AmeriCorps*VISTA Members

National AmeriCorps*VISTA Leaders

Joshua Ankerberg, AmeriCorps*VISTA leader and Craig Murphey Fellow

Joshua Ankerberg is carrying on Craig Murphey's legacy by serving as the National AmeriCorps*VISTA Co-Leader in the 3rd year of the Craig Murphey Fellowship Program. As a VISTA in 2009, he coordinated the Farm Fresh Program at NYCCAH, a program that continues to enable low-income households to participate in community supported agriculture. He also coordinated volunteers who did community outreach in neighborhoods where Greenmarket farmers markets accept SNAP (formerly known as food stamps).

Joshua graduated in 2007 from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI, with a B.A. in Economics and French. He interned with the Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council where he worked on food systems mapping, local economic development initiatives, and farmers market and community garden outreach. After spending a school year teaching English to French students in the suburbs of Paris, he started serving with AmeriCorps*VISTA for the opportunity to fight against hunger in our communities.

Tamara Mack

Tamara Mack is serving her second term of service as an AmeriCorps*VISTA Co-Leader with Josh. Tamara’s office and host organization are located in Dallas at the North Texas Food Bank. She will be working on lending resources and support to VISTA members in the West region as defined by the National Program map. During her last term as a community volunteer coordinator for Meals On Wheels Atlanta she realized just how serious the issue of food insecurity in America is and decided to dedicate another year, encouraging other members to maximize their impact.

After graduating in 2005 with a B.S. in Agriculture from Kansas State University she relocated to Atlanta, GA to help her grandfather with future planning for the family farm in Americus, GA. In 2009 she decided to move beyond her home vegetable garden and share her experience with community youth as a garden coordinator at Atlanta Good Shepherd Community Church. She has served on the technology committee of the Georgia Food Stamp Workgroup hosted by the Atlanta Community Food Bank and remains active with the Atlanta Urban Garden Program. With ties to other organizations like Georgia Organics, Atlanta Local Food Initiative and Project Open Hand Atlanta there is never a dull moment and she can often be found at a volunteer project on weeknights and weekends. Tamara truly believes that hunger alleviation can be transformed to hunger eradication one tummy at a time!

Arkansas

Patricia Dickinson
No Kid Hungry Campaign*VISTA
Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance
1400 W. Markham, Suite 304, Little Rock, AR 72201
Contact: pdickinson@arhungeralliance.org

Patricia will be serving her VISTA year in the office of Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. She will be working in a partnership with the Alliance, Share Our Strength, and the office of Governor Mike Beebe. The No Kid Hungry Campaign’s goal is to reduce childhood hunger to 10% by 2015. The plan is to start by increasing the number of eligible families that receive SNAP benefits. She will also be working on Summer Feeding Program and Breakfast in the Classroom.

Patricia has spent the last year and a half volunteering as a director of a food pantry in her home town of Lonoke, AR. It has been amazing to see all of the dedicated people working in this field. The need is so great, and it takes all hands on board. As a grandmother, she is very excited to have this opportunity.

Ebony Read
SNAP Outreach Coordinator
Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance
1400 W. Markham, Suite 304, Little Rock, AR 72201
Contact: eread@arhungeralliance.org

Ebony Read is serving her VISTA year at the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance with the No Kid Hungry Campaign in Little Rock, Arkansas. One of the goals of No Kid Hungry Campaign is to increase participation in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) formerly known as Food Stamps. Ebony will be assisting with the SNAP Outreach that will take place across the state. She will assist with scheduling training sessions, volunteer recruitment and retention, and follow-ups with the agencies concerning SNAP Outreach.

Ebony is from Jacksonville, Arkansas. In August of 2006, she attended the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas. In May of 2010, she graduated with her B.S. in Family and Consumer Sciences.

Alabama

Brandy Bajalia
SNAP Outreach*VISTA
Bay Area Food Bank
5248 Mobile South Street, Theodore, AL 36582
Contact: bbajalia@bayareafoodbank.org

Brandy Bajalia serves at the Bay Area Food Bank in Mobile, Alabama. She assists with community gardens, maintaining a healthy recipe archive, and connecting farmer’s markets with the EBT card through SNAP Outreach and networking.

Brandy is a recent graduate from the University of Montevallo in Alabama with a B.F.A. in Painting and Art History. She is very passionate about social justice and not only getting food to the hungry but also teaching them how to be sustainable by growing spices, fruits, and vegetables.

Peter Cowan
SNAP Outreach*VISTA
Bay Area Food Bank
5248 Mobile South Street, Theodore, AL 36582
Contact: pcowan@bayareafoodbank.org

Peter will be serving his VISTA year at the Bay Area Food Bank in Mobile, Alabama. For the past 30 years the Bay Area Food Bank has been providing food to hungry citizens in 24 counties along the central Gulf Coast. Throughout his year, he will be working on expanding the capacity of the Food Bank’s SNAP Outreach program through a variety of activities. In terms of expanding the SNAP program, he will be assisting in mobilizing an outreach volunteer base and training local agencies to perform related SNAP services. To help sustain the program beyond this VISTA year, he will be working on a financial support system including grants, donations, and fundraising activities. Finally, he will be assisting in making a Benefits Access plan that will include useful services that are available for community members in need.

Peter has lived along the Gulf Coast his entire life, spending the majority of my time in Mobile, Alabama. He has a B.A. in Public Administration from Auburn University. He is looking forward to learning about communications and community organizing within the nonprofit field.

Arizona

Leslie Fauver
WHEAT Americorps*VISTA
World Hunger Ecumenical Arizona Task Force
4000 North 7th Street, Suite 118, Phoenix, AZ 85014
Contact: leslie.fauver@hungerhurts.org

Leslie will be serving her VISTA year at WHEAT. WHEAT is an advocacy organization that does education on the causes of hunger and offers trainings to faith organizations on how to combat hunger and increase access to benefits for those who qualify. Leslie will be working on increasing access to nutritious and nourishing food by doing nutrition education and improving tools that can be used to encourage people to use USDA benefits at farmers markets.

Leslie grew up in Boulder, Colorado and has lived in Arizona since she started at Northern Arizona University. She graduated from NAU in 2010 with a B.A. in International Affairs. She is passionate about food justice and human rights and is excited to learn about the landscape of anti-hunger work in the Phoenix area.

Candace Swift
WHEAT Americorps*VISTA
World Hunger Ecumenical Arizona Task Force
4000 North 7th Street, Suite 118, Phoenix, AZ 85014
Contact: candace.swift@hungerhurts.org

Candace is serving her VISTA year in Phoenix AZ with WHEAT, ending Hunger through Education and Action. WHEAT is an organization with many opportunities throughout their community and the world with their Hand to Hand Fair Trade program.

Candace graduated High school in 2008 and did AmeriCorps VIP in 2009/2010 where she was recognized for having the highest number of recruited volunteers in the Orange County CA area. She started taking online classes for Psychology in January 2011, the same month she started her year of VISTA.

California

Heidi Kleiner
Cal Fresh (SNAP) Outreach*VISTA
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
4010 Nelson Avenue, Concord, CA 94520
Contact: hkleiner@foodbankccs.org

Heidi serves with the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano in the East San Francisco Bay Area. The food bank is a centralized warehouse that distributes food to community sites and partner agencies throughout Solano County and Contra Costa County. Specifically, she is working on Cal Fresh (aka SNAP/Food Stamps) outreach for farmers' markets and volunteer recruitment.

Heidi is originally from Blacksburg, Virginia where she earned her B.A. from Virginia Tech in Interdisciplinary Studies (with minors in Sociology, History, and International Studies). She has also worked on hunger-related issues as a VISTA Summer Associate with Beans & Rice, Inc. in Radford, VA.

Paige Rosenthal
Cal Fresh Outreach Coordinator*VISTA
Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
Goldsmith Center
6505 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048
Contact: prosenthal@jewishla.org

Paige Rosenthal is in her second year of service; this time at The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles where she will build a sustainable program to alleviate hunger in the city by increasing access to the Cal Fresh program. She is also encouraging national service and nurturing the ideal of civic duty in others by recruiting a local, dedicated volunteer corps that will reduce barriers to enrollment in federal nutrition programs.

Paige is a recent City Year Los Angeles alum and UCLA graduate. In her free time, she enjoys a myriad of teas, vibrant colors, and patriotic fervor. She is a strong supporter of America, educational equality, and basic human rights.

Ingrid Budrovich
Cal Fresh (SNAP) Outreach*VISTA
Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
1734 East 41st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90058
Contact: ibudrovich@lafoodbank.org

Ingrid is serving her VISTA year in her home city of Los Angeles, California. In a county of almost 11 million residents, where only half of Angelinos eligible for food stamps receive them, Los Angeles is a city of food insecurity. As part of the Food Stamp (Cal Fresh) Outreach Program within the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Ingrid is working with community based organizations, grocery stores, farmer’s markets, and food agencies to develop a food stamp outreach volunteer base for the goals of increasing awareness of and participation in Cal Fresh. Ingrid also plans on expanding the nutrition side of Cal Fresh through collaboration with community farmers’ markets and gardens.

Although born and raised in southern suburbs of Los Angeles, Ingrid spent her most recent five years at the University of California Berkeley, graduating with a bachelors degrees in History and Food Politics. She considers the Bay Area her second home, and Italy her home away from home, where she has spent multiple occasions studying, teaching, cooking, and taking in the importance of slow meals and good food.

Allegra Thomas
SNAP and Benefits Outreach *VISTA
SingleStop USA
369 Pine Street, Suite 525, San Francisco, CA 94104
Contact: Athomas@singlestopusa.org

Allegra is serving her VISTA year at Single Stop USA in San Francisco, CA. Single Stop USA is a nonprofit organization that aims to reduce poverty in the US by helping individuals and families access billions of dollars in life-changing public benefits and tax credits and providing essential counseling services. Single Stop USA builds a bridge between low-income households and the vast untapped government resources intended for them. As a VISTA, Allegra will be working to identify the barriers in accessing resources such as SNAP and developing a plan to increase SNAP participation in her community.

Allegra has a B.A. in Psychology from University of California, Santa Cruz. She hopes to bring her volunteer experience and passion to her year of service.

Colorado

Maryann McLendon
SNAP Outreach Coordinator*VISTA
Hunger Free Colorado
2222 S. Albion Street #360, Denver, CO 80222
Contact: MaryAnn@hungerfreecolorado.org

Maryann serves with Hunger Free Colorado (HFC), which works to identify and promote promising approaches to ending hunger. From providing families with the information they need to access federally funded food programs, to health and nutrition programs for children, HFC is working to help ensure that no Coloradan goes hungry. As a member of the Anti-Hunger and Opportunity Corps, Maryann encourages agencies to provide an additional service to those in need providing SNAP application assistance.

Maryann obtained an M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix. Having worked on Supply Chain in Aerospace, Maryann will use analysis, integration and implementation in order to develop a plan to meet the long-term objectives of the Anti-Hunger & Opportunity Corps. Maryann will bring forth her ability to perform in Six Sigma training sessions as well as her passion to be a part of reducing hunger.

Maureen Wolsborn
Share Our Strength Colorado
2727 Bryant Street, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80211
Contact: mwolsborn@strength.org

Maureen is serving at Share Our Strength in Denver, Colorado. She is working on grant writing for the Campaign to End Childhood Hunger in Colorado and volunteer recruitment and training for SNAP education at summer produce and health fairs and youth farmers markets in the Denver metro area.
Maureen was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She went to school at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA and double majored in Politics and Government focusing on International Relations and Comparative Sociology. While in school, she volunteered through Big Brothers Big Sisters at a local grade school in the area. During her senior year of college, she became involved with a local parks revitalization project spearheaded by a class of 5th graders. Through her involvement with this project, she became aware of hunger issues in the community as well as within the school system. Maureen is very excited to be working with such an amazing organization and is looking forward to her year of service. In her free time she enjoys running, skiing, triathlons, and cooking.

Washington, DC

Karli Hurlebaus
DC Central Kitchen Outreach*VISTA
Campus Kitchens Project
19 Eye Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
Contact: khurlebaus@dccentralkitchen.org

Karli serves at DC Central Kitchen in Washington, D.C. DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) is a community kitchen that uses thousands of pounds of recycled food per day to provide meals to over 100 agencies serving their communities. DCCK’s mission is to use food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities. As a part of this mission, Karli will be working with the street outreach team, First Helping, to increase SNAP enrollment in some of D.C.’s hungriest communities. Additionally, she’ll work to coordinate the Healthy Returns program, which provides healthy meals and nutrition education to at-risk youth and their families throughout the year.

Karli comes to D.C. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she graduated with a degree in Human Development in 2010. She hopes her passion for working with people will help her in all aspects of her work with DCCK. She’s excited to learn from her new city and to be a member of the first Anti-Hunger and Opportunity Empowerment Corps.

Crissa Nelson
Anti-Hunger*VISTA
DC Hunger Solutions
Food Research and Action Center
1875 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 540, Washington, DC 20009
Contact: cnelson@frac.org

Crissa is serving as the Anti-Hunger VISTA with DC Hunger Solutions, a local initiative of FRAC (Food Research and Action Center). Crissa is working to advance the goals of DC Hunger Solutions to reduce hunger and food insecurity in the nation’s capitol through better participation and implementation of federal nutrition programs. She is working to mobilize and maintain volunteers to do SNAP (food stamps) outreach throughout the city of DC, increase nutrition education, monitor and support child feeding and nutrition programs, and increase benefit usage at local farmers markets.

Crissa graduated from Azusa Pacific University with a degree in Journalism and Political Science. Originally from Seattle, she has traveled and worked throughout Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America using her skills in writing to raise awareness of the hardships and injustices many are forced to face. She is now excited to be working here in the U.S. to address the poverty and hunger many suffer from here in America.

Kate Ronan
Maryland Hunger Solutions
Food Research and Action Center
400 E. Pratt Street, #606, Baltimore, MD 21202
Contact: kronan@mdhungersolutions.org

Kate Ronan is excited to join the great team at Maryland Hunger Solutions, an initiative of the Food Research and Action Center, and NYCCAH's Anti-Hunger and Empowerment Corps. Maryland Hunger Solutions focuses on three main efforts: maximizing participation in federal nutrition programs, educating the public on hunger and the solutions at hand, and improving related public policies. Kate's main focus is connecting more eligible Marylanders with the assistance available through the Food Supplement Program (also known as food stamps and SNAP). She also provides support to farmers' markets accepting federal nutrition program benefits.

Kate grew up in Rushford, a small town in western New York. Her studies in geography have allowed her to catch eels and look at combined sewer overflows with kids and to grow tasty food in sustainable ways.

Florida

Desmond Granger
Single Stop Program Leader*VISTA
Miami-Dade College SingleStop
11380 NW 27 Avenue, Miami, Fl 33167
Contact: desmond.granger@mdc.edu

Desmond serves with Single Stop at Miami-Dade College. Single Stop MDC is the result of a partnership between Single Stop USA and Miami-Dade College. At the national level, Single Stop helps bridge the information gap between low-income families and public benefits, tax credits, and other essential services that remain untapped and inaccessible. Single Stop MDC is a part of their Community College Initiative, which accomplishes the aforementioned goal by helping low-income students surmount the financial barriers in their lives. Single Stop MDC provides four free services for Students and their immediate families: government benefits screening, tax preparation, financial counseling, and legal assistance. As a program leader, Desmond recruits and trains community volunteers to provide support for Single Stop's services and conduct outreach for this organization and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Desmond is a recent graduate of Truman State University with a degree in History pre-Education. He hopes to direct his passion for food justice, human rights, and economic self-sufficiency towards a career in the field of anti-hunger nonprofits.

Jarrid Smith
Single Stop Program Leader*VISTA
Miami Dade College SingleStop
11380 NW 27 Avenue, Miami, Fl 33167
Contact: jarrid.smith@mdc.edu

Jarrid is serving his VISTA year at Miami Dade College’s Single Stop program. Single Stop bridges the information gap separating low-income families from life-changing public benefits, tax credits and other essential services that remain untapped and inaccessible. These basic resources - food, health insurance, child care, and tax refunds - increase the likelihood that families are healthy and stable, with parents who work and children who attend school. Jarrid’s responsible for all outreach efforts to Miami Dade College North campus students, getting them the valuable information about the resources Single Stop has to offer them.

Jarrid has lived in Florida all his life, including graduating from Florida Atlantic University, and takes great pride in being able to serve fellow Floridians. By reaching out to people he considers his neighbors and community, Jarrid is beginning a journey into public service.

Illinois

Michelle Monger
Volunteer Coordinator*VISTA
Illinois Hunger Coalition
205 West Monroe Street, Suite 310, Chicago, Illinois 60606
Contact: michellem.ihc@gmail.com

Michelle is serving her VISTA year at the Illinois Hunger Coalition, focusing on volunteer coordination. In particular, Michelle is working to build relationships with organizations throughout Chicagoland in order to determine what the best practices are for recruiting, interviewing, managing, and sustaining volunteers that administer USDA nutrition assistance programs such as the Summer Food Service Program.

Michelle grew up in Wichita, Kansas where she received her B.A. in Secondary Education at Wichita State University. Michelle began her MA in Educational Psychology before choosing to join AmeriCorps. For the first time in her life, she has moved away from Kansas. She hears weekly jokes about not being in Kansas anymore, but still finds them hilarious every time.

Danielle Villarreal
Benefits Access Coordinator*VISTA
Illinois Hunger Coalition
205 West Monroe Street, Suite 310, Chicago, Illinois 60606
Contact: daniellev.ihc@gmail.com

Danielle serves as the Benefits Access Coordinator at the Illinois Hunger Coalition in Chicago, Illinois. Specifically, she is assessing the barriers that community members face when trying to access USDA programs, and with that information, she will be synthesizing the best practices that Chicagoland area organizations have been utilizing in order to overcome those impediments.

Danielle recently received her M.A. in Globalization and Development from the University of the Basque Country in northern Spain, where she studied local development with an emphasis on the well-being of the community, rather than in solely economic terms. Prior to that, she worked throughout several Latin American countries aiding in educative settings which aimed to combat impoverishment. She received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she double-majored in philosophy and political science and was first introduced to consensus-based, cooperative living, structured around issues of social justice.

Kentucky

Seth Gunning National Food Security Coordinator*VISTA
Presbyterian Hunger Program
100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202
Contact: seth.gunning@pcusa.org

Seth is serving his first VISTA term with the Presbyterian Hunger Program in Louisville, KY. Seth is working to increase access to healthy, local foods in low-income neighborhoods in Louisville and in at-risk communities nation-wide by building partnerships, providing training and resources, and working to build organizational capacity through leadership development, volunteer recruitment, and sustainable funding development.

Seth is 26 years old and was born in Richmond, Virginia. He grew up with two younger brothers in Omaha, Nebraska. After moving with his family to Roswell, GA, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Psychology from Valdosta State University. After spending four months working with Mayan youth on environmental and economic justice issues in southern Belize and Guatemala in 2004, Seth began working with communities around the Southeastern United States on energy, food, and racial justice issues. He is driven by relationships with affected community members that develop around creating a just and sustainable future. Seth is an experienced hiker, avid gardener, and bicyclist. He also enjoys running and wrestling with his two year old canine friend, Rylee.

Blain Snipstal
Community Food Security Coordinator*VISTA
Presbyterian Hunger Program
100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202
Contact: blain.snipstal@gmail.com

Serving with the Presbyterian Hunger Program in Louisville, Kentucky, Blain will be working with community groups, farms and individuals to increase access to food in low-income communities and communities in the urban food desert of West Louisville. He will be organizing, coordinating, facilitating, and most of all, being of service to groups and individuals in those communities.

With a B.A. from Baker University in a self-designed interdisciplinary major focusing on International Studies, Business Policy, and Economics, Blain has done nothing related to the degree nor does he plan to. During the past four years, he has worked on several farms and a nursery, and he has done organizing at the community and international level on food sovereignty and agricultural issues. On his free time, he enjoys getting lost, laughing at himself, jumping for joy, writing, reading, cooking, and sharing moments with people, plants, and seeds.

Louisiana

Joshua Cleveland
Nutrition Benefits Access*VISTA
Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana
700 Edwards Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70123
Contact: jcleveland@secondharvest.org

Josh is doing his VISTA year of service at Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a member of the public policy and advocacy team, he is building the organization’s capacity to carry out regionally and culturally appropriate SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) outreach campaigns. He is undertaking a field research project aimed at identifying the barriers to accessing SNAP benefits that people face in particular regions of Second Harvest’s service area, with the ultimate intent of increasing SNAP participation rates, reducing food insecurity in South Louisiana.

Josh is a graduate of Wheaton College, IL, with a degree in International Relations and is looking forward to this opportunity to be a part of anti-poverty efforts in New Orleans. He enjoys running, playing the piano, and good conversations.

Katie Williams
Share Our Strength Louisiana
1923 Milan Street, New Orleans, LA 70115
Contact: kwilliams@strength.org

Katie is serving her VISTA year with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign in New Orleans. Through their No Kid Hungry® Campaign—a national effort to end childhood hunger in America by 2015—Share Our Strength is working to connect families at risk of hunger with the programs that can help them. Share Our Strength provides funding to the most effective anti-hunger organizations and builds partnerships that bring together private funders, public officials and nonprofit organizations to end childhood hunger. In New Orleans, Katie is working on collaborations with government agencies and local nonprofits to increase participation in the National School Breakfast Program and the Summer Food Service Program. Katie will also be collaborating with Second Harvest Food Bank on SNAP outreach initiatives. She will expand the reach of these programs by coordinating local collaborations, facilitating the flow of information between organizations, developing outreach strategies, and writing grants to secure funding for the implementation of these nutrition programs.

Katie graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Spanish. Her interest is in sustainability and local food systems, particularly in the public health effects of food insecurity. She is excited to be working on childhood food security issues in New Orleans and has already fallen in love with the city and its people.

Massachusetts

Ian Jakus
SNAP Coordinator*VISTA
Food Bank of Western Massachusetts
97 North Hatfield Road, Hatfield, MA 01038
Contact: ianj@foodbankwma.org

Ian has worked administering legal aid for two years after receiving a B.A. in legal studies from UMASS Amherst. He has volunteered to help run an urban farmers market over the past few seasons. His interest in food issues and passion for social justice will be useful in helping to increase food security.

Lydia Mills
Food Bank of Western Massachusetts
97 North Hatfield Road, Hatfield, MA 01038
Contact: lydiam@foodbankwma.org

Lydia is serving her VISTA year at The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts as a part of the SNAP Outreach and Enrollment program. The Food Bank provides individuals in the four counties of Western Massachusetts with the food they need to survive and leads communities towards long-term solutions to the problems that result in hunger. As a SNAP Outreach Coordinator, Lydia will be working to increase food stamp enrollment among populations that underutilize the program, specifically seniors. She will be making new partnerships with sites and training volunteers to do application assistance, and she will also be giving info sessions to promote how SNAP can make healthy food affordable.

Lydia is from Annandale, Virginia and has a B.A. in history and public health from Hampshire College. She loves that when she helps people get food stamps; she is helping them increase their power to live healthy lives of dignity.

Maryland

Adele Holzman

The recipient of a B.A. from the State University of New York at Purchase, an ABA approved Paralegal Certificate from Long Island University, CW Post, and an M.S. from Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy; Adele has interned for the New York Public Interest Research Group, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Brian Alexander
Maryland No Kid Hungry Campaign
Share Our Strength
1730 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20036
Contact: balexander@strength.org

Brian is serving with Share Our Strength's Maryland No Kid Hungry Campaign. He will be working to increase Maryland’s participation rates in federal nutrition programs with the ultimate goal of ending childhood hunger in the state by 2015. Much of Brian’s work will focus on increasing participation in summer meals programs so kids who rely on free and reduced price school meals during the school year can also have access to nutritious meals during the summer months.

Brian graduated in May 2010 from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in political science. As a native Marylander, he is looking forward to increasing the reach of federal nutrition programs within his home state.

Maine

Abby Farnham
Preble Street
18 Portland Street, Portland, ME 04101
Contact: afarnham@preblestreet.org

Abby is serving her year as a VISTA with the Preble Street Maine Hunger Initiative (MHI) in Portland. As part of the Anti-Hunger and Opportunity Corps, she will be providing assistance to many food pantries in Cumberland County that will enable them to meet the rising level of food insecurity in their communities. She will primarily be helping pantry providers with volunteer management and recruitment, fund raising, federal nutrition programs outreach, and increasing access to fresh produce for food pantry recipients.

Abby holds a B.S. from the University of Vermont in Environmental Studies, with a double minor in Community and International Development and Spanish. She has a strong interest in sustainable food systems and community planning, and hopes her experience working at the emergency food system level will provide insight to both the grassroots and federal impacts on food accessibility.

Shoshona Smith
Preble Street
18 Portland Street, Portland, ME 04101
Contact: ssmith@preblestreet.org

Shoshona serves with the Preble Street Maine Hunger Initiative of Portland, ME. Her work with the Maine Hunger Initiative is primarily to provide technical support to those of the 49 food pantries of Cumberland County who desire assistance with the following: 1) volunteer management and recruiting, 2) fund raising and grant writing, 3) USDA food and nutrition program access for pantry clients, and 4) increasing fresh fruit and produce availability to pantry clients. Shoshona is thrilled to be doing this work. She believes that strengthening the emergency food system and encouraging a greater use of USDA nutrition benefits by those who utilizing food pantries are a strong way of addressing the extreme issue of hunger within the county and throughout Maine.

Shoshona has a B.A. in Human Ecology from the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, ME. She is passionate about the importance of access to high quality, nutritious food for all. She hopes to learn about hunger solutions in the greater context of community health and development, remembering that the problem of hunger is intertwined with many other societal issues.

New York

Meg Davidson
Agency Relations*VISTA
City Harvest
575 8th Avenue, Floor 4
New York, NY 10018
Contact: mdavidson@nyccah.org

Meg serves with City Harvest, the world's first--and New York City's largest--food rescue organization. As a member of the Agency Relations team, she works with the agency's network of over 450 emergency feeding programs throughout all five boroughs. Specifically, she serves as an agency liaison to Union Baptist Church Community Feeding Program, a soup kitchen and food pantry located in the chronically food-insecure Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. As part of City Harvest's Agency Capacity Expansion Program, she assists the leadership of Union Baptist in the areas of fundraising, strategic planning, succession planning, and board development to enhance their ability to serve their clientele.

Meg has experience working in the field of emergency food after a year of managing a non-traditional restaurant- style soup kitchen which served the homeless population of Los Angeles, CA. Driven by a passion for food justice, Meg relocated to NYC to take part in NYCCAH's work toward establishing a more equitable food system.

KC Hunt
Volunteer Management*VISTA
The New York City Coalition Against Hunger
50 Broad Street, Suite 1520, New York, NY 10004
Contact: kchunt@nyccah.org

KC serves as an AmeriCorps VISTA in the Volunteer Department. She contributes to the broadening of NYCCAH’s volunteer outreach efforts as well as with matching volunteers with appropriate agencies within the city. KC’s also involved in expanding NYCCAH services through social media outreach and capacity building.

A native New Yorker, KC holds a BA in Women’s Studies from Hunter College CUNY. She is a strong believer in the power of volunteerism and is looking forward to sharing her enthusiasm for public service with the community.

Meaghan Linick
Brooklyn Food Coalition*VISTA
33 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217
http://brooklynfoodcoalition.ning.com
Contact: mlinick@nyccah.org

Meaghan is serving her VISTA year at the Brooklyn Food Coalition, a grassroots partnership of groups and individuals striving to give effective voice to all those who live or work in Brooklyn and wish to achieve a just and sustainable system for tasty, healthy, and affordable food. Meaghan will be working to build the capacity of the Coalition by assisting their School Food Committee in spearheading a School Food Reform project (in partnership with the NYC Food and Fitness Partnership), developing a project book and toolkit for local food justice groups, coordinating volunteers, building a community database, and reaching out to the surrounding community.

Meaghan has a BA in Economics from Eugene Lang College the New School for Liberal Arts. She hopes to bring her experience and passion for community organizing to the Brooklyn Food Justice movement and looks forward to seeing what her and her fellow VISTAs can accomplish through this year of service.

Amin Montgomery
Hunger Free Community*VISTA
The New York City Coalition Against Hunger
50 Broad Street, Suite 1520, New York, NY 10004
Contact: amontgomery@nyccah.org

Amin is serving his VISTA year building on the successes of the Hunger Free Communities Project. Through collaboration with the city’s leading public, private and non-profit organizations, the project aims to create the New York City Food Policy Council which will provide coordination to comprehensive efforts (both ongoing and new) to eliminate hunger while strengthening regional food systems. Amin’s role in building capacity in this community involves private business and neighborhood agency outreach, locating new sources of funding/grant writing, and updating data on joint benchmark surveys on hunger and food access.

Having graduated with a BA in political science from the University of Washington, Amin has served in a social justice capacity in Seattle for a number of years. When time permits, Amin enjoys reading modernist literature, writing, playing basketball and going on nature hikes (one of his many characteristically Seattleite hobbies). He’s looking forward to bringing his volunteer experience to NYCCAH and advancing the causes of the Hunger Free Project!

Joshua Rivera
Woodycrest Outreach*VISTA
Woodycrest Breadbasket
89 West 166th Street, Bronx, NY 10452
Contact: jrivera@nyccah.org

Joshua Rivera is serving his vista year at the Woodycrest United Methodist Church Breadbasket located in the Highbridge section of the Bronx. The church provides help to those in need by offering various services which include Immigration workshops , clothing distribution, pantry on an emergency basis, referral to other distribution sites and a community meals program on Wednesdays.

Joshua is from the Bronx and has been a active volunteer in the community for over two years. As a vista he will build capacity through community outreach, volunteer coordination, technical assistance, and grant writing.

Rasna Sethi
Cathedral Community Cares*VISTA
1047 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10025
Contact: rsethi@nyccah.org

Rasna serves at Cathedral Community Cares (CCC), at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in the Morningside Heights/West Harlem area. Cathedral Community Cares runs a Sunday soup kitchen that serves a breakfast, lunch, and take away meal and a Clothing Closet distribution program every Tuesday and Thursday. Rasna will work to expand current programs and further beyond-emergency services provided at CCC through collaborations with other neighborhood-based organizations, manage new and current volunteers, and organize the West Harlem Action Network Against Poverty (WHANAP).

Rasna graduated from Rutgers University in 2009 with a degree in Communications and Economics. Having completed an AmeriCorps*State/National Year with the Benefits Access team at the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, Rasna wanted to gain more programmatic experience at an agency site to further learn about sustainable solutions in the food justice realm, particularly of how to provide assistance in empowering and fostering economic self-sufficiency.

Peter Shenk Koontz
Community Outreach*VISTA
Bronx & Manhattan Land Trusts
232 East 11th Street, New York, NY 10003
Contact: PShenk-Koontz@nyccah.org
Peter serves with the Bronx and Manhattan Land Trusts, nonprofit organizations that work with 32 community gardens throughout Manhattan and the Bronx. The Land Trusts were established in 1999 after the Trust for Public Land purchased the gardens, in order to save them from demolition. The Land Trusts work with gardeners to support and sustain community gardening. Peter will be assisting the Land Trusts in volunteer management, fundraising/grant writing, updating garden databases, and community outreach and partnership building.

Peter has a BA in History from Goshen College, a small liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana. After graduating from college, he spent a year in Seoul, South Korea teaching English. He then returned to Goshen for a year, where he worked part-time at an elementary school and part-time at a bakery. He is looking forward to working to meeting many interesting people and promoting locally grown food.

Stefana Soitos
Community Outreach*VISTA
Yorkville Common Pantry
8 East 109th Street, New York, NY 10029
Contact: ssoitas@nyccah.org

Stefana is spending her AmeriCorps*VISTA year with the Yorkville Common Pantry in East Harlem. In addition to being the city’s largest community based food pantry, which distributes packaged food to families weekly, the common pantry also provides hot meals, social services and case management, and holds nutrition education classes for local families and children. Stefana works on many community outreach initiatives at YCP, which includes visiting k-12 schools and classes across the city to give short talks about the pantry, food drives, community service, and hunger in the city. She is also the coordinator of the monthly food and toy drives and assists the development team with the writing of newsletters and reports.

Stefana holds a BA in Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies and Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is excited to gain experience in the development and communications fields while also learning about hunger and food justice issues in NYC.

Justin Royer
Food For All*VISTA
Food For All
1272 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209
Contact: royer.justin@yahoo.com

Justin is serving at Food For All in Buffalo, NY. Food For All is an anti-hunger program through the Network of Religious Communities (NRC) with the mission of eliminating hunger in Western New York State. Food For All works to end hunger through an on-site pantry, work with community gardens and a food stamp outreach throughout Erie County. Justin will improve efficiency in existing programs and build additional capacity through grant writing.

He is originally from New Jersey. He studied international relations and has a strong passion in working for social justice, domestically and abroad.

Rachael Kemmett
Nutrition Outreach Coordinator*VISTA
Foodlink
936 Exchange Street, Rochester, NY 14608
Contact: rkemmett@foodlinkny.org

Rachael serves as the Nutrition Outreach Coordinator for Foodlink, a food bank located in Rochester, NY. Foodlink rescues and redistributes over 11 million pounds of food annually to a network of 450 member agencies in a 10-county area in Central and Western New York. Foodlink’s vision is to build a hunger-free community and sustainable regional food system in which every individual has access to nutritious food and is empowered with the tangible skills to lead a healthy and productive life. As part of Foodlink’s vision and the Anti-Hunger and Opportunity Corps’ markets and gardens initiative, Rachael serves to increase participation in urban gardens and the number of SNAP accessible farmers markets in Rochester. Additionally, she works to design community gardening, agriculture, and nutrition education programs. Her responsibilities include managing volunteers, building community support, and writing grants.

Rachael is originally from the Cleveland, Ohio area. After Graduating in December of 2010 with a degree in Community Health Education from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, she joined AmeriCorps VISTA and moved for service. Upon completion of her service, she hopes to return to Cleveland to be apart of the efforts to rejuvenate the Cleveland area.

Sarah Snyder
Benefits Outreach Coordinator*VISTA
Foodlink
936 Exchange Street, Rochester, NY 14608
Contact: ssnyder@foodlinkny.org

Sarah Snyder is currently serving in Rochester, NY at Foodlink. She works as the Benefits Outreach Coordinator at Foodlink. Her main task is to raise SNAP participation rates within the nine outlying counties Foodlink serves.

She is from Fallston, MD and a 2010 graduate of University of Delaware with a degree in International Relations.

Emily Lehecka
Agency Relations*VISTA
Island Harvest
199 Second Street, Mineola, NY 11501
Contact: emily@islandharvest.org

Emily is serving at Island Harvest food bank on Long Island. She is working primarily with benefits outreach and SNAP outreach and awareness. As a VISTA, she is trying to create a more cohesive network of social service agencies across Long Island and to expand the referral system for these agencies. She is also working with CBO’s and religious organizations to increase participation of Long Islanders in SNAP. Her efforts include not only working with Island Harvest affiliated agencies but new agencies as well.

Emily graduated from Muhlenberg College in 2010 with a Bachelor’s in Philosophy and minors in Creative Writing and Asian studies. In college she was a member of the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega and enjoyed volunteering with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Best Buddies, and Civic Theatre.

Jean Talerico
Food Sourcing Coordinator*VISTA
Island Harvest
199 Second Street, Mineola, NY 11501
Contact jean@islandharvest.org

Jean serves with Island Harvest, the largest hunger relief organization on Long Island. As a member of the Programs and Operations Department, she works as the Food Sourcing Coordinator to assist in Island Harvest’s mission of ‘Reduce Food Waste and End Hunger on Long Island’. She is specifically responsible for coordinating volunteers to successfully perform food runs which entails picking up donated product and delivering those donations to our 600 member agencies located throughout Nassau and Suffolk County. She is also involved in the coordination of large events such as Food Show Events that are held throughout the year. As part of Island Harvest’s Produce Purchasing Program, she will assist in the solicitation of farmers throughout Long Island to provide us with fresh produce for distribution.

Jean has experience in the environmental field having served a year as an AmeriCorps State/National member in 2009, hosted by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection Watershed Ambassadors Program. Food justice and environmental solutions are passions that she shares with Island Harvest.

North Carolina

Katherine Moser
Nutrition Outreach Coordinator*VISTA
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle
1001 Blair Drive, Raleigh, NC 27603
Contact: nutrition@foodshuttle.org

Katherine is serving at Inter-Faith Food Shuttle as their Nutrition Outreach Coordinator VISTA in Raleigh, NC. She will be coordinating volunteers for various one-time nutrition and cooking demos, as well as improving tools to encourage people utilizing USDA benefits (such as SNAP) to purchase fresh items at farmers markets. Previously, she has worked with various education agencies to help increase education on gardening and nutrition, particularly with elementary-aged children. Her interest is in bringing people together to understand where our foods are coming from and how to make a healthy diet simple and delicious.

Originally from Raleigh, she is happy to be back working in the sunny south. Katherine recently graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in Environmental Education and Food Systems. While working as a VISTA, she hopes to gain more hands-on experience with sustainable and equal-access food systems through coordinating nutrition programs and learning about a range of dietary health concerns existing in communities today.

Lindsay Perry
Local Produce Coordinator*VISTA
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle
1001 Blair Drive, Raleigh, NC 27603
Contact: localfood@foodshuttle.org

Lindsay Perry lives in Durham, NC and joins the Interfaith Food Shuttle in Raleigh as Local Produce Coordinator. She coordinates two programs designed to provide ways for farmers and gardeners to donate fresh, local produce to people experiencing food insecurity. Plant a Row for the Hungry harnesses the abundance of local gardeners by collecting home grown produce at drop-off sites. Field Gleaning is a service provided to farmers in which Lindsay supervises a volunteer crew to glean, or harvest, crops left in the field.

Before VISTA, Lindsay spent two years working on small sustainable farms in the NC Triangle area, so she’s good with a lettuce knife. Besides working with the earth, she enjoys cooking, yoga, bicycling, and community radio.

Pennsylvania

John Lyons
Campaign for Working Families*VISTA
Campaign for Working Families
1207 Chestnut Street, 5th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Contact: jlyons@uac.org

John is serving as a VISTA with the Campaign for Working Families (CWF) in Philadelphia, PA. CWF focuses on empowering low-income and/or working class residents of the city through free processing of federal benefits applications, tax preparation, FAFSA workshops, and other services. His primary project is the implementation of a state-wide network of sites that are trained in using The Benefit Bank, a system where an applicant can fill out one form that provides them access to multiple benefits, saving time and having a deeper impact for the applicant. His responsibilities include securing long-term site partnerships throughout the state, collaborating with outstanding volunteer sources, and generating funding. As a VISTA, John is securing a solid foundation for the initiative by documenting his efforts and outcomes so that the initiative can carry forward after his year of service is completed.

John has a B.A. in Economics and Philosophy from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC, where he became increasingly aware of the urgency for community-focused efforts. He is excited to connect his economic studies to the real-world situations of benefits access, and is encouraged by the reports from his fellow Anti-Hunger and Empowerment Corps service members.

Ellen Skoczenski
Development*VISTA
Philabundance
3616 South Galloway Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Contact: eskoczenski@philabundance.org

Ellen serves with Philabundance, Philadelphia’s largest hunger relief organization. As a member of the Development team, Ellen works to secure funding for the far-reaching programs that have made Philabundance a success. More specifically, she is seeking the funds to build a second Community Food Center in the area; a unique Philabundance pilot project. This “choice model” food pantry allows participants to choose what they will take rather than receiving a pre-packaged bag or box. It encourages dignity among clients and provides a more effective way to distribute food while significantly reducing waste.

After working on organic farms and land conservation initiatives in the American southwest, Ellen became deeply interested in issues surrounding sustainable agriculture, food deserts, environmental justice and fighting inequality. Ellen graduated from the University of Hartford with a joint degree in Sociology and Environmental Studies. She hails from Portland, Maine, though she keeps pieces of her heart in the Colorado Rockies, southern Utah and the Pacific Northwest.

Texas

Paola Tena
Social Services Community Outreach Associate*VISTA
North Texas Food Bank
4500 S. Cockrell Hill Road, Dallas, TX 75236
Contact: paolat@ntfb.org

Paola is serving as a Social Services Community Outreach Associate with the North Texas Food Bank in Dallas, TX as part of NYCCAH’s Anti-Hunger and Opportunity Service Corps. Paola is focusing on recruiting high caliber volunteers in order to continue to increase the impact of the outreach effort already in place at the NTFB, which serves 13 different counties. Paola also helps support the NTFB’s outreach effort by attending events and visiting agencies as well as researching and building new and existing relationships within the community.

Paola graduated from New Mexico State University in 2008 with a degree in economics. She is looking forward to learning and gaining experience in the nonprofit sector in addition to building on the successes of the NTFB’s SNAP outreach project.

Mary Agnew
Child Nutrition Specialist*VISTA
Texas Hunger Initiative
One Bear Place #97120, Waco, TX 76798
Contact: Mary_Agnew@baylor.edu

Mary serves with The Texas Hunger Initiative (THI) in Waco, Texas. As a member of THI, she is working on expanding access to the Universal Breakfast in the Classroom program around Texas. This program makes it easier for children to get a healthy breakfast in order to maximize learning and minimize disciplinary visits. She is partnering with Dairy Max and the USDA to develop a Breakfast in the Classroom toolkit to present to superintendents around the state. This toolkit will explain the benefits of the program, dispel myths about the hardships of the program, and highlight benefits for children and schools that participate.

Mary graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a B.S. in Nutrition. She just recently moved to Waco, TX from Austin, TX for her VISTA assignment. She has a passion for community nutrition and hopes to get into a dietetic internship in 2012 to become a registered dietitian.

Jonathan Lewis
Summer Meals Specialist*VISTA
Texas Hunger Initiative
One Bear Place #97120, Waco, TX 76798
Contact: jonathan_lewis@baylor.edu

Jonathan Lewis is serving with the Texas Hunger Initiative at Baylor University. He will serve as the Summer Meals Specialist focusing on increasing participation in summer nutrition throughout the state. Jonathan will also be working in partnership with Baylor faculty to research the importance of childhood nutrition during the summer.

He received his B.B.A. in Economics and Public Administration from Baylor University in 2009. Before his current position, Jonathan co-founded a social enterprise, Kianga Project, which works with HIV+ support groups in Nairobi, Kenya to provide economic empowerment opportunities by selling handmade jewelry in the states.

Daniel Steis
Communications Director*VISTA
Texas Hunger Initiative
One Bear Place #97120, Waco, TX 76798
Contact: danny_steis@baylor.edu

Danny is serving his VISTA year at the Texas Hunger Initiative in Waco, Texas. He serves as communications director working to connect churches and other nonprofit organizations as well as working with print and social media.

Danny recently graduated from Truett Theological Seminary and has spent several years working in urban youth ministry.

Katherine Yocham
Grassroots Organizer*VISTA
Texas Hunger Initiative
One Bear Place #97120, Waco, TX 76798
Contact: katie_yocham@baylor.edu

Katie Yocham is spending her year of VISTA service at Texas Hunger Initiative in Waco, Texas. The Texas Hunger Initiative (THI) is a capacity-building collaborative project that seeks to develop and implement strategies to end hunger through education, community organizing, and community development. We seek to make the state food secure by ensuring that every individual living in Texas has access to three healthy meals a day, seven days a week by 2015. At THI, Katie will specifically be working as the Grassroots Organizer for specific communities in Texas. She will be developing a community-based hunger assessment to evaluate the current state of the union in each community. Ideally, this assessment will be replicated in numerous communities throughout Texas and even into other states.

Katie has a background in political science, poverty, and religion. She earned her B.A. in International Studies from Baylor University in 2010. During her studies at Baylor, Katie was very involved in connecting with the homeless population in Waco and continues to do so today through maintaining the friendships she has built. These relationships further affirmed her decision to join the fight against ending hunger.

Utah

Nathan Cram
Utahns Against Hunger
455 East 400 South, Suite 407
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
Contact: nathan@uah.org

Nathan Cram is serving his second term as an Americorps VISTA in Salt Lake City with Utahn's Against Hunger where he will be working on volunteer generation and fund development.

He was born in Southern Utah. After having spent several years traveling through Europe, the Middle East, and West Africa, he returned to Utah for a B.A. in Electronic Journalism. Nathan began his interest in volunteerism and food-security issues by packing food bags at Crossroads Urban Center, the oldest and largest emergency food provider in Salt Lake City. He later served on the board of AHAC, Utah's Anti-Hunger Action Committee, and as a VISTA at Utah's first Community Food Co-op. He realized that Crossroads provided an area where he could do his small part to help combat the injustice and inequalities of this world that he first truly recognized while traveling.

Laura Holtrop
Markets and Gardens SNAP Access*VISTA
Utahns Against Hunger
455 East 400 South, Suite 407
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
Contact: holtrop@uah.org

Laura is serving in Salt Lake City with Utahns Against Hunger, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create the public will to end hunger in Utah. She is working to increase food stamp usage at Farmer’s Markets as well as organizing a family nutrition education workshop with partnership agencies.

After growing up in seven different states, Laura has settled down in Salt Lake City long enough to earn her M.S. degree in Human Nutrition at the University of Utah and begin her career as a dietitian. She is drawn to community nutrition issues and excited to share her passion for increasing fresh food access for all.