Alida Farrell
Alida is the Food Systems Coordinator at Healthy Communities of the Capital Area and coordinates the Maine Farm & Sea to Institution Network.
A native Mainer, Alida returned to her home state of Maine in the summer of 2023 after several years working in the Vermont food system in various capacities— from farming and cooking, to working as a Local Food Access Coordinator where she managed hunger relief programs and worked with charitable organizations to increase their local food offerings. Prior to this work, Alida served with AmeriCorps as a Farm-to-School Coordinator, educating elementary students through cooking and gardening, encouraging them to build a deeper understanding of where our food comes from and its impact on our bodies, communities, and ecosystems. Alida recognizes the inseparable link between these metrics of sustainability and sees great potential for improvements in our food system to influence social, economic, and environmental justice in Maine. In her free time, Alida enjoys crafting of all kinds (sewing, ceramics, stained glass, printmaking) and spending time in nature.
Matt Chin
Matt is the president of Harvesting Good, which is a wholly-owned for-profit subsidiary of Good Shepherd Food Bank. Its mission is to improve access to nutritious food for people in need and strengthen regional food systems by creating food processing infrastructure for farmers in the Northeast. Matt has been with GSFB for over 6 years, most recently as vice president of supply chain. Matt spent 35 years working in the semiconductor industry at Intel, Cypress, National and Fairchild Semiconductor. He held positions in finance, IT, process improvement, marketing and sales operations and sales.
He has a Sc.B. in engineering from Brown University and a M.B.A. from University of Southern California. He is a passionate woodworker, golfer and tuba player. Matt serves on the Fork Food Labs board, Maine Medical Center Planning and Program Board Committee and The Woodlands Handicap Committee.
Shelley Goraj
Shelley Goraj, MS, RD/LD is the Director of Food and Nutrition Services at MaineGeneral. Shelley received both her BS and MS degrees from the University of Maine at Orono and she has been a Registered Dietitian for the past 22 years. Her healthcare career has spanned from clinical, outpatient, to operations. She has been in the MaineGeneral system since 1997. She is a member of the Farm To Institution New England Network Advisory Council and is a member of the HCWH New England Food Processors Collective. She is on the Culinary Advisory Board at KVCC and precepts Dietetic Interns from the University of Maine system. She facilitates a high energy team that has achieved outstanding patient satisfaction scores as well as offers healthcare cafeterias that offer tasty healthy options that draw in the local public.
Kristina Kalolo
kristina.kalolo@mainehealth.org
Kristina is passionate about working at the intersections of social change, sustainable food systems, and collective healing.
She is currently the Food Systems Community Partner at the Sewall Foundation. Most recently, she was the Program Manager for the MaineHealth Food Pantry at Maine Medical Center. She also worked as the Markets Manager for the Somali Bantu Community Association and oversaw the Cumberland County Food Security Council’s child nutrition programming.
Mark McBrine
Mark is in his 12th year as a Maine Department of Corrections (MDOC) employee, working the past 6 years developing a “Farm to Table” Food Service Program at Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston, Maine. He oversees an Intensive Organic Fruit and Vegetable Production Program as well as serving as the Food Service Manager of Mountain View’s Minimum and Medium Security Kitchens and Dining Rooms. He and his team use a scratch cooking approach in their kitchens to allow for the incorporation of more locally sourced food products. He started a bakery apprenticeship program where the residents learn to produce 100% of all the bread and dessert products using Maine Grains Flour. He also oversees the Kitchen and Dining operations at the newly constructed Downeast Correctional Facility in Bucks Harbor, Maine. He serves on the Farm to Institution New England Correctional Advisory Group.
Mark has been involved with both sides of the Farm to Institution supply chain, as a producer and as a purchaser. He and his wife own a 47-acre diversified farm and have been farming organically for more than 30 years and were active producers for schools and other institutions, farmer’s markets, CSA’s, Senior Farm Shares, and Cooperatives.
Renee Page
MEFTI Coordinator, r.page@hccame.org
Renee Page, MPH, PS-C, CLC is the Executive Director for Healthy Communities of the Capital Area (HCCA), a local public health organization that serves southern Kennebec County, Maine. HCCA hosts nutrition, obesity prevention, and access to local foods projects including Let's Go! and SNAP-Ed, as well as several tobacco use and substance misuse prevention projects, including the Drug Free Communities coalition, Gardiner Area Thrives. HCCA is the fiscal and staffing home for the Maine Farm to School Network and Maine Farm to Institution. Renee holds a Masters degree in Public Health and did her undergraduate work in Food Science and Human Nutrition, and Business Management and Accounting. Renee is a member of Farm to Institution New England's Network Advisory Council, Food Solutions New England's Network Team, and the Northeast Farm to School Collaborative. She enjoys being on, in, and near the ocean.
Ryan Parker
After graduating from the University of Maine with a Bachelors of Music in Performance, Ryan landed a job with the United States House of Representatives. He left the House to start his own commercial, micro-scale, diversified farm, which grew to become the largest year-round CSA in Maine. While building his farm business, Ryan became interested and involved in food and agriculture policy, and has lobbied and written extensively about both. Ryan joined FoodCorps after working with the Natural Resources Council of Maine to establish Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, and writing the book, literally, on school food waste reduction.
Sophie Scott
Sophie is a Sustainable Seafood Project Manager at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute where she works to get more underutilized Gulf of Maine seafood onto peoples’ plates. The goal of this work is to support an economically and ecologically vibrant seafood industry in the Gulf of Maine by increasing consumer demand for sustainable local seafood. She has experience in almost every step of the seafood supply chain, from cultivating oysters, to delivering shellfish, to serving Gulf of Maine seafood to consumers in some of Maine’s best restaurants, to working on her uncle’s boats mastering the art of baiting bags and banding lobsters.
Sophie has been committed to sustainable food systems for the past 15+ years. Coming from a fishing family, her undergraduate work was focused on sustainable food systems and ecological agriculture and in her decade as a waitress, she established garden plots at the farm-to-table restaurant where she was employed. Her graduate research focused on bridging the gap between science and policy and in her current role at GMRI she works closely with institutions to help them serve local seafood. In addition to her love of food, Sophie enjoys spending time outside – swimming in the ocean, cross country skiing, and exploring nearby trails with her family.
Jeff Wolovitz
Jeff is the founder and owner of Heiwa Tofu, a Rockport, ME food business that produces artisan tofu using regionally sourced organic soybeans. Jeff started Heiwa in 2008 with a mission to add value to local and regional agricultural products by creating wholesome and nutritious foods. Heiwa's growth has been intentionally slow and steady. It currently employees 7 and ships over 5000 pounds of delicious tofu every week to locations throughout New England. Jeff has served all roles in the company: CEO, CFO, COO, production, marketing, sales, R&D, HR, procurement and maintenance and is actively working to add names other than his own to the little boxes in Heiwa's organizational chart. Jeff's background includes a B.S. in Astrophysics from Pennsylvania State University, 3 years living and working on organic farms and 5 years teaching high school science. He is a passionate cook, an avid vegetable gardener and a forager of blackberries and mushrooms. During the late summer and early fall, you'll often find him fishing for mackerel and squid at Rockport harbor with his two children, while his wife enjoys some quiet time at home not fishing for mackerel or squid.
Learn about our Leadership Alumni Here
We are grateful for your service, past and present!