Who We Are

“Who we are” may be a bit more complicated than you think! Food councils are community-based coalitions, created to help build a more just and sustainable food system. A local or regional council is made up of individuals and organizations from that community who represent multiple sectors and work together to build relationships, leverage resources, and learn from one another. They, ideally, also aim to include and uplift the voices of people with lived experience of our food system’s challenges, in addition to the organizations and institutions that serve us. By coming together across diverse perspectives, food councils are able to give their communities greater control over the food they consume and solve broader food system issues. *Adapted from Community Food Strategies

Staff

Photo by: Kelsey Kobik

Harriet Van Vleck is the Coordinator for the Merrymeeting Food Council. She returned to MidCoast Maine after teaching in Oregon, working at Arizona State University, and conducting her PhD and post-doctoral research at the University of Minnesota. Harriet’s research focused on the impacts of agricultural management on soil nutrient cycling and greenhouse gas emissions, and her post-doctoral work with the University of Minnesota and The Nature Conservancy focused on the potential economic, ecological, and social impacts of restoring a wide range of grass-based land uses in western Minnesota. She helped develop the Farmland Inventory with the Bowdoinham Community Development Initiative, has served on the Steering Committee of Maine Food Strategy (now part of the Maine Food Convergence Project), and is on the board of the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation. She lives in Bowdoinham with her family.

Jamie Pacheco* is the Food Access Coordinator for the Merrymeeting Food Council. She joined as staff of MFC in 2018 overseeing an initiative to understand barriers to food and healthcare access and work across the community to create and implement strategies to address them. She is also the Program Manager at Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, overseeing community and agricultural programs and events. Prior to this she worked in various agricultural roles as well as co-owned and managed a restaurant that integrated hands-on learning programs for children. She serves on the boards of Tedford Housing, Growing to Give, and Bath’s Development Corp and volunteers with the SNAP Program at the Bath Farmers’ Market. Jamie and her husband own Flight Deck Brewing and live in Bath with their family.

Kate Wallace is the Farm Skills Program Coordinator for the Merrymeeting Food Council. She has worked in many areas of the food system around the state - including waste recovery at Preble Street’s Food Programs in Portland, seed packing at Fedco Seeds in Clinton, managing the Maine Fiddle Camp Kitchen in Montville, and growing vegetables at Rasmussen Farm in Freeman. Most recently she served as the Programs Director at the Resilience Hub in Portland, an organization dedicated to land regeneration, education, and growing food. Kate is a co-founder of the Maine Ecological Design School where she facilitates courses on edible landscaping, mapping, and permaculture design. She tends a small piece of land with her family in Bowdoinham.

Lily Montgomery is the Communications Coordinator for the Merrymeeting Food Council. Her background is primarily in agriculture, with over 17 years experience working on farms throughout Maine and a degree in horticulture. Additionally, Lily has spent much of her career working for equitable food access across the state, serving previously as the coordinator for the Bowdoinham Food Pantry and helping to develop and manage the Bowdoinham Community Garden. Lily lives in Bowdoinham with her family where she also runs Annandale Flower Co, a flower farm and floral design business.

Steering Committee

Christine Burns Rudalevige is a Brunswick-based food writer and former editor of edible MAINE. Over the course of her 30-year journalism career, she’s covered sports, politics, business and technology. For the past 10 years after completing culinary school, she’s focused on food. Her words and recipes have appeared in Culture, Fine Cooking, Eating Well and Fine Cooking. Her award-winning cookbook, Green Plate Special, was published in 2017. When she’s not laboring over a cutting board or a keyboard, she’s learning from her two semi-adult children, a community of food-minded friends, hundreds of productive Maine farmers, thousands of innovative chefs near and far, and her 30,000 honeybees.

Nikkilee (Lee) Cataldo* has been involved with the Merrymeeting Food Council Steering Committee from its inception. Lee worked most recently at the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust. She has a M.A. in Community Planning and a B.A. in Anthropology and Environmental Sustainability. She has been a volunteer leader with MOFGA and the ME School Garden Network, and did an undergraduate internship learning about water quality and local fisheries with the Presumpscot River Watershed Coalition. She lives in Brunswick with her husband, two kids, and eleven chickens.

Jessie Chalmers is Program Manager in Community Health at Mid Coast Hospital where she manages a number of prevention grants. In this role, Jessie partners with schools and community organizations to create and promote equitable access to healthy eating and physical activity. Recently, Jessie also helped to coordinate a COVID 19 Community Vaccine Clinic. Jessie is a boomerang—having moved back to Brunswick where she grew up and now lives here with her husband and two daughters. She feels passionately that everyone deserves access to healthy and nourishing food.

Hannah Chatalbash* is the Deputy Director for Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, where her role is to oversee the program staff, engage in strategic planning and guide the long term vision of the programs, and pursue and sustain community partnerships. She has a B.A. in education and Spanish from Skidmore College, and received her LMSW from Fordham University. A born and raised Mainer, Hannah is dedicated to improving the quality of life for folks in this state. She lives in Brunswick with her husband, two kids, and mini schnauzer.

Lynne Holland* served as Chair of the Merrymeeting Food Council Steering Committee in 2018 and 2019. She was born and raised in suburban Chicago, and received her Associate Degree in Horticulture and Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a Marketing minor. She worked for 30 years in various phases of horticultural marketing including procurement and sales in the mass market floral area in the Midwest, South, and New England. Lynne is a Horticulture Professional and the Volunteer Coordinator for three counties of the UMaine Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Program. Lynne lives in Brunswick with her husband Ward who is part of the Merrymeeting Gleaners.

Becky Kolak* is the Executive Director of the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust. She got her start at KELT a decade ago as its first Education Coordinator energetically sharing her knowledge of and love for the wild and working lands and waters of the Kennebec Estuary. Early on, she facilitated children's programs at regional libraries exploring local food systems and farming. One especially memorable program about chickens included a visiting hen laying an egg indoors at the Bath public library! Since then, she has supported KELT's food security efforts through the LOCAL Garden in Bath and the Good Food for Bath collaboration. Being a Maine transplant with Illinois roots, Becky is honored to contribute to the Food Council's connective and transformative work in a state she now calls home.

Susan Olcott is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association. Susan helps MCFA to promote sustainable fisheries in Maine by building on existing partnerships and expanding the reach and capacity of the organization to positively impact coastal communities and the fishing heritage that makes them unique. With a background in marine science as well as experience as a freelance writer, she helps bring together the many aspects of MCFA's work to further its mission.

Ned Porter is retired after a diverse career as a reporter at the Bangor Daily News, a legislative aide for Congressman Baldacci handling food and farm policy, deputy commissioner for the Maine Department of Agriculture, as a policy director for Wholesome Wave, a non-profit built to improve access to locally grown food in underserved communities, and winding down with four years at L.L. Bean. He lives in Brunswick with his wife Karon Salch.

Tom Settlemire is a professor emeritus of the Biology and Chemistry Departments, Bowdoin College. He has BS and MS degrees from Ohio State University and a PhD in biochemistry from North Carolina State University. He has published over 30 scientific articles and a textbook in the areas of immunology and microbiology. He served as Vice Chair of the Governor’s Agricultural Advisory Council from 1979 to 1987 and is co-founder of the Downtown Farmers Market in Brunswick. Along with his family, Tom operated a sheep and vegetable farm in Brunswick from 1970 to 2005. He has been a long time member of the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust where he has served on several committees and twice as president. He has kept his roots in Brunswick by continuing to own and manage farm and tree growth land while living in Yarmouth.

Vicki Skydell* has been an active participant in the Merrymeeting Food Council’s work since its planning sessions in 2015. For six years, she was part of the Steering Committee at Slow Money Maine Network, helping to facilitate connections among farmers, food entrepreneurs, funders, and mentors. She has volunteered with the Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program for several years, as well as the Merrymeeting Gleaners. Vicki has been active in her hometown of Bath, where she supports, through the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust, the LOCAL Garden, an outdoor classroom which grows food for local hunger relief organizations, as well as Good Food for Bath, a hyperlocal effort to boost the access to good food in her community. Vicki is thrilled to work with the creative and dedicated people she has met through the above mentioned initiatives, working to put more Maine food on more Maine plates.

Christine Sloan* moved to Maine in 2007 after living and working in Rockland County, NY, where she helped establish and then manage a natural foods co-op for 25 years. During this time, the politics of food became a passion, and supporting small, local farms a mission for the Hungry Hollow Co-op. Christine served on the board of the Nature Institute, a Goethean research center in Harlemville, NY, that focused research and publications on the unintended consequences of genetically engineered foods. For ten years, Christine was the administrator at Maine Coast Waldorf School, and now, in retirement, is happy to be focusing her passion for building community through the love of family, food, farms and friends. Christine currently serves on the board of Growing to Give, a food bank farm in Brunswick.

Justin Strasburger serves as Executive Director of Full Plates Full Potential, a systems-change non-profit focused on ending child hunger in Maine through strengthening and expanding child nutrition programs. Justin is a firm believer in the power and possibility that comes from combining potential with the spark of opportunity, and has spent his career working to dismantle broken systems and structures, in order to ensure that opportunity exists for all, and not just the privileged. He graduated from Bowdoin College with a degree in Government, and received a M.S. in Nonprofit Management & Leadership from Northeastern University. Justin lives in Brunswick where he spends as much time as possible in the outdoors with his wife Rebekah, and their two young sons.

Steve Walker is the Executive Director of Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust. Steve has a BA in Environmental Studies from Brown and a BS in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Maine. Prior to joining BTLT, Steve held positions with the Town of Brunswick, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, and Maine Coast Heritage Trust. Throughout his professional pursuits, he has focused on connecting communities to the value of local ecosystem services and local biodiversity as a way to build appreciation for the natural world. In his spare time, Steve serves on the Brunswick Town Council and enjoys birding and exploring Casco Bay with his son Luke. Having been inspired by nature as an early teen, Steve relishes the opportunity to make the most out of the BTLT/CREA marriage through the development of new educational programming that reaches as many area youth and adults as possible.

David Whittlesey is the founder of the Bowdoinham Community Development Initiative (BCDI). David lived in Bowdoinham and taught at Mt. Ararat before leaving to work internationally until 2004 when he returned. He served on the Bowdoinham Select Board from 2009-2011 and on the Comprehensive Planning Committee from 2012-2014. David also volunteers at Bay Day and does water quality testing for Friends of Merrymeeting Bay. David and his family live in Brunswick.

*Indicates Lead Team membership.

Interested in joining the Steering Committee?

Contact us

A big thank you to past staff:

Kelly Davis and Lydia Coburn!

And a big thank you to past steering committee members:

Emily Coffin, Angela Twitchell, Ben Martens, Carrie Kinne, Dave Asmussen, Karen Parker, Kris Ganong, Lucretia Woodruff, Mary Turner, Monique Coombs, Maeve McGowan, and Tasha Gerken-Nelson!