Growing Hope Board of Directors

Ellen Bunting, President.
Ellen is a health system analyst at the University of Michigan Health Systems. She is formerly of Superior Township and still maintains gardens and century old Black Walnuts on one of the original historic farms platted in Michigan. She served on the Superior Land Conservancy Board, and also supports the Southeastern Michigan Land Conservancy efforts to preserve open space. She helped Estabrook Elementary school in Ypsilanti start a fledgling school garden in 2005, and now competes with the deer, rabbits and ground hogs to grow what she can at home in Dexter – mostly herbs and flowers. She is a member of Slow Food Huron Valley Convivium and enjoys the camaraderie of a long meal with friends and local foods.

Sharon Sheldon, Immediate Past President.
Ms. Sheldon is the Health Promotion/Disease Prevention Program Administrator for the Washtenaw County Health Department. She received her MPH from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Sharon is a member of the Food System Economic Partnership (FSEP) Leadership team. She is active in gardening in her home community of West Branch, Michigan (northeast Michigan). 

Patty Donahue, Vice President.
Ms. Donahue is an Advanced Master Gardener and is actively involved in community outreach. She directs the Grow and Learn Garden program at Starfish Family Services, a non-profit in Inkster that serves 300 at-risk youth and their families. She is the Executive Director of the Taylor Conservatory Foundation, a non-profit creating a botanical garden for residents of southeast Michigan. She is co-founder of the Goodwill Garden, a community garden that also focuses on growing organic produce for local food banks in partnership with the 23rd District Court’s non-violent offenders program. She served 10 years on the Taylor Garden Club board, and is former chair of the Wayne County Conservation District. 

David Palmer, Secretary.
Mr. Palmer is the Business Manager for LaVision, Inc, a high-tech software and systems integration company. He is proficient in Human Resources Management, Accounting, Project Management, and Strategic Planning. After-hours he operates ugconsulitng.net, which provides political consulting for independent and third party candidates, also development consulting for non-profits and small businesses. He serves on the Readers Advisory Panel for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Momentum Magazine. Mr. Palmer is native to Washtenaw County, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management (12/09) from Eastern Michigan University. He raised the funds needed to build the Midtown Community Garden in 2005, and is a member of Growing Hope’s Capital Campaign Committee. David is an avid cook, and managed cafés and restaurants before taking a desk job. 

Lynne Chaimowitz, Treasurer.
Having volunteered for Growing Hope as an AmeriCorps*VISTA, Lynne Chaimowitz got her hands dirty and continues to get more involved in Growing Hope after joining the Board of Directors in January 2008. With a B.A. from the Program in the Environmental from the University of Michigan, Lynne currently keeps busy while working for a national non-profit, the Animals and Society Institute, as well as being the Technical Assistant to the Director at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. To help people improve live and communities through gardening, Lynne strives to make Growing Hope as fiscally sound as possible! For that reason, Lynne is currently pursuing her Master's Degree in Accounting, Lynne hopes to become a Certified Public Accountant and specialize in nonprofit accounting after she completes her degree from Eastern Michigan University. With the rest of her free time, Lynne likes to feed her worms and preach the amazing possibilities of vermicomposting to non-believers. 

E. Daniel Ayres, Director.
Dan is a retired computer application systems professional a Ypsilanti resident since 1968. His wife Lynn has recently retired after 35 years teaching English and Drama in the Ypsilanti public schools. Since retirement, he has been planting trees and volunteering and organizing with groups like the Master Gardener program, the Michigan Stewardship Network, and the First Unitarian Congregation of Ann Arbor. Dan is a “perpetual student” with a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Antioch College, an MA in Sociology from Penn State, and all but a PhD dissertation in Sociology from U. of M. He has had numerous other educational experiences including building microcomputers and harpsichords from kits, restoring old houses, and is presently engaged with an ongoing self-directed study of the literature on Ecological Restoration. In support of his volunteering he recently completed a certificate program in Power Equipment Technology at Washtenaw Community College so he could be more productive using and maintaining power tools. He has long been an active but somewhat invisible volunteer with Growing Hope who recently stepped up to join the board. He has delivered numerous pickup loads of mulch and humus to Growing Hope gardens. His big rototiller is called the “Arvid Jensen Memorial Tiller” after his long time next door neighbor and friend who used it to maintain his backyard garden for 25 years. It is “on call” when new gardens are being established. 

Angela Barbash, Director.
Angela is a local, independent Financial Advisor and Ypsilanti resident since 2001. Her focus as an advisor has been the ongoing international monetary and political crisis that has gripped investors' portfolios for the past ten years. Previous to becoming an advisor, Angela worked on several grant projects with Eastern Michigan University in conjunction with Washtenaw Community College and the Small Business Administration. She ran the resource center at EMU's College of Business for the Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Centers, where many local entreprenuers came to work on their business plans, do research and seek advice. Angela and her husband own a home in the West Willow neighborhood, are involved with the New West Willow Neighborhood Association (NWWNA) as well as the community garden, which was procured with help from Growing Hope. As a result of what they've learned through their contact with Growing Hope, they have begun growing their own vegetables and hope to one day produce the majority of fresh food for their own family on a fully functioning off-grid homestead in the surrounding countryside. 
 

Mark Barbieri, Director.
 Mark is a chemical engineer working in research and development for Intertape Polymer Group, which manufactures pressure sensitive tapes, such as duct tapes, masking tapes and electrical tapes.  He has lived in in Metro Detroit all his life and earned dual undergraduate engineering degrees at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  Mark has returned to his alma mater to pursue a Masters in Business Administration at the Ross School of Business and plans to have emphases in Finance and Strategy (regarding both Corporate and Sustainability issues).  His experiences with his friends, family and wife have instilled a strong desire for community which was truly emphasized after experiencing the closeness of community living at Northwood housing in Ann Arbor.

Pauline Bigby, Director.
Pauline A. Bigby is an educator. She is an Ypsilanti resident who has been involved with local schools and community organizations for many years. She has served as a teacher or administrator for grades 1-graduate school, with experiences on the East Coast, in the South, and the Midwest. She retired from the Ann Arbor Public Schools in 2004, and currently serves as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Michigan, her alma mater. Her business, Splendor Educational Consulting, provides literacy training for youth, families, and educators. Also, she uses her business as a vehicle for providing services and programs to enhance academic achievement and cultural enrichment for youth and their families through community and organizational partnerships. In terms of being a gardener, she reports that she “likes to dig in the dirt.” 2006 was her first year as an organic gardener. 

Kristen J. Cuhran, Director.
Ms. Cuhran is currently Coordinator of Investigations at the Fair Housing Center of Southeastern Michigan, a non-profit that works to eliminate illegal housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and/or familial status. Ms. Cuhran has a Masters in Women’s Studies from Eastern Michigan University, and a Bachelors in sociology from Grand Valley State University. She is actively involved in the Ypsilanti community as Secretary of the Midtown Neighborhood Association and co-coordinator of Bike Ypsi (a bicycle group). Ms. Cuhran has a plot at the community garden in her neighborhood, as well as a garden at her house and some lovely chickens. She has been interested in food issues since a young age and has worked in numerous health food stores, food co-ops, and alternative healing establishments. Ms. Cuhran is a lover of good food-preferably local-and is constantly intrigued by food growth and production. In addition, her Master’s thesis was about food scarcity in the United States. 

Jessica Jane French, Director.
Ms. French currently runs a small business in the Ypsilanti area. Jessica was born in Ypsilanti and returned to the area after graduating from Kalamazoo College in 2006 with a degree in Political Science. While at Kalamazoo College, Jessica wrote her senior thesis on voter apathy within countercultures through Project: S.U.A.V.E. (Students United to Advocate Voting in Elections). Jessica was also the co-founder of N.O.I.S.E. (the National Organization Invested in Student Empowerment), a group dedicated to the educational and mobilization of 18-23yr old voting demographic. Before returning to Ypsilanti, Jessica, through an externship with Citizens for Global Solutions, founded the Kalamazoo Urban Environmental Coalition with the goal of passing and enacting the Urban Environmental Accords. Currently, Jessica is actively involved in community organizing, especially when relating to sustainability and hopes to receive her Master’s in Public Policy at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy in the near future. Jessica's loves local food, community involvement and Ypsilanti. 

Melvin E. Gaines, Director.
Originally from East Palo Alto, California, Melvin moved to Michigan in August 2008. He joined Growing Hope because he is passionate about increasing food access in low-income communities and wanted to get involved in local efforts. Melvin has a background in community and youth organizing, higher education administration, and city planning. He has worked on issues of sustainable development, environmental justice, and inclusive excellence in higher education. He received a B.S. in Political Science and Environmental Studies from Santa Clara University, and is currently working on a Master’s in Public Policy at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy.  

Amanda Maria Edmonds, Executive Director, Ex-officio, Non-voting.
With a background in environmental justice, environmental education, and social activism, Amanda Edmonds wears many hats as as community organizer, educator, mentor, and leader. She is the founder and executive director of Growing Hope. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, she has lived in Michigan for 13 years, and is an active member of the Ypsilanti community. Amanda travels extensively to visit other garden organizations and to swing dance, and has a part-time creative endeavor of making and selling her photographer, buttons, & jewelry called AMEPIX. She currently sits on the City of Ypsilanti Parks & Recreation Commission. She also served for six years on the board of directors of the American Community Gardening Association, was a founding leadership team member of Slow Food Huron Valley, and was formerly chair of the MSU-Extension Advisory Council in Washtenaw County.

Growing Hope Advisory Board
•    Norm Bishara, U-Michigan Business School
•    Mary Campbell, Everyday Wines & Everyday Cook
•    Michael Dorsey, Dartmouth University
•    Kelly Janiga, William Davidson Institute
•    Nisha Kapadia, Sacramento Hunger Commission
•    Lolita Nunn, Key Bank
•    Geno Salomone, Judge 3rd Judicial District Court
•    Brian Swett
•    Todd Festerling, Pfizer
•    Stacey Washington, Attorney
•    Sacoby Wilson, University of South Carolina
•    Lisa Wozniak, League of Conservation Voters Education Fund
•    Ashley Zwick, U-Michigan Nonprofit & Public Management Center

Board of Directors Alumni

• Lisa Bashert
• Ruth Blackburn
• Katie Bolz
• Laura Butcher
• M. Jahi Chappell
• Jessica Cook
• Kristin Darga
• Lisa Dorvinan
• Kelly Janiga
• Nisha Kapadia
• Karen Morrison
• Sandy Mullally
• Robbin Pott Gonzalez
• Mark Roby
• Nicole Rom
• Kif Scheuer
• Aubrey Thomason
• Jamie Weinstein
• Sacoby Wilson