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Board, Committees & Staff

Massaro Community Farm, Inc.

Massaro Community Farm, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Board of Directors

Al Tyma, President
Suzanne Werth, Vice-President
Jandie McSweet, Treasurer
Anne Boucher, Secretary
James Calkins
Mary Gorham
Tom Handler
Willa Ridinger
Sandra Stein
Bob Tucker
Dylan Vitale
Teresa Thomason

Committees

The farm has two sets of committees - one to attend to the governance of the organization and a second to engage volunteers. Each committee has its own meeting schedule. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact the farm office at (203) 736-8618 or email us at info@massarofarm.org. Thank you.

Governance

Development Committee [Chair, Sandy Stein]
Seeks to cultivate key relationships with members, donors and businesses, and to devise fundraising to enable and enhance the mission of the farm.

Facilities Committee [Chair, Bob Tucker]
Responsible for maintaining, upgrading and expanding the physical infrastructure of the farm.

Governance Committee [Chair, Anne Boucher]
Oversees legal compliance of the organization and vets and nominates suitable candidates to serve on the board.

CSA & Produce Marketing Committee [Chair, Steve Munno]
Evaluates the CSA offerings and supports the farm manager.

Finance Committee [Chair, Tom Handler]

The finance committee oversees financial reporting of the organization, and makes recommendations to the board for management of the organization's funds.

Volunteer Committees

Education Committee [Chair, open]
Advises on creating and providing program opportunities for people of all ages.

Events [Chair, Lindsay Browning]

Allows volunteers to assist with community events on the farm such as plays, concerts, etc.

Art & Music [Dylan Vitale]

Helps coordinate artists and performers to display or perform at the farm.

Open Space/Nature [Open]

Comes up with and coordinates ways to optimize use of open space on the farm, including the Nature Trail.

Executive Director, Caty Poole

Caty Poole came to the farm after a long career in the life sciences industry, where she gained experience in various aspects of management and communications. Caty spent her formative years growing up in Hawaii before returning to New Jersey to raise a family. All the while, she remained active in gardening and community outreach before getting involved in food justice issues. Prior to coming to Massaro, Caty led the creation of a new community garden in an urban food desert, where excess food was donated to a nearby soup kitchen.

Caty moved to New Haven in 2010 after getting her B.A in communications. Since then, Caty has volunteered with New Haven Farms, CitySeed, DESK and the New Haven Food Policy Council. She began her tenure at Massaro in the winter of 2012, first as a volunteer, then as a field hand and outreach & development coordinator. She was named executive director in 2013.

Farm Director, Steve Munno

Farmer Steve is originally from Long Island and is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. After graduation in 2001, Steve’s work in field science and wilderness skills education took him to California, where he lived for five years. During this time, Steve began to hone his skills in agriculture. Always a food lover and long time supporter of local farms, Steve found his work in the wilderness continually pointed toward the importance of healthy food and its connection to healthy communities and healthy land. Inspired to be more involved with food and farming, he volunteered with a local farmer for two years before enrolling in the UC Santa Cruz Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture. Upon completion of this Apprenticeship, Steve stayed on for second year at UC Santa Cruz serving as a teacher and assistant manager in a 2+ acre market garden growing a tremendous variety of vegetables, flowers, fruit and perennials. He then returned to the east coast to work for The Food Project in Lincoln, MA. Steve managed the greenhouse on this 30-acre farm and helped provide for a 400-member CSA, supply food to farm stands in Boston, donate produce to hunger relief organizations and offer educational opportunities to youth and community organizations in the greater Boston area. At the end of 2009, Steve came to Massaro Farm to revive the land and bring the fields at Massaro Farm back into production.

Development Manager, Lindsay Browning

Lindsay Browning joined the farm in August of 2019 and quickly settled into our farm family. Lindsay is a lifelong resident of Naugatuck Valley and brings to the farm her energy and enthusiasm from a background in fundraising, marketing, and public relations. When not at the farm, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children. She is thrilled to be aboard to raise funds to support the farm and create fun events for the community to enjoy.

Lead Educator, Jim Matheson

Administrative Assistant, Emily Chubet

Assistant Farm Manager, Alyssa DesRosier

Alyssa DesRosier, originally from Hamden, always knew she wanted to work with plants, but struggled to figure out exactly what career she wanted to pursue. After receiving a degree in Horticulture from Temple University in 2010, she came back to Connecticut and started working in organic and non-organic garden centers and nurseries. Nothing quite clicked until she attended the CT NOFA 2013 Winter Conference and heard a presentation about CSAs and organic farming. Five months later, she was hired to the farm crew here at Massaro, and has been working out in the fields ever since.

When off the farm, Alyssa spends much of her time quilting and crafting, both for fun and for business. She creates items to sell in her online Etsy shop, AlyRose Designs, and teaches classes in sewing and embroidery. She now lives in Fairfield with her husband Jeff, a band teacher and musician in the traditional Irish band The Jolly Beggars.

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Farm Staff-Kayla Cook

Kayla Cook is originally from Long Island but moved to Hamden in 2016 to be closer to her now fiancé.She started volunteering at Massaro in June 2017 and joined the staff that August to finish out the season.
Kayla graduated from SUNY Fredoia as a singer with a degree in music and got a job as manager at the restaurant Shake Shack. Realizing this was not what she wanted to do forever, she went back to school to get a degree in women's studies. The first class she took was all about learning where your food comes from, food access, and the benefits of cooking for yourself which ultimately got her interested in wanting to learn more about organic food. Kayla knew Alyssa through the Irish band their spouses play in, and so she began her farming career.
Kayla has loved every second of being out in the fields (even when it is raining!) and is so happy to have found her passion. She also sings at the First Presbyterian Church of Fairfield as the Soprano section leader and feels very lucky to be able to do two things she loves. Kayla now lives in Woodbridge with her fiancé, David, and will be getting married this October.

Farm Staff-MC (Mary Claire) Whelan

Farm Staff-Alanna Gilbert

Originally from Western Connecticut, Alanna has bopped between Burlington, where she attended the University of Vermont, France, where she studied History and taught English, and New Haven, where she used to sell gluten-free cookies and serve off a food truck; and where she currently consumes Original Tomato pizzas and picnics in Wooster Square Park. She moved back to Connecticut to pursue service with AmeriCorps, which allowed her to see her home state from an exciting new point of view. After helping implement a school garden grant through the nonprofit Health 360, she served as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Connecticut Food Bank, coordinating produce donations from local farmers and helping volunteers glean extra produce from farm partners including Massaro.

After years of floating somewhere around food access, gardening, education, and food service, Alanna is excited to learn more about farming, to explore its place in our food system and community, and to work alongside a curious and compelled team. She doesn’t quite know where she is going, but she is delighted to spend this season (her first!) at Massaro.

Farm Staff- Cass Darrow

Meet our staff member, Cass. They graduated from Yale University with a degree in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. They are currently attending school part time to become a midwife.

Cass is best friends with fellow farm staffer, MC, who introduced them to the farm. Their favorite parts of working at Massaro is the people and growing delicious food! They also shared that they enjoy dreaming with the crew on how to make the whole world sustainable and provide everyone access to quality food that doesn't hurt the earth.

Prior to joining the Massaro Farm Crew they worked at Simple Gift Farms in Amherst, MA. In their free time they enjoy rollerskating and rollerblading.

Farm Staff- Leah Snavely

After growing up amongst the fields of Lancaster, PA, Leah has enjoyed being able to improve her vegetable farming skills as a part of the farm crew at Massaro. Outside of the farm, she also works as a Research Assistant for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology. Leah lives in New Haven with her husband Cameron, and together they spend their free time visiting friends, cooking with the bounty of fresh produce from Massaro, and mixing cocktails.

Farm Staff-Madelynn Orosz

Madelynn Orosz is from Seymour. She attends Nonnewaug High School in Woodbury where she is apart of their agriscience program. She studies Veterinary science at the school and competes on the livestock judging team and shows beef cattle with the school. She plans to go to college to study animal science when she graduates in 2023.

In addition to her work in Agriculture, she plays travel softball for the Watertown Rapids and plays softball, swims and plays volleyball for Nonnewaug. She also plays the clarinet in the school band. At home, she has a pet bunny and turtle.

At the farm, she enjoys learning the plant science she missed during the COVID lockdown and being able to apply her knowledge from the classroom. She also plays a huge role in the animal care at the farm and loves spending time with the goats.

Keep Farming. Feed People.
Build Community.

Keep Farming. Feed People. Build Community.

THE FARM