Special Thanks from Our 2022 Season : Gaining Ground

Special Thanks from Our 2022 Season


The board and staff would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who gave generously and shared their time and talents with Gaining Ground last season. Special thanks go to:

Belmont Day School, Thoreau Elementary School, Tenacre Country Day School, and all of the individual students who participated in our 2022 virtual Read for Seeds campaign. They raised $14,000 toward Gaining Ground’s annual seed budget.

Bouke Noordzij, Mark Mildrum, Ben Kelchlin, Steve Huberman, Jalen Winstanley, and Jerry Vanasse for greenhouse repairs, careful maintenance of the buildings and land, and firewood chopping.

Lucy Rosborough for her stewardship of the Food for Families program in Concord.

Tony Rinaldo for his beautiful photographs of the farm and our staff.

Sarah Ard and students in Minuteman High School’s Horticulture Program for their invaluable landscaping and pruning assistance.

Katherine Parisky and students at Birches School in Lincoln (in conjunction with Artists for Humanity) for the design and creation of a beautiful mural installed at the farm in summer 2022.

Polly Vanasse and Mary Maa for donating desks for the office staff.

Pam Goar for her steady help with the 2022 Food for Families program and home deliveries of produce bags.

Carrie Finizio, Ginny Churchill, Carolyn Morris, and the Concord and Wellesley chapters of the National Charity League, for coordinating volunteers to help with our produce deliveries, flower arranging, appeal mailings, and countless other tasks in 2022.

Whole Foods Bedford for donating 3,500 paper bags for our 2022 produce distributions. 

Paul Lamoureaux, Gail Black Smith, Martha Hamilton, our cherished partner organizations, and countless others for their regular donations of banana boxes.

Jennifer Polito and the Concord Housing Authority for hosting our Food for Families produce distributions at Everett Gardens, and Bonny Wilbur, Lauren Barretta, and Carol Grueneich for their assistance with the Food for Families program.

David Outerbridge and Joe Rigali for the beautifully crafted dining table for the farmers’ kitchen.

David Salomón Saléh for his careful tending of the farm’s bee colonies.

Palmer Tree Services, Procrew Tree, J. Bonin Tree Services, and Bartlett Tree Experts for donating woodchips for farm mulch.

Chad Castro for the incredible support and expertise he has lent to our publicity efforts.

All 2022 Ride for Food and Off the Beaten Path participants, as well as the many donors who supported this fun event.

Scott Kirker and Sean Walther for technical assistance and IT support, and Sarah Dery for data entry help. 

The hardworking members of the inaugural 2022 Community Farm Team: Allison Aley, Polly Vanasse, Poulod Borojerdi, Rob Webber, Elif Tosun, Martha Hamilton, Liz Vandermark, Hans Heilman, Nancy Shepard, Rachel Orchard, Catherine O’Keefe, Christine Lundblad, Barb Sommers, Vivian Howell, Diane Sinski, Janey Tallarida, LeeAnn Suen, Tegan Morton, Louise Axon, and Laurie Gleason for their invaluable help during the 2022 growing season.

Xiaoqiang Yan, Maria Remizova, DJ Joseph, and Nadja Pereira-Lennox for their help reviewing recipe card translations.

Another Level Landscaping for leaf donations, irrigation system maintenance, and discounted arborist work.

John Jasilewicz for firewood donations to fuel our 2022 maple sugaring program.

The Concord Free Public Library and Concord Lumber for supporting our Poetry and Art on the Farm events and the many artists and poets who contributed works to these exhibitions.