore how they can connect to similar efforts in their community. Mike believes turning swords into plowshares requires a comprehensive approach to gun violence, one that addresses the triggers in our streets, and the triggers in our hearts.
Deanna Hollas
Deanna Hollas is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She was the first person ordained to ministry in the area of Gun Violence Prevention. While serving with the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, she helped create the Guns to Gardens Action Circles. She is a founding member of the Everytown for Gun Safety Interfaith Advisory Council and serves on the board of RAWtools, Inc. Hollas holds a Diploma in The Art of Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theological Seminary and a Master of Divinity from Perkins School of Theology. Her current ministry is companioning church leaders as a spiritual director and coaching congregations with Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary’s Houses of Hope program.
Jeresneyka Rose
Jeresneyka (Jeh-Reh-Snay-Kah) Rose, known as Rizzo, is a self-taught visual artist and community advocate who originates from Brooklyn, New York. The first-generation American was raised in Southeast Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Harrison District Two graduate has always had a natural knack for art, but rarely explored her talents. Throughout her flourishing adulthood, she rediscovered her love for art and began painting in May 2014. Amongst the plethora of inspiration in the world, she primarily draws inspiration from her Panamanian heritage, sexuality, pop-culture, community, and environmental influences. Her mediums of choice are acrylic paint and digital art. She is a painter, illustrator, designer, consultant, art instructor, and overall creative. Her latest passion project is a program she created called Pencils in the Park which is powered in partnership with Generation Wild of the Pikes Peak Region at The Catamount Institute. Pencils in the Park is a series of free kid-friendly art lessons that integrates nature and science while encouraging people to explore the outdoors. She has been featured in and hosted a plethora of events and exhibitions throughout the United States. She thrives off of allowing her creativity to be incorporated within community. Her main objective as an artist is to obtain a position where she can grow as an artist, support the community, and promote multiculturalism, diversity, inclusion, equality, and respect.
Emily Bruno
Emily is an attorney for the Florida Senate and a candidate for ministry with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She began her career as a prosecutor in Miami-Dade, where she saw the toll gun violence takes on our communities every day. After moving from litigation into policy, she worked on Florida’s legislative response to the tragedy at Parkland and now continues to handle firearm policy matters for the state senate democratic caucus. She has been involved with Guns to Gardens since 2022 and is part of the Action Circle leadership team. This transformative, peacemaking work helped her discern her call to ministry, and she completed her M.Div. from Iliff School of Theology in Denver in 2025.
Photos and bios coming soon for these additional board members:
Natalie Drew
Spencer Goldstein
View RAWtools Locations
Philadelphia
Find out more about our Philly location and browse the unique products from our Philly shop. You can donate a gun and join the local and/or national disarming network as well.
Colorado Springs
Our flagship Colorado Springs location is the hub for our organization. You can browser their shop, donate a gun, and join the local and/or national disarming network as well.
South
Browse the unique products from our Asheville, North Carolina, shop and keep up with all they're doing. You can donate a gun and join the local and/or national disarming network as well.
Buffalo
We're excited to launch our shop for Buffalo, New York, soon. Keep an eye out for that!