In the broadest sense, the farm team includes the many hundreds of people who give of their time, talent, and financial support each year to sustain the community project which is Alemany Farm. They are too numerous to name here, but without them the farm would not thrive. The Friends of Alemany Farm (FOAF) core volunteer advisory board comprises a group of volunteer leaders that works closely with paid staff members. The team works collectively on all aspects of operations, including crop planning and planting, volunteer workday coordination, finance and fundraising, communications and outreach, and more. We also wish to acknowledge our close working relationship with our partners in San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department.
Alfredo Hernández, Executive Director • As FOAF’s first-ever executive director, Alfredo works closely with Farm Director Abby Bell and our core volunteer advisory board to help us bring our programming, community engagement, and financial stability to the next level. Alfredo brings rich and varied experience in community and government relations, project management, community organizing, and nonprofit administration to this new position. Most recently, he managed his own government and community relations consulting practice, assisting his clients with securing municipal contracts and navigating through and cutting bureaucratic red tape. Alfredo’s related nonprofit experience includes work as project manager at the Friends of the Hollywood Central Park (FHCP), where he managed relationships with municipal, state, and federal government officials, and as a community organizer at for the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust where he built diverse coalitions throughout the City, and oversaw the planning, funding, construction and operation of parks in low-income park-deprived communities. He can be reached via email at alemanyexecutivedirector@gmail.com .
Abby Bell, Farm Director • Abby (she/her) has been working at the intersection of sustainable agriculture and social justice since 2005 and is dedicated to using food as a catalyst for community empowerment and social equity. She is the co-founder of “FoodWhat?!,” a non-profit youth empowerment, job training, and food justice program for low-income and “at risk” teens. She joined FOAF in 2017, and in her current role she supervises the horticultural production and produce distribution of the site and manages the Farm’s educational volunteer days, internship and apprenticeship programs, and public workshops. Abby is passionate about growing an equitable food system, nourishing our farm neighbors, cultivating culturally appropriate food through ecological methods, and building community through farm work. She has over 15 years of experience and a successful track record of managing and administering organizational projects and programs both at FoodWhat?! and at Alemany Farm.
Core Volunteer Advisory Board
These folks form the nucleus of the volunteer ethos that has sustained Alemany Farm as a community project for many years. On a daily and weekly basis, on the farm and in cyberspace, they partner with our paid staff members on all aspects of realizing Friends of Alemany Farm’s mission.
Alice Caruthers • Since 1995, Alice has been a big part of the Alemany Farm community. She worked with SLUG and youth residents of the Alemany Apartments to transform the 3.5 acre lot from a dumping ground to a functioning farm almost 30 years ago, and remains active in farm leadership to this day. When Alice isn’t at the farm, she enjoys riding her motorcycle, doing carpentry projects, and organizing community service in her home neighborhood, the Alemany Apartments.
Nick Hoff • Nick discovered the farm through his desire to learn how to grow his own food. That was in 2010, and the farm’s community and mission has kept him deeply involved ever since. When he’s not crunching the numbers or helping fundraise, he enjoys leading volunteer workdays and helping steward the orchard.
Elizabeth Leone • Elizabeth has lived in San Francisco for 30 years where she has raised her two wonderful kids. She started volunteering regularly at Alemany Farm during the pandemic and eventually joined FOAF in 2022. She has worked as a landscape gardener for East Bay MUD and is a graduate of Garden for the Environment’s GET UP gardening education program in 2021. You can find Elizabeth helping to lead volunteers weekly and indulging her interests in caring for fruit trees and growing heirloom collards.
Di Yin Lu • Di Yin has been volunteering at the farm with her two little boys since 2015. Everyone enjoys weeding, especially during the spring when all the weeds are in bloom!
Christopher Renfro • Christopher started with the farm in the winter of 2019. After searching for a space to get his hands dirty he eventually landed at 700 Alemany Boulevard.
Erik Rotman • Erik found his way to Alemany Farm in 2009, and joined the core volunteer team in 2010. In addition to leading volunteer workdays and helping out with farm communications, fundraising, and events, over the years he has enjoyed nurturing asparagus, wild strawberries, scarlet runner beans, and other perennial food plants on the farm hillside.
John Stokes • John visited the farm for the first time as a casual volunteer in 2011, after retiring from a landscape supply business. He was quickly hooked, and has been supporting onsite operations and group administration ever since. He is thrilled to see the growth in farm activities and production over the last decade, and especially of the farm apprentice program.
Heather Weiss • Heather grew up in San Francisco and started working with the farm in the summer of 2020 as an activist researcher. She has a Masters in Anthropology and Social Change with an urban food justice focus and has also studied environmental science and global studies. She is especially excited about visioning processes, discussions of justice at the farm, and learning new skills. Her favorite plants at Alemany are the plum trees and lemon verbena. You can find Heather weeding, planting, sowing seeds, and talking SF food and politics at the farm.
Past Core Committee Members
Julia Brashares
Nora Brereton
Ali Candlin
Jim Cartan
Alexia Chimenti
Chris Chimenti
Iris Clearwater
Heather Davis
Zoë Fuller-Rowell
Francois Gaudin
Leigh Gaymon-Jones
Maggie Hardy
Dave Hazard (in memoriam)
Allyse Heartwell
Sammy Huang
Daniel Ishofsky
Youngjin Jung
Joanna Karaker
Richard Kay*
Rachel Lane
Brooke Lasher
Ken Litchfield
Markos Major
Jason Mark*
Karen Peteros
Renée Rhodes
Ellen Roggeman
Antonio Roman-Alcala*
Vivian Santana Pacheco
Emily Shumway
Kom Siksamat
Evanthia Skalkos
Aaron Spafford
Brett Stephens
John Stokes
Jack Thomas
Justin Valone*
Bonnie Rose Weaver
Vicki Wilderman
Jessie Woletz*
* FOAF founding members, 2005