This access is currently impacted by where people live, their racial and ethnic background, age, income, and whether or not a family has reliable transportation. That is why we have partnered with reputable organizations in the community to expand the reach of this program.
We also value and provide opportunities for community members to be leaders in the FoodShare movement through our Partner Site, Neighborhood Coordinator and NeighborShare programs.
Our Mission: Feeding a Need in Our Community. Our goal is to enhance the quality of life by creating access to fresh affordable food, quality cooking and skills education. Our work revolves around three tenets: community empowerment and engagement, increased financial opportunity, and physical revitalization. These tenets will be evident among FoodShare’s core programs: the Fresh Food Box and Culinary Medicine cooking classes.
Beverly Wilson, MPH
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Beverly Wilson, FoodShare’s Chief Inspiration Officer, is passionate about the need to solve issues around food access and affordability for disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. After organizing bulk buying produce groups within the community for many years, she turned her efforts towards developing a program that would expand fresh food access and affordability among communities that lacked access to quality food sources. Beverly has been with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine for 15 years where she’s been able to identify a unique opportunity to integrate lifestyle medicine into a clinic model. She will be responsible for leading the school’s new culinary medicine initiative.
Gordon Schell, M.Ed.
Associate Director and Ambassador of Buzz
Gordon works directly with the Fresh Food Box program and additional program operations, coordinates all social and print media to share the fresh food access story, and works closely with our Partner Sites and other community partners to ensure they have the tools needed to be successful in serving their communities. With over 20 years experience working with non-profit organizations, event management, and volunteer support before joining the FoodShare team, Gordon is passionate about helping us accomplish our mission: Feeding A Need In Our Community.
Melissa Lewie, MBA
Business Manager
Melissa joined the FoodShare team in August of 2020 as the Business Manager. She brings over 20 years of grant and management experience to the FoodShare table. Completing her MBA in 2013, Melissa’s focus is FoodShare’s bookkeeping and financial reporting, but she also enjoys working as FoodShare’s Human Resources contact. She considers herself a jack-of-all trades because she is always up for learning something new. Melissa believes we all can “feed a need” by lifting others up both physically and mentally to help achieve their goals. Melissa is an avid camper who enjoys nature.
Christa Demment González, MSN
Director of Culinary Medicine
Christa Demment González joins FoodShare as the new Director of Culinary Medicine after teaching and cooking in California, Maine, and the Caribbean. With a Master’s degree in Nutrition, she finds new ways to translate nutrition science into simple, mouth-watering recipes.
She’s been trained to hold space for all the discussion topics around changes in nutrition and guiding people past the obstacles to lifestyle behavior change. A dynamic, experiential cooking class is the way to learn and maintain healthy changes. Knowledge, empowerment and multi-disciplinary collaboration are the keys for treating and preventing chronic illness.
Christa brings over 15 years’ experience cooking in unique and challenging environments. You’ll find her in FoodShare’s new Teaching Kitchen designing delicious health classes for the community, working with the culinary medicine curriculum for medical professionals, and encouraging everyone to try something new on their plate.
She’ll also be helping FoodShare reach our Spanish-speaking communities. ¡Buen Provecho!
Gabriel Wilhelm
Community Outreach Coordinator and Fresh Food Evangelist
Gabriel joined the FoodShare Squad in July 2019. He spends his days igniting conversations about good healthy food and community engagement. His main focus is to expand the FoodShare program into rural communities outside of Richland County and to help grow more partner sites. He enjoys working with organizations serving rural populations because of the deep sense of community and commitment to bring fresh food access to every corner of South Carolina. With a background in minor league sports entertainment, Gabe keeps things fun at the office and the FoodShare Hub. When he’s not generating joy at FoodShare SC, you can find him bringing smiles to his loving wife and three rambunctious boys.
Courtney Watson
Community Outreach Coordinator and FoodShare Mission Champion
Courtney Watson led the implementation of FoodShare Greenville in 2018 as the first satellite hub of the state-wide FoodShare member hub network. She now works with member hub partners across South Carolina as they develop their own approach to the FoodShare SC model. She has a Bachelors’ in Marketing and Political Science from Illinois Wesleyan University and a background in operational excellence.
Kim Hollins
Veggie Rx Program Coordinator and Healthy Living Motivator
Kim Hollins joined the FoodShare team in August 2020 as the Program Coordinator for the Veggie Rx Program. She has significant experience coordinating programs focused on improving the quality of health for patients with chronic conditions. Kim works closely with physicians, healthcare practices and others in the community to ensure FoodShare’s Veggie Rx Program participants have access to healthy fruits and vegetables as they strive to improve their diet and health. She believes that each FoodShare Box is the right prescription for a better quality of life for each participant.
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Cindy Watson, LMSW
Social Worker, NeighborShare Program Coordinator
Cindy Watson is a licensed social worker who joined the FoodShare team in March 2021. Her primary role is to coordinate the drivers who deliver fresh food boxes to our most vulnerable clients. As our social worker, she enjoys building relationships with not only our clients, but also our NeighborShare volunteers. Building these connections helps us better meet the needs of our clients and coordinate community resources that address many of those needs. When she’s not at work, Cindy enjoys spending time with her children, grandchildren, and her pup Rocky.
Iris Gadsden
Program Assistant
Iris Gadsden, FoodShare’s new Program Assistant, is no stranger to local community initiatives. Passionate about solving food insecurity, housing disparities, and everything in-between, Iris is excited to join the FoodShare team and truly change the accessibility to fresh foods in local communities. A native South Carolinian, Currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Health at Tulane University (LA), she anticipates combining her studies and passions to continue to fight for the people of South Carolina.
Omme-Salma Rahemtullah, MA
Director of Advocacy and Policy
Omme started at FoodShare SC in February of 2021, to build FoodShare’s regional and national coalition participation, and provide policy direction for the organization. Omme works on building advocacy and energy around state-wide policies such as SNAP expansion and Healthy Bucks, and assists regional Hubs to engage with their elected officials at all levels. Omme has 15 years of community engagement work in food security, community media policy and programming, and an academic background in cultural studies and race.
Annette Duncan
Office Coordinator
Annette joined the FoodShare team in May 2021 as the Office Coordinator. She works directly with FoodShare clients in placing orders for healthy fruit and vegetable boxes. Annette is enthusiastic and passionate about her job! While clients strive to eat healthier; she makes sure they receive their much-needed produce boxes in a timely manner. Annette’s retired from AT&T and also has a degree as an Occupational Therapy Assistant. She is very active in her community with a focus on moving communities forward to the formulation of healthy status goals. Alongside FoodShare, Annette’s dedicated to serving the purpose of feeding a need in the community.
Carrie Draper, MSW
Carrie Draper, Officer of Global Thinking and Opportunity Creator, co-founded FoodShare South Carolina in order to expand access to fresh produce, especially for people who receive SNAP. Her focus is on food access, food policy, and community-based research in order to strengthen local food systems in South Carolina and as well as regionally. She is currently the Director of Policy and Partnership Development for University of South Carolina’s Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities where she plays a leadership role in translating research to policy and practice. Carrie is the 2016 chair of the South Carolina Food Policy Council and a steering committee member of the South Carolina Food Access Task Force. She provides direction on program activities, community leadership development strategies, and special projects.
The quilt of inspiration for the FoodShare movement originated within a tribe of passionate women from influential private and public organizations in Columbia.
These women with a track record of serving their community are sometimes nutty, often creative, and always passionate about good healthy food for all. We envision a South Carolina where all residents, regardless of income level, can enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables.
FoodShare is led by founding partners:
We are very appreciative of the incredible resources that FoodShare Toronto has freely shared. Founded in 1985, FoodShare Toronto, was created to address hunger in Canadian communities. Since then, they have developed their program into Canada’s largest food security organization and have become global pioneers in community food models.
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