About Jefferson County Farm to School Coalition

Jefferson County Farm to School Coalition is a community-based group working to improve the nutritional value of food served in Jefferson County Schools.

» To educate students, their families, school staff and community members of the importance of childhood nutrition.
» To advocate for fresh, whole and seasonal foods in place of highly processed ones.
» To support the school board and administrators, food service providers and farmers, and to overcome barriers to buying and serving local and regionally grown foods.
» To assist in making school gardening projects successful.

Board & Staff

• Brwyn Griffin, President: Brwyn Griffin is currently the Outreach/Education/Marketing Manager at Port Townsend Food Co-op and is thrilled to have a position that allows her to share her knowledge of natural foods through The Co-op Class teaching program. She is also happy to continue previous work as a youth program director through community partnerships with local schools. Brwyn graduated with a BA in Economics and pursued graduate work in Biology and Nutrition, receiving certification in Herbal Medicine from Douglas College in Vancouver, BC. Her passion is making healthy, organic foods affordable and available to all.

• Al Cairns, Secretary/Treasurer: Al was a licensed Merchant Marine officer and made mischief in ports from Alaska to Nova Scotia for almost two decades. He decided to grow up and took his station behind a desk with Jefferson County’s Department of Public Works, the agency that secured funding for the start of the school garden in Quilcene and at Grant St. in Port Townsend.  Al is a certified Permaculture designer, has studied appropriate technology throughout the U.S. and abroad and loves nothing more than planting trees and finding inspiration in young people learning in a garden.

• Cami Carr, Co-Vice President: Cami’s role with the JCF2S is to take meeting minutes and to assist with projects. After completing seasonal contracts over an eight year span in the Antarctic, she and her husband settled in Port Townsend. She has been a Registered Dental Hygienist on the peninsula since 2004 and has the opportunity to see first hand the effects of inadequate nutrition and education. Cami has a daughter attending Grant Street Elementary and is thankful that the JCF2S has been able to fund the garden there.

• Joy Wentzel, Co-Vice President

• Candice Cosler, Program Director: Candice is also the School Garden Coordinator in Quilcene School District. She owns the landscape design business, Discovery Gardens, and has been involved in the local food movement for over 30 yrs. with experience as an edible landscape designer, a market gardener, a nurserywoman, a commercial fisher woman, a farmers market manager and an award winning garden designer at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. She was a founding member of Oceana Food Coop in Newport, OR, the Port Townsend Farmers Market & Jefferson County Farm to School Coalition.

• Alex Moro, Grant Street Garden Coordinator: A 2008 graduate of the Evergreen State College, Alex went on to manage the college’s Organic Farm, exploring a spectrum of farming methods with students of the Practice of Sustainable Agriculture program. While in Olympia he also worked with the non profit organization, GRuB, focusing on youth empowerment by growing and preparing food with students. Before transplanting to Port Townsend in 2010, Alex farmed at Grant Gibbs Organics in Leavenworth, growing vegetables, tree fruit, grain, legumes, hay, laying hens, broilers, cattle, a milk cow, and buzzing up logs on the sawmill. Alex enjoys the convergence of his practical skills and his work with students in the Grant Street Elementary School Garden, where dreams are seeded and wonder can grow.

• Anna Webster-Stratton, Americorps: As a full time Americorps member, Anna’s roles at the JCF2SC include, Volunteer Coordinator, School Garden Educator, and Administrative Assistant. Anna also serves parttime for Tilth Producers of Washington, a non-profit farmer advocacy and education group. Since earning her B.A. from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine in 2009, Anna has worked in various venues of education, including the YMCAs of Greater Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula, the Seattle based nonprofit, Richard Hugo House, and The Incredible Years Inc., a company dedicated to fostering children’s social and emotional competency through evidenced-based curricula. In 2010/2011 she served the Port Angeles School District as a tutor, mentor, and advocate for students with special needs at Franklin Elementary.

Members

• Jim Betteley
• Shirley Broughton
• Sam Gibboney
• Cheryl Goerger
• Carol Green
• Rosanna Herman
• Michele Moriarty
• Kit Pennel
• Sally Pfaff
• Seth Rolland
• Pam Trail
• Jessica Winsheimer
• Amy Yaley