Meet our New Americorps Member - Liz!

I am Seven Valleys Health Coalition’s newest Americorps member and I’m excited to be here! I started in February, working as one of the project assistants in the food systems work, and I’ll be here until the end of November.

Who am I?

I grew up in Michigan and got a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University before moving all over the country for the next few years, doing a bunch of random jobs. I’ve worked for dentists, private investigators, preschools, community colleges, and rock quarries to name only a few.

After living in nearby Madison County, Washington state, and getting a graduate degree in Vermont, I settled in Montana for the last decade, where I met my husband and started a family. Last year the four of us packed up all of our things, our cats, and our dogs, and drove out here to start a little farm down in Greene. We just started selling eggs at the farmer’s market and hope to sell other things soon. We love it here so far!

Along with my work with SVHC, I am also studying for my phD at Binghamton University. In my (little) spare time, I love rock climbing, skiing, hiking with my dogs, and swimming in lakes.

What do I do?

Most of my work for SVHC is centered around the Local Foods, Local Places action plan that was developed in 2018 and is being updated for the next five years. I’ll go into more detail about what that is and what it means in the next post.

The rest of my time I do whatever jobs I can do to help out with other projects my coworkers are focusing on. They do some really exciting stuff!

I helped organize a Farm to Institution panel for our local schools, hospitals, nursing homes and more learn about how to start purchasing local foods. I helped facilitate a Racial Wealth Gap Simulation at the YMCA. I worked on a resource list for the brand-new doula training program and a map for the brand-new Cortland Harvest brand. I help arrange and coordinate work with local food systems groups like the Hunger Coalition and Cortland Food Project.

Why?

I am very passionate about connecting local foods with local people in whatever form that may take, which is why SVHC was such a perfect fit. Encouraging large institutions to spend more of their budget on local farmers. Helping farmers get their products to our neighbors who have a harder time accessing fresh food. Matching needs with resources wherever we can.

I believe that this seemingly small work will have a huge impact for our community and the world. Reducing greenhouse emissions, increasing the local economy, and bringing people together are going to make a big difference in whatever the next few years and decades bring us.

If you’d like to know more about me or my work, or have nay questions, please email me liz at sevenvalleyshealth.org. I look forward to talking with you!

AmeriCorps has other open positions

Want to learn more about AmeriCorps positions? Check out all the open positions and benefits here:  https://ruralhealthservicecorps.org/positions/stateandnationalpositions/