Meet G.A.L.A.

Emily Richey comes to G.A.L.A. from Duluth, Minnesota, and is serving as an Americorps VISTA for the 2012-2013 year. She has just emerged from the woods, after completing a through-hike of the Superior Hiking Trail followed by time in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness accompanied by her younger sister, Grace. Emily grew up in a household of environmental educators, gardeners, and outdoor adventurers, exploring the Northwoods through canoe trips, hiking trails, ski hills and digging in the dirt.

In May 2012, Emily graduated from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. There she studied Environmental Studies concentrated in Political Science, and created a flexible major titled Globalization and Development. Emily’s most influential experience while in college was the semester she spent in Australia studying sustainability and environmental action. While ‘Down Under’, Emily conducted research regarding the role of globalization and globalized systems within the Transition Town Movement and community resiliency building.

Emily was very involved at her university, founding and serving as president of the Hamline University Outdoor Recreation Club, and helping to create the first ever Health and Sustainability Week. Other great learning experiences were her participation in the International Model United Nations Conferences in 2010 and 2012, as well as interning with Global Classrooms, teaching middle and high schoolers Model United Nations curriculum. Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, Minnesota has been her home for the last five summers, serving as a camp counselor, trip leader, and most recently as the assistant director of the summer youth program. Emily is tremendously excited to be serving with G.A.L.A., to learn more about sustainability initiatives, community organizing, and to explore the outdoors of New England.

Partners

Jonathan Gregory, The Alden Project

Jonathan is a Social and Environmental Entrepreneur with a reputation in Central New Hampshire for advancing the progress of Triple Bottom Line economics in our local communities. Jonathan is involved in the development and management of numerous awareness projects, small businesses, non-profits, and committees that work to improve the current condition of our Food, Energy, Transportation, and Financial systems. Jonathan graduated from the UNH Whittemore School of Business and Economics in 2007 and has since taken Concord, NH as his adopted stomping grounds with a purchase of a home located downtown. His work with the downtown community and entire city has helped create a movement that seeks to identify and nurture common good solutions to our most important economic and cultural problems. For more info about Jonathan’s consulting practices go to www.aldenproject.com.  Jonathan is working closely with G.A.L.A.’s staff and board to develop the Sustain-A-Raiser program into a replicable model that eventually be shared with communities across the country through open-source technology.

Jessica moved to Ossipee after graduating from Unity College in Maine where she studied Environmental Education. Soon, Jess accepted a position at a local pre-school where she kick-started an organic gardening program, and spent two years digging in dirt, taking children on nature walks, sharing her passion for plants and insects and the like, knowing full well she was planting seeds for the future. She lives and works on her family owned trout hatchery, Sumner Brook Fish Farm on Rt. 16 in Ossipee, with her husband Jesse Prunier. Jessica’s passion for local healing herbs and herbal medicine led her to open Sumner Brook Herbals. She practices from her shop located at the fish farm, and delights in sharing local healing herbs with her community.  Jessica has been an avid G.A.L.A. volunteer for the last 3 years helping with everything from contra dances, to solar raisers, seed swaps, clothing swaps, Farm to Table Feast, First Night Fundraiser, and more.  Jess is excited to deepen her involvement with G.A.L.A. by accepting her board nomination and becoming involved with the strategic planning, governance, and financial stewardship of the organization.

Michael Haeger

For the last twenty years Michael and his wife Karen have enjoyed gardening, raising chickens and composting with worms in an effort to lead a more self- sufficient way of life. Michael believes that a life of creative thrift can be both an exciting challenge and a way for communities to better provide for themselves.

Although carpentry has been a consistent vocation, he has also worked for the Governor Wentworth school system as a classroom aid. He has worked with Boy Scouts and continues to share his interest in early American culture with upper elementary grades.  Michael and Karen, and their son Brendon, became most active with G.A.L.A. during the recent Earth Week celebration. They are also currently enrolled in the study circle titled, “Menu for the Future”, where they participate in a weekly dialog about sustainable food systems.

Karen Haeger, Treasurer

 Karen is a second generation Wolfeboro native with a deep interest in the future of our community. After graduating from Kingswood she worked at First New Hampshire Bank only to be invited into the formation of Community Bank and Trust Company. At Community, she managed the loan servicing and processing department for 17 years. After assisting in the merger with Ocean Bank, Karen left the banking world to pursue other interests and spend more time with her two children, Nicole and Brendan. The family expanded their gardens and began to raise chickens. Karen’s passion for working with animals was fulfilled through working with Assistance Canine Training Services (A.C.T.S.), raising and training service dogs. She continues this work by sitting on their Board of Directors. In the winter, you will find Karen skating at Pop Whalen with the She Wolves as a defensive back. With both their children in college now, Karen and her husband Michael, continue to expand their involvement in the community. Karen now manages the local farmer’s market and is one of the newest members of G.A.L.A.’s Board of Directors.  Karen is excited about bringing her knowledge and experience with accounting and managing money to G.A.L.A.’s board and development team.

Carol Holyoake, Secretary

   Carol has been active in the Wolfeboro area community for over 15 years working and volunteering with organizations such as the Wolfeboro Area  Chamber of Commerce, New Hampshire Division of Travel & Tourism, First Night Wolfeboro, and Great Waters Music Festival. Carol’s nomadic lifestyle since the age of one has enabled her to observe and experience first-hand the impacts that building sustainable community can have on individuals, families and groups of people who live, work and play together. Settling for extended periods of time in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America, Carol came to the realization that people and communities are, or can be, more connected by similarities than they are separated by differences. And, that the barriers blocking sustainable community often revolve around cross-cultural mis-perceptions; a lack of knowledge and information, and access to compassionate mentors whose wisdom can shift the differences and grow community through example rather than enforcement, and impart learning experiences that enable us to inhabit the Earth in joyful and responsible ways.

Carol’s curiosity to learn what makes individuals, communities and cultures tick, along with a desire to preserve what surrounds and nourishes her own life – the beauty of nature; people who care about passing-it-on; the history and sense of place in architecture; an abundance of artistic culture; year-round recreation; and access to fresh, local produce have given her a Jill-of-all trades (mistress of none!) resumé.  It includes publishing books on nature and fine art; escorting tour groups; developing cultural and environment tourism programs; organizing conferences on sustainable building practices; facilitating cross-cultural training, working in an art gallery and learning framing techniques; teaching yoga, and managing  non-profit organizations.

Scott Travis

  Scott is a physical therapist working at Speare Memorial Hospital in Plymouth. Taking the usual career path to physical therapy, Scott spent 4+ years in the Air Force learning avionics.  He was stationed in California (Travis Air Force Base…of course!) and England. After completing his tour with the Air Force, Scott worked as an electronics technician for a multi-national company and spent the next few years traveling around the world.  Discovering that he enjoyed working on complex systems he decided it was time to work on complex systems that can talk back and so, went to college in Nashville, TN for his physical therapy degree. Scott spent 10 years at Huggins Hospital working both outpatient at Back Bay Rehab and inpatient at the hospital. In the Spring of 2011, he accepted the position at Speare Memorial where he also works both inpatient and outpatient and it gave him a beautiful ride in the country twice a day on his motorcycle – as long as there’s no ice on the roads. When he’s not working as a physical therapist, Scott is a rider coach with Harley-Davidson teaching people how to ride a motorcycle. And yes, he even has his wife riding her own motorcycle! Scott is also a home brewer of beer and an overall tasty beer enthusiast! Scott enjoys cooking and enjoys using organic ingredients, local produce and meat, and herbs from his kitchen garden. When he’s not working, riding, brewing or cooking, he is usually building, refinishing, or designing something. Scott is pleased to be able to share his skills with GALA and believes in the mission of expanding sustainability and making it accessible to everyone and having fun doing it! Scott lives in Wolfeboro with his wife, Mariann. Their boys Ben and Dylan are in their early 20’s and off exploring life.

Jessamy Wood, President

 Jessamy has lived in NH all her life, spending her youth mucking stalls and working on a vegetable farm when she was not at school or playing the clarinet in the school band. While attending junior high she decided her dream was to restore old houses after being inspired by the sight of the dilapidated Wentworth Hotel in Newcastle, NH.

Jessamy has worked as a preservation carpenter at Strawbery Banke Museum, The National Park Service where she worked on many national treasures including making repairs to the torch on the Statue of Liberty, and restored timber frame barns and other old structures. After three trips to the ER in as many weeks she decided that perhaps a less risky form of employment might be a good long-term plan and returned to school to study her other passion, nutrition.

Since graduating from UNH in 1997 with a BS in Nutritional Sciences she has owned and operated an appliance repair company with her husband and is currently working in the nutrition field doing in-home assessments and feeding guidance for chronically ill children as well as other community based nutrition education. She still enjoys mucking stalls and occasionally takes a ride on her horse in the woods for a break. Jessamy is the mother of an environmentally aware, critically thinking daughter, Samantha. Today, Jessamy lives in Wolfeboro with her husband, daughter, hens and other pets.

Jessamy is excited to work with G.A.L.A. in making her hometown a more sustainable place to live. She is especially excited to bring her passion and experience with preservation to G.A.L.A.’s Ossipee Mt. Grange Revitalization Project. Similarly, Jessamy’s current profession in nutrition contributes significantly to G.A.L.A.’s efforts by making sure people pay attention to their “personal sustainability.”

Download the New G.A.L.A. Board Member Referral Form.

Committee Volunteers

Molly Messenger, Development Committee Chair

Molly is a community organizer, facilitator and youth worker with a passion for social justice and sustainability. She has a deep commitment to creating inclusive spaces for everyone’s unique skills and perspectives to lend in the creative process of public engagement and action towards a more just, fair and sustainable community.

Molly graduated from University of New Hampshire with a B.A. in Anthropology & International Affairs. During college, she spent a semester with School of International Training in Kenya, and lived a year thereafter in a rural village of northern Tanzania where she worked to establish the Imbaseni Free Library Community Center and became fluent in Swahili.

After graduating, Molly managed an ethnographic studying looking at refugee well being in NH, during which she re-established a refugee and immigrant advocacy group focusing on naturalization and family reunification. This led her to working as Youth Organizer with American Friends Service Committee- NH, and counseling youth with Appalachian Mt. Teen Project thereafter under the direction of Dr. Donna San Anotonio, who sits on the GALA board of advisory!

In 2012, after an incredible adventure cycling down the west coast, Molly returned to Ossipee and joined her partner Josh in the revitalization efforts of the former Ossipee Mt. Grange Hall into a community center for arts, education & advocacy.  Currently Molly is a Community Outreach Coordinator with Pittsfield Listens and a Facilitator with NH Listens.  We are grateful to have Molly’s energy and experience in non-profit development as chair of the G.A.L.A Development Committee.

 

Volunteers at Large

Barbara Laverick - Program Manager, Food & Agriculture

Barbara Laverick was the first to receive G.A.L.A.’s “Volunteer of the Year” recognition – and yes, it was Barbara’s steadfast commitment to sustainable community building that prompted G.A.L.A. to create the award in the first place!

Barbara is the on-the-ground, go-to, volunteer at the 2009 Wolfeboro Area Farmers’ Market (WAFM). Barbara helps with everything from building positive relations with Clark Park abutters, to weekly market setup, to creating a WAFM newsletter that included weekly market updates and a market trivia crossword puzzle.

Barbara’s involvement with G.A.L.A. goes well beyond helping with the farmers’ market. Barbara and her husband, Chuck, have been loyal “G.A.L.A. Gleaners” for the last two years harvesting hundreds of pounds of fresh produce for distribution to Wolfeboro’s All Saints Life Ministries Food Pantry. In addition, Barbara is always willing to help with G.A.L.A. fundraising and promotion initiatives.

And G.A.L.A. is just the beginning – Barbara serves in many community leadership roles involving the Wolfeboro Energy Committee, Wolfeboro Pathways Committee, the Pork Hill Farm CSA Program, the Northeast Organic Farming Association’s Winter Conference, among others. Many people will also recognize Barbara’s name from her frequent Granite State News Dig It! column contributions.

Barbara has lived in NH for the last 30 years; last 15 being in Wolfeboro. She grew up in Washington DC, lived in Idaho for awhile while she served as a Vista Volunteer, and was Teacher in the coal country of Georgia, West Virginia, and Tennessee. Barbara has been nominated to serve on G.A.L.A.’s Board of Directors.

Willie Swaffield - Special Ops Coordinator

Willie Swaffield is Wolfeboro, NH native. He is a unique year-round resident who is able to find “enjoyment and employment” in every New England season. Willie enjoys anything that involves the outdoors, but his two real passions remain alpine skiing and water-skiing. During his high school experience at Burke Mtn. Academy, Willie went on a ski-trip to South America and Mt. Hood in Oregon. Willie also stays busy outdoors keeping up with his landscaping and plowing business throughout the year. Perhaps one of the reasons he has stuck around Wolfeboro because he deeply values family and the environment. He is also grateful for his circle of friends in the area. One of those friends happens to be Josh Arnold, G.A.L.A.’s founding director.

Willie has spent countless hours volunteering with G.A.L.A and working with Josh. His truck has become especially handy in helping with odd-jobs like picking up and delivering compost to the food pantry garden, furnishing G.A.L.A.’s office at the Grange Hall, and helping deliver grease for bio-diesel production. Being a regular on-call volunteer has given Willie the G.A.L.A. “Special Ops Coordinator” title.

Willie is also an entrepreneur. He is currently developing a business plan for his own juice company! And as Willie always says, “Think Snow!”

Brittany Boles

Brittany’s involvement with G.A.L.A began in June of 2011 when she came to New Hampshire from St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, on a path aimed at heightening consciousness.  She believes that “consciousness”  is not limited to spirituality;  it is also social and environmental.  G.A.L.A.’s aim of building strong, sustainable communities speaks to increasing the connectedness between people and the earth; it is that connection that intrigues and excites her.Brittany spent the last three years living on St. Croix, where she realized the true scope of people’s global impact on the environment as she witnessed the delicate coral reef ecosystem deteriorate due to pollution and warming Caribbean waters.  Garbage in the streets and on the beaches inspired her to orchestrate garbage walks and participate in local sustainability projects.

She began her education about organic farming, water conservation, and truly “green,” sustainable living while working with ArtFarm LLC, a sustainable family farm.  Admiring the comfort and connectedness with nature exhibited on a day-to-day basis on the farm, she renewed her dedication to enviro-activism.

A student of the world, Brittany studies yoga, meditation, fire dancing (as a performance art), natural medicine, communication, psychology, the Indian language of Hindi, economics, group process, business management, and many other subjects in a unique manner:  rather than enroll in traditional classes, she experiences lessons by seeking mentors in each subject she wishes to learn and completing independent research projects.  It is in this unusual way that she has come to partner with G.A.L.A..

Brittany wants to continue her education with G.A.L.A., focusing not only on sustainability but also on the workings of a nonprofit organization.  She plans to found an organization of her own after she spends time living and learning in Southern India next fall.

Consciousness is an awakening, and Brittany hopes to participate as a catalyst in the universal awakening that is sustainability.  Her partnership with G.A.L.A. equips her to do so.

Pat Jones - Study Circle Specialist

Pat Jones is a G.A.L.A. rock star. Pat started volunteering with G.A.L.A. in 2007 by helping setup G.A.L.A.’s documentary screenings at the Wolfeboro Public Library. Meanwhile, Pat was one of twelve participants in G.A.L.A.’s first study circle titled “Choices for Sustainable Living,” hosted at the Kingswood Youth Center that same year. But Pat wanted to do more than participate; she wanted to organize, and that’s exactly what she began to do, and continues to do, today. The last few study circles have been entirely organized and facilitated by Pat. In addition, Pat initiated and continues to manage G.A.L.A.’s annual Compost Bin & Rainwater Barrel Sale.

More on Pat – Pat’s love of gardening and the outdoors began early as she grew up in a small NH town on a farm where products included firewood, chickens and eggs, strawberries, and sweet corn for sale, in addition to a large family garden. Time outdoors was spent with her brothers and sister climbing trees, building forts in the woods, and constructing dams on the small streams in the nearby woods.

Growing up in a home without television, Pat became an avid reader. This love of books influenced her education and career choices; she is a graduate of UNH with an education degree and of URI with a degree in Library and Information Services. After many years of public library work, she now works as a librarian in the local school system. School schedules have allowed her to spend summers working as a historical interpreter at Strawbery Banke Museum, a volunteer at Odiorne Point Science Center, and a naturalist for the Appalachian Mountain Club.

Pat has traveled extensively in the US, Canada, and Europe. Many of her travels have been hiking/mountaineering trips. She has climbed several of the Rocky Mountain’s 14,000 foot peaks, camped on a glacier in the Cascades, and backpacked in southern Spain. She has also combined travel with service projects such as trail work in Arizona and Habitat for Humanity builds in Alaska and Poland. A favorite trip was an archaeology and conservation project in Utah that she participated in with her grandson.

Board of Advisors

Monique Coppola

Monique is originally from Massachusetts where she obtained a degree in Theatre from a small liberal arts college in Franklin. She has worked in various capacities in film, television and theatre in Boston, Los Angeles and New York and has leant her voice to hundreds of national and regional commercials and projects for radio, Education Companies, TV and the internet.

Monique has lived in Wolfeboro since 2003 and has received awards from The New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters for her work as a reporter, newscaster and talk show host. She has covered a wide range of topics in New Hampshire and interviewed a myriad of notables such as Doris Kearns Goodwin, Robert Kennedy Jr., and President Bill Clinton. Monique currently works as a broadcast journalist for Public News Service and covers a variety of progressive issues for New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.

Dana Frasz

In 2001, at age 17, Dana Frasz took an unforgettable four month trip to South East Asia.  Returning to the United States, she was deeply disturbed by the paradox of excessive waste and consumption existing alongside widespread hunger within both local and global society.  While at Sarah Lawrence College she coordinated 12 businesses, recruited and managed 45 volunteers and had created a new system and mindset around food waste in and around campus.  In 2006 Dana was honored by the International Youth Foundation as one of twenty exceptional social entrepreneurs from around the world for her waste reduction, hunger alleviation and food recovery work.  From 2008-2010 Dana was a Project Manager at Ashoka’s Changemakers, planning, managing and executing competitions aimed at expanding and supporting social innovation worldwide.

In 2011, after an incredible 4 month journey through South America, Dana moved to Oakland, CA to launch her own organization – Food Shift.  Food Shift is an Earth Island Institute sponsored project dedicated to building a more just and sustainable food system that curbs waste, empowers communities, respects the environment and nourishes all.  Dana is an active committee member of the Social Enterprise Alliance, a Next Generation Ambassador for the Social Venture Network, a StartingBloc Fellow and a member of the California Food and Justice Coalition.  Dana has spent the last decade developing and supporting initiatives that are good for people and good for the planet.   She is a true leader, committed in action and motivated by her love for people and the earth, and is excited to share her experience as a community organizer to help G.A.L.A. thrive in it’s mission to build a sustainable community building model.

Tom Roberts

Tom began his public accounting career in 1979. Tom joined Leone, McDonnell & Roberts, Professional Association in 1987 and currently works in the firm’s Wolfeboro and North Conway offices. In his role as President and Managing Partner, he guides the firm’s strategy and day-to-day operations, working toward the overall growth and sustainability of the firm. Tom specializes in providing reliable consulting and tax planning services for private, family-owned businesses. He is also heavily involved with the firm’s nonprofit organization practice.

Tom was inspired to pursue a career in the accounting field due to his interest and natural abilities in problem solving. Today he attributes his success to his strong people skills and the lasting relationships he builds with his clients.

Born and raised in Chicago, Tom currently resides “off the grid” in Wolfeboro with his wife, Rita, and their two children. Outside the office, Tom’s hobbies include coaching youth sports, skiing, hiking and fishing.

Donna San Antonio

Two experiences move me more than anything else: one is being in a natural place with others that have a sense of curiosity and wonder. The other is being part of collective efforts to fight for economic and social justice. G.A.L.A. ties these two passions together.

My work has included community education and organizing, middle school teaching, experiential and outdoor education, nonprofit development and administration, research, and graduate school teaching and advising. For nine years in the 70s and 80s, I thrived in my work as a teacher in alternative and mainstream classrooms.

In the mid-80s, I left teaching to start the Appalachian Mountain Teen Project (AMTP) so that I might be able to mentor struggling students and play a more influential role in schools. As the Executive Director (1987-now), I develop strong cross-sector partnerships and implement innovative experiential programs to benefit the most vulnerable students and the most under-resourced schools. For fifteen summers I led wilderness adventure trips and experiential civic education trips with students for up to 30 days in length throughout the United States.

In 2001, I earned a doctorate in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was then hired as a Lecturer on Education in the Risk and Prevention Program where I taught from 2002-2008. My work continues to bridge research and practice and I actively consult, teach, and design and evaluate programs around urgent issues facing communities and families.

I grew up in the mill city of Lawrence, Massachusetts in a neighborhood of second and third generation immigrant families of many creeds and colors. From this experience I learned to value building community among diverse people and the possibilities that lie at the intersections – the places where each person is able to bring all that they know and all that they are with confidence and with openness. Over and over again I am struck by the fact that this simple condition – a sense of place and purpose – is absent from the lives of most people. G.A.L.A. provides possibilities for this understanding through its thoughtfully planned and facilitated projects.

I love walking in the woods, canoeing, cross country skiing, opera, huskies, social justice activism, and learning about my southern Italian ancestry (a heritage I share with Josh!).

GALA is a vibrant, smart, innovative organization. I am inspired by the work being done by Josh and the G.A.L.A. community. I am glad to play a small role in supporting the growth and development of G.A.L.A.’s grassroots, visionary efforts to sustain local lifestyles, agriculture, history, social networks, and traditions.