Board of directors

Our President Rich Giacoppo is the loving father of Ricky, Christopher & Nicholas Giacoppo and adoring husband of Bernadette Giacoppo. Together, they established Ricky, Inc. in March 2020 in memory of their beautiful son Ricky whom they lost in May 2019. With the help of family and friends, they have been able to provide help to those suffering from homelessness, substance use disorder and mental health issues, including many Veterans. 

Rich is a Retired Detective from the Norwood Police Department and a police officer for 30 years. He is a certified Advanced Open Water Scuba Diver with the Padi Diving Society and enjoyed watching his son's Ricky and Chris become certified divers and accompany him on many memorable dives in Massachusetts, the Florida Keys and Aruba. 

His experiences and contacts have proven very helpful to the success of our mission and he is very proud of the great work done by our Board Of Directors and especially the Maine Street Outreach Coordinators Christopher, Nicholas & Virginia Giacoppo. Rich helped design the Ricky, Inc. logo with a Portland tattoo artist who put the finishing touches on his draft. Rich and Bernadette created the Ricky, Inc. company acronym/motto using the letters R I C K Y; Respecting Individuals with Care & Kindness You matter. 

Rich takes great pride in the charitable work we do and is a determined and tireless worker as he wants to keep his sons Ricky and Nicholas' names and memory at the forefront of everything we do.

His wife, Bernadette Giacoppo is on the Board Of Directors and is the absolute love of his life. “Being together with her and helping people in need is now his life’s mission”.

Our Vice President Bernadette Giacoppo is the loving mother of Ricky Giacoppo. The idea of creating a nonprofit in her beloved son Ricky’s name was a collaborative effort by friends and family. It started as a grassroots mission to help those facing homelessness, substance use disorder, and mental health issues. Bernadette describes her son Ricky as a loyal son, brother, and friend to all those he loved. Ricky truly found joy in those he loved happiness. 

Bernadette describes the most important part of her journey with Ricky Inc. “is the privilege of talking to the people we have the honor of meeting. Whether it is a staff member, meeting a person when doing street outreach that is homeless, or talking to the men and women while visiting a program, detox, or recovery home. We share our story and we are honored when they share their story with us.” She channels her love for Ricky through her work with Ricky Inc. 

Bernadette is a licensed social worker and has over 20 years’ experience working in human services. She is the loving mother to Ricky her oldest who lives in her heart, her middle son Christopher, and Nicholas her youngest. They all give her the strength, love and determination to put one foot in front of the other which at times can seem impossible. 

Nicholas has recently married Virginia Giacoppo. Christopher, Nicholas and Virginia are street outreach coordinators with Ricky Inc. and are compassionate and committed in their role. 

Her husband Richard Giacoppo who is the President of Ricky Inc. is truly her hero in every sense of the word. “Always in the name of her beloved boy Ricky”.

  Scott Giacoppo is the loving uncle of Ricky Giacoppo and had many occasions to work with Ricky on his passion for animals. While working for the MSPCA in Boston, Scott helped Ricky get a volunteer position at the shelter, one which he absolutely loved doing because he was around and helping animals all day at work.

Scott has been involved in nonprofits for over 30 years almost half of which has been in management and leadership positions. He has been responsible for program implementation on various levels and has played a role in getting critical legislation passed to help make communities better for both people and animals. 

He has received numerous awards and commendations from law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies and currently works for one of the largest national animal welfare agencies in the country working to implement community based models for animal care and protection agencies across the country.

Scott’s nonprofit expertise and talents will be put to great use in helping Ricky, Inc. to grow and reach more persons in need. Scott was the first to recommend the Amazon Wish List as a way of getting assistance for our mission even before we were incorporated. Because we received so much great advice from him during our formative years, it was only natural that he became a member of the Board of Directors in August 2022 and now is the Director of Development for our organization. 

Dan Hovey is our Treasurer and Information Technology Consultant for Ricky, Inc. He has been invaluable to us in many ways and brings a wealth of technology experience to our organization. He has been responsible for creating, designing and maintaining our website and coordinating the social media platforms for our auctions. His work on Qgiv for the Annual Online Auction's  have enabled us to have 3 straight successful fundraising events and he has also created social media sites for our Instagram.

He is an experienced Scuba diver and has been on many dives in exotic locations around the world, including a shark dive in the Bahamas.

 Lisa Fitzgibbon, Secretary of Ricky, Inc. is a mother of 3 adult children and 4 granddaughters. Ricky Inc.'s mission is very dear to her heart as substance use disorder has affected her family directly. 

As a healthcare professional she is dedicated to helping others in time of need.  Over the years, she has helped families navigate through the often difficult system to get their loved ones the help they deserve. Lisa joined the Ricky, Inc. family as a close friend of Ricky's family. 

She knew Ricky from a small child into his adulthood. She knows how proud Ricky would be of this mission, by helping provide the resources and backpacks full of personal items to those that are deserving. 

He'd be proud to know that this makes all that are helped by Ricky Inc., feel loved and know that "They Matter". 

Catherine is a mother of three and has been a special education teacher at the elementary school level going on 24 years, helping children to learn and thrive in the classroom. For 20 of these years, she has also worked in the Summer Success program to help children referred for continued learning in maintaining their skills and practicing what they learned during the normal school year. Catherine has also worked administratively for the Scandinavian Living Center-a community-centered senior living facility -going on 17 years, including helping to coordinate resident events and activities.

Catherine graduated from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Social Work. Shortly thereafter she began her career as a social worker, assisting individuals in meeting their goals and enhancing their overall well-being and quality of life.

Catherine believes in family and expressing compassion for others-especially for those in need. She knew Ricky since he was born and is lifelong friends with his loving family. For these reasons and more, Catherine chose to become involved with Ricky, Inc. and help those who are less fortunate and struggling with substance use disorder, mental illness and homelessness.

 Christopher Giacoppo is one of our three Maine Street Outreach Coordinators and is Ricky’s younger brother. He is the middle son of Rich & Bernadette and older brother to Nicholas. He distributes Ricky, Inc. backpacks in the Portland Maine area to treatment programs and to the homeless on the streets. 

He has a passion for sports, restoring sneakers and fishing. He has a creative flare in his paintings and is an extremely talented writer. He is a certified Open Water Scuba diver with the Padi Diving Society and has recorded numerous dives in Aruba and around the coast of Massachusetts. Chris is currently in his junior year at the University of Southern Maine and is a Communications major.  Chris has an Internship with the Maine Celtic's and feels that it's a dream come true to be working with a professional sports team. 

He is also passionate about his volunteer work with Ricky, Inc. and loves the feeling he gets when he meets someone in need and gives them a backpack full of toiletries and other items. "It' feels great to help those in need".

 Virginia & Nicholas Giacoppo are two of our three Maine Street Outreach Coordinators and Nick is Ricky’s brother. He is the youngest son of Rich & Bernadette and younger brother to Christopher. Together the husband-and-wife team coordinate the distribution of Ricky, Inc. backpacks in the Portland Maine area and maintain relationships with organizations such as Maine Recovery, Milestone Recovery and Maine Works. 

Both are very talented artists whose creative works are featured in our annual auctions. Nicholas is a Resident Services Coordinator for Weston Associates and Virginia is an Office Administrator for Leavitt, Parris & Fortune Company, both in Portland. 

The couple enjoys the great outdoor activities that Maine provides and considers their work on Ricky, Inc. to be of great importance to their community. Along with Christopher, they enjoy providing the backpacks to persons in need and find it a "very gratifying and rewarding experience".