Our Staff

Abbie Nelson

Vermont FEED Director
Local Purchasing Programming

Phone: 802-434-4122
Email: abbie@nofavt.org

Abbie Nelson is the Education Coordinator of NOFA Vermont and theVermont Food Education Every Day (VT FEED) Director involved in allaspects of local purchasing and professional development of school foodservice. She has been a teacher for over 20 years in regular andspecial education, and worked on an organic vegetable and flower farm.As part of NOFA Vermont and a VT FEED partner, she has been working inVermont schools linking Food, Farm, and Nutrition education for 8years. Her role has been focused on school food by connecting kitchenmanagers with local farmers, helping farmers with agriculturaleducation on their farms, training school food service personnel, andteaching school staff how to introduce new foods to students.

Jean Hamilton

Local Purchasing Program

Phone: 802-434-4122
Email: jean@nofavt.org

Jean is NOFA-VT Farm Share Coordinator and also works with Vermont  Food Education Every Day (VT FEED). She has been working on organic farms for about seven years and is delighted to now be working with NOFA Vermont to help improve consumer accessibility to the delicious food that the farmers of Vermont are growing. While dreaming of starting her own farm, Jean managed to earn a bachelors degree from Middlebury College in Environmental Studies and Religion. When not cooking, eating, or otherwise thinking about food, Jean can be found playing banjo with her husband, Caleb.



Danielle Pipher

Farm-to-School Education
Community Development

Phone: 802- 223-1515 x303
Email: danielle@tworiverscenter.org

Danielle Pipher works with Vermont FEED and Food Works at TwoRivers Center on Farm-to-School education initiatives and communitydevelopment. She works in schools throughout Vermont linking food, farmand nutrition education in the classroom and works with school staff onimplementing school gardens, garden based curriculum and nutritioneducation. Danielle is passionate and dedicated to building healthy andenduring relationships between people, land and wellness throughconnecting Vermont's schools and dynamic communities with sustainablelocal food and energy systems.



Erica Curry

Farm-to-School Education
Community Development

Phone: 802-985-8686
Email: ecurry@ShelburneFarms.org

Erica Curry works for Shelburne Farms and is a Food, Farm and Nutrition Educator for VT FEED. Erica’s background includes seven years of working with communities focusing on developing connections between farms, schools and community members.  She has a Bachelors in Ecology and a Masters in Environmental Studies focusing on Sustainable Food and Farming Education. Erica has lead multi-day workshops focusing on Farm Education and Place Based Education.  She is passionate about exploring how healthy local food can be incorporated into every person’s life and believes that “eating is an agricultural act!”

 
Dana Hudson

Northeast Regional Lead for National Farm to School Network

Phone: 802-233-1274
Email: dhudson@shelburnefarms.org

Dana Hudson works for Shelburne Farms and Vermont FEED (Food EducationEvery Day) as the Northeast Regional Co-Lead of the National Farm toSchool Network. She was raised on her family’s farm in Maryland and has13 years of experience working on food, farming and education issues.She has a Bachelors in Environmental Analysis and Planning and aMasters in Environmental Studies – focused on Agriculture Education andNonprofit Administration. Dana has facilitated farmer to schoolrelations throughout the state of Vermont. She led in the projectmanagement of the initial 3 years of Burlington School Food Project, ahighly successful multi-partner farm to school initiative in Vermont’slargest city. She is an adjunct faculty at Johnson State College andhas run graduate level professional development courses on farm toschool throughout the state, as well as farm-based multi-day seminarsand workshops for farmers from all over the US and Canada. She is afounding and current board member of the Farm Based EducationAssociation. She loves to garden, cook, and kayak and lives with herhusband and son in Huntington.



Libby McDonald

Administrative Manager

Phone: 802-434-4122
Email: libby@nofavt.org

Libby grew up in Michigan before coming to Vermont in 2003.  She spent three and a half years working in various roles at Center for Whole Communities, most recently as Program Coordinator. Whole Communities is a national nonprofit working for healthy connections among people, land and community. There she worked with environmental and social change leaders from across the country to imagine and create more a just and healthy world. Libby is a board member of the YWCA of Vermont and a Student Program Advisor for Round River Conservation Studies. She is excited to dive deeper into the world of food with FEED.