Mentorship Program

Tiare (she/they) is the Education & Volunteer Programs Manager at City Fruit, a Seattle-based non-profit that stewards urban fruit trees to support sustainable and equitable access to fruit. In her role, she has the pleasure of working with volunteers on public orchard care, fruit harvest and processing, and more! She also supports the organization’s youth and adult education work, including facilitating the Master Fruit Tree Steward training program. Originally born and raised on the island of O'ahu, Hawai'i, she has been in Washington since 2014 and has experience working in the environmental restoration and natural history education fields in both states. She loves creating learning environments that encourage storytelling and build connection to place and would love to support a mentee looking to explore food system education and stewardship opportunities in their organization.

Morgan is passionate about understanding food systems and policy driven food insecurity. She is the Executive Director of Skagit Gleaners in Mount Vernon, WA and serves on the Association of Gleaning Organizations' national board. Morgan is also an appointed member of the City of Mount Vernon Planning Commission. She holds a master's degree in Public Administration from Seattle University with a concentration in both non-profit and government policy and has completed graduate research projects titled Food Justice and Economic Sovereignty for Migrant Farmworkers and Factors that Influence Perceptions of Food Insecurity as a Government Sustained Public Health Issue. She has been asked to speak about her research at various conferences, including topics that include race and racism in the American food system. Morgan has been gleaning for over five years, and has driven internal change at her organization for a more equitable and community-led food system. She is a certified grant writer and has helped several other gleaning and non-gleaning organizations acquire funding to continue their work. Morgan owns her own non-profit consulting and grantwriting business, titled Morgan Curry Consulting LLC. Her expertise include non-profit systems change, grantwriting, budgeting, board development, and equity based fundraising. She hopes to share her expertise in these areas to mentees of the AGO Mentorship Program.

Deb Hicks is the Gleaning Manager for Boston Area Gleaners. Deb grew up in South Central PA where her childhood adventures included dying t-shirts with pokeweed, and seeing how many baby toads she could catch and hold at once. Fast forward a dozen years, and as a freshman at Dickinson College, Deb found new ways to get her hands dirty, this time working at the school's garden, turned farm. Her tenure on the farm steered her life in an unforeseen direction, leading her to farm and work in Italy--where she learned to really appreciate food--before moving to Massachusetts. Deb has worked in a variety of fields including education, fitness, and renovation; and is happy to be back in actual farm fields! Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, kayaking, and yoga.

Heather Keisler Fornes (she/her) I'm the Executive Director of the Portland Fruit Tree Project - a 16 year strong urban gleaning and shade equity organization in Portland, OR. Since starting in 2020 the team and I have grown from a staff of one to a staff of 5 FT employees and 3ish seasonal folk with an expanding program list that includes planting fruit trees with low canopy communities, managing 2 community orchards and supporting two others, harvesting urban abundance, and providing fee-for-service fruit tree care and associated workforce training. Professionally I'm passionate about taking smart risks, continuous learning, and growing a sustainable nonprofit community. Personally, I'm a white, cis, queer parent of a smart, independent, and athletic five year old (who does make appearances in most meetings). This would be my third run as an AGO mentor and I love the opportunity to learn about and from other leaders in our shared community. I hope that I offer a space for creative problem solving and looking for the root causes or a concern versus trying to push forward as things have always been.

After several years working on farms in Central NH, Hillary discovered gleaning and it was love at first sight. Gleaning is an act of kindness that has the potential to serve farms, communities, and the environment. Hillary has been gleaning in New England for 5 years. After a few seasons as the Local Food Coordinator at Merrimack County Conservation District, she moved to northern VT and joined Salvation Farms as the Gleaning Manager. Her work is inspired by her love of food, and helping people. From large farms to small homesteaders, Hillary loves connecting with food growers, and helping them to feed their communities in such a unique way.

Andy Lemmon began serving as a SoSA Gleaning Coordinator in Mississippi, in 2016. He found his passion connecting people to community resources and equipping people to serve their neighbors. Now, as the Director of Marketing, Andy intentionally builds relationships with anyone interested in the mission and enjoys sharing stories about the power an individual has to affect change in the local community. He graduated from Mississippi State University in 2011 with his Master’s degree in Counselor Education and was a member of Chi Sigma Iota Honors Society in graduate school. He brings work experience from counseling, data collection, and data analysis in the past to bring an evidence-based and data-driven focus to his role in the mission to end hunger. Andy is a husband to Lindsey and father to Cecilia and Sloan. Andy enjoys woodworking, watching college football, and spending time with his family at the beach. He has presented at statewide conferences, churches, schools, rotary clubs, community events, fairs, and smaller gatherings. He is comfortable with television, radio, and virtual interviews. His personal and charismatic nature is sure to come through in any setting.

Lisa DeSantis (she/her) is cofounder and program manager of Kōkua Harvest on Hawaiʻi Island. Lisa was a member of the first mentee cohort and decided to give back by acting as mentor this time! In addition to her food rescue efforts, Lisa has diverse experience with marketing, community networking, and local food production and distribution. Lisa has an educational background in film and video production which she leverages to assist her in outreach and promotion, focusing on environmental, public health, and food systems topics. A good mentee fit would be someone looking to center equity and establish processes and protocols. Lisa doesn’t have all the answers, but loves to generate ideas and explore possibilities, and can’t wait to do so with you!