This access is currently limited 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: Good Healthy Food for All. 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.
Director of Operations 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: Good Healthy Food for All.
Michelle Troup
Director of Culinary Medicine
As FoodShare’s Director of Culinary Medicine, Michelle enjoys creatively blending the role of academic research, clinical medicine, culinary arts and community empowerment all around a kitchen table full of delicious food. She works to create a space for community members, health providers, and academics to collaboratively experience the tangibility of the Hippocrates quote: “Let food be thy medicine.” An alumna of Columbia College with a focus in biology and non-profit and organizational leadership, Michelle is passionate about working to make positive, sustainable, and relevant change in the realms of food insecurity and health.
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.
Cheryle Simmons
Relationship Cultivator and FoodShare Hub Manager
Cheryle comes to FoodShare with 14 years of experience working with various nonprofit organizations. She is an educator and a strong believer in the power of fresh fruits and vegetables! Cheryle desires to help the community by ensuring that no family goes hungry. Cheryle’s first experience with FoodShare came in the form of a “Blessing Box” – donated to her by a Palmetto Health nurse. That box changed her life, and she is determined to pay it forward by working with FoodShare as the Hub Manager.
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.
