About the Green Growers

San Francisco A.L.L. Team | New York City A.L.L. Team | Board of Directors | Board of Advisors | Administrative Team | Landscape Design Associates | Volunteers | Website & Technology Team | Funders/Contributors

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San Francisco A.L.L. Team

Bonnie Ora Sherk, Founder & Director, Chief Designer, Head Teacher

Michelle Smelser, Garden/Ecology/Multi-Arts/Literacy/Nutrition Instructor

Every job Michelle has enthusiastically undertaken has prepared her for the next one, even though she has crossed industries and job titles. Most human resource managers wouldn’t know where to place her; she is orginal and inventive.

Her first job out of college was working in International Artist Relations (A&R) for WORK GROUP Records - Epic/Sony Music in Los Angeles. Coming from a small town in the Midwest to the multicultural setting of LA, having a supervisor from London, and a constant challenge of translating what her colleagues overseas were trying to say, sent her to Guadalajara to start her next career. Four years then ensued, teaching ESL in Mexico, Taiwan, and Eastern Germany.

It was this time abroad that opened her eyes to the current environmental crisis that the earth is in, and the impact of the US standard of living on these developing areas of the world. Reaching back to her farming roots in rural Indiana, her summer days working in her dad’s garden, and to the women educators of her family, she was awakened and evolved into an A.L.L. Garden/Ecology/Multi-Arts/Literacy/Nutrition Instructor. Michelle teaches children at the OMI/Excelsior Living Library & Think Park and the Bernal Heights Living Library & Think Park.

Michelle has a BA in Communications with a minor in Psychology from Purdue University. She is certified as an ESL instructor and also has Permaculture Certification.

Susan Meyer, Garden/Ecology/Multi-Arts/Literacy/Nutrition Instructor

Susan is a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine with 25 years of experience in private practice where she focused on Oncology, Women's Health Care, Homeopathy and Genral Practice, Mental and Emotional Illness, Chinese Internal Medicine and Pain Management. Susan designed, coordinated and taught community education classes on Women's Health Care. She was also responsible for initiating and organizing the Institution of Naturopathic Services for Outside Inn, a low income medical aid station.

Susan is drawn to teaching and creating gardens within the context of the school system. She is interested in how experiential learning offered through gardens can enrich and supplement the academic program within schools. Susan has extensive experience designing various edible, organic landscapes, with integrated pest management, crop rotation, compost area, cover crop, and irrigation. She was co-owner of Urban Organics, a business in Los Angeles that designed and installed urban organic edible landscapes. As part of this work, she also created curriculum and taught a training program on all aspects of organic gardening.

She received her BS in Acupuncture from Samra Acupuncture College, and holds a California Acupuncture License. She also studied Chemistry, Plant and Soil Science/Agriculture at University of Portland and University of Vermont.

Babak Jacinto Tondre, Adult Environmental Skills/Green Job Training Teacher & Coordinator

Tondre has extensive experience in green building and permaculture methodologies. He is a founding member of the Berkeley Ecohouse with Linda Maier and Karl Linn. His green building projects include: design and construction of Children's Amphitheater at Anthony Chabot Elementary School, full commercial remodel of Wide Hive Records/ Recording Café, design and construction of Garden & Compost Training Education Center at Alameda County of Waste Management, Ecohouse transformations, and design, construction and maintenance of an edible school garden in Oakland.

Through his green building at a number of schools, Tondre has engaged students in the building processes and taught solar and ecological education.

Tondre has both a Permaculture Designer’s Certificate (P.I.N.C) as well as a Permaculture Teacher’s Certificate. He has studied Ecological Design at San Francisco Institute of Architecture, and composting through the Marin County Master Composter Program. He received his B.A. from the College of Environmental Design, U.C. Berkeley.

Catherine Ai-Ying Chanse, New Media/Video Arts/Garden Teacher

Catherine is Life Frames' New Media/Video Arts/Garden Teacher and works with students at A.L.L. Branch Living Library sites in San Francisco. Catherine is interested in exploring and understanding the ways in which technology can be used to further learning, promote discussion, dialogue, and action within and between communities, and provide opportunities for expression and creativity.

Her vision for the A.L.L. program is to teach children and youth how to document their peers and their activities and work in the gardens, interview each other, and record their words, poetry and actions through audio recording and still and video cameras. Ultimately, these "life frames" will culminate in the A.L.L. Multimedia Archives of each Branch Living Library.

Prior to her work with A Living Library, Catherine worked as Coordinator of the Educational Technology Program at Phipps Community Development Corporation where she was responsible for the overall operation of the community technology center, and focused on ways to integrate technology to support academic instruction, further basic computer literacy skills, and build new media skills. She has many years of experience working within the nonprofit sector with a focus on education and access to technology issues. This fall, she will continue her studies through the Multimedia Graduate Program at California State University East Bay. She has a BA in Sociology from Brown University.

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A.L.L. Youth Leaders

Our student youth leaders come from diverse communities and work with us in developing and maintaining the gardens and native landscapes. They also mentor the younger children in garden, ecology, and arts experiences and processes. They receive a monetary stipend for their work and dedication. High school and middle school students come from all over San Francisco to work with us as A.L.L. Youth Leaders at our Branch Living Library sites. College students also join us as interns and volunteers. In fact, 10 students from Grinnell College in Iowa spent their ten-day spring break with us in San Francisco planting almost 200 new California Native trees on the San Miguel Child Development Center Campus in March 2006.

Grinell College students plant 200 new California Native trees on the San Miguel Child Development Center Campus in March 2006.

Calvin Price, Summer Intern, 11th grade, John O'Connell Alternative High School

This summer, Troop 12, Boy Scouts of America continued transformation of asphalt and concrete into the OMI / Excelsior Living Library & Think Park. View photographs of them in action!

New York City A.L.L. Team

Matthew Katz, Past President, Roosevelt Island Residents' Association

Margie Smith, Vice President, Roosevelt Island Residents' Association

Lydia Tang, PTA, PS/IS 217

Judy Berdy, President, Roosevelt Island Historical Society

Erin Feeley-Nahem, PTA, PS/IS 217

Virginia Granato, President, Roosevelt Island Disabled Association

Dolores Greene, President of Roosevelt Island Seniors Assoication

Arline Jacoby, Roosevelt Island Visual Artists Association

Marilyn Peoples, Horticultural Therapist, Collard-Goldwater Hospitals

Swee Lian Yi, Horticultural Therapist, Collard-Goldwater Hospitals

Life Frames, Inc. Board of Directors:

Cornelia Connors, President & Treasurer
President, Connors Communications

Jay Begler, Esq., Secretary
Partner, Nixon Peabody LLP

Caryl Hodges, Ed.
Associate Dean, School of Education
University of San Francisco  

Sherrill Kazan Alvarez de Toledo
President, World Council of Peoples for the United Nations

Project Directors: OMI/Excelsior Living Library & Think Park / Bernal Heights Living Library & Think Park
(San Francisco, CA)

Marianne Bertuccelli
Neighborhood Services Manager, S.F. Recreation & Park Department

Rosemary Cambra, Chairwoman
Muwekma Ohlone Indian Tribe

Carol Husbands
Site Manager, San Miguel Child Development Center

John Ignacio, EdD
Vice Principal, Luther Burbank Middle School

Kathy Truett,
Former Site Manager, Junipero Serra Child Development Center

Jill Wynns,
Commissioner, San Francisco Board of Education

Project Directors: Roosevelt Island Living Library & Think Park (Roosevelt Island, New York)

Ron Becker
Director of Therapeutic Recreation, Coler-Goldwater Hospitals

Mandana Beckman
Principal, PS/IS 217

Robert Croonquist
Founder & Director, YouthArts (NY, NY)

Katia Genes
Green Architect; Teacher, The Child School (NY, NY)

Wayne Jacoby
President, Global Education Motivators (Philadelphia, PA)

Board of Advisors

Carl Anthony, Former Deputy Director, Community Assets (NY, NY)

Jared Blumenfeld, Director of SF Department of Environment (SF, CA)

Michael Telson, Former Chief Financial Officer of US Department of Energy (Washington DC)

Isabel Wade, Executive Director, Neighborhood Parks Council (SF, CA)

Shamina de Gonzaga, Special Advisor, President, UN General Assembly, Special Advisor for NGOs (NY, NY)

Kent Barwick, President Municipal Arts Society; Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance (NY, NY)

Noel Brown, Former Director of UN Environmental Program (NY, NY)

Thomas Hartnett, Esq. (NY,NY; Washington DC)

Kris Giroh, Financial Advisor, Merrill Lynch, Global-Private Client Group (NY, NY)

Daniel Roth, Co-Chair, US Partnership for a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (NY, NY)

Dean Koyanagi, Sustainability Coordinator, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)

Maraleen Manos-Jones, Board Member, Michoacan Fund (Washington DC)

Wendy Brawer, Founder & Director, Green Maps (NY, NY)

Susanne Anker, Chair, Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts (NY, NY)

Kathy Brew, Coordinator of Margaret Mead Film Video Festival, Museum of Natural History (NY, NY)

Bonnie Marranca, Publisher, PAJ: A Journal of Performance & Art (NY, NY)

Randall Ann Homan, Gestalt Graphics (SF, CA)

Administrative Team

Bonnie Ora Sherk
Founder & Director / Chief Designer

Stacy Boots & Catherine Chanse
Outreach, Administrative Assistance, & Digital Technologies

Ken Sun Bookkeeping & Accounting

 

 

 

Lauren Wyse
Strategic Planning Associate

Aris Silzars
Communications Technologies

Mark LeBow, Government Relations

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Landscape Design Associates:

Erin Bullock; Jeanette Hill; Doug Wildman

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Volunteers:

Parents, Teachers, Students, Friends, & Community Members

A Living Library Website Team (over time):

Bonnie Ora Sherk, Philip Malkin, Sean Scullion, Clare Z Puskarczyk, Avram Klein, Mike Suner, Brandon Wong, George Chan, Arleda Martinez; Joanne Brohmer; Michelle Smelser, Catherine Chanse

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Life Frames, Inc. & A Living Library are supported by grants and inkind contributions:

• California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection
• Floorcraft Nursery
• Flow Fund
• Ford Foundation
• Friends of the Urban Forest
• Hands On Bay Area
• Home Depot
• Mary Crocker Trust
• Nature Issues Inc.
• New York City Parks Department -- Operation Green Thumb
• Norcal
• Nurseryman's Exchange
• Office Depot
• Office of SF Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval
• Potrero Nuevo Fund of the Tides Foundation
• Presidio Plant Nursery
• Rex Foundation
• San Francisco Art Commission
• Scheuer Foundation
• SF Board of Education
• SF Department of the Environment
• SF Department of Public Works
• SF Mayor's Office of Children, Youth, & Their Families
• SF Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Beautification
• SF Mayor's Office of Community Development
• SF Public Utilities Commission
• SF Recreation & Park Department
• Strybing Arboretum Nursery
• San Francisco Foundation
• Volunteer Center

… and the many volunteer teachers, parents, students & neighbors who help bring the Branch Living Libraries to life!

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A Living Library, Think Park & Life Frame are Registered Trademarks
© 2000 - 2006 Life Frames, Inc. & Bonnie Ora Sherk