The District is happy to welcome some new staff members filling much needed roles with our Harvest Pierce County and our Admin teams. Please help us in welcoming Madeleine Spencer and Kristine Swanner to our District team!
Madeleine Spencer,
Harvest Pierce County Program Specialist
Madeleine Spencer joined the District
as a Harvest Pierce County Program
Specialist in March. The focus of her
work will be on the Gleaning Project, as
well as co-managing the Veggie Co-op
in partnership with the Franklin Pierce
School District. Having grown up locally
in Sumner, Harvest Pierce County’s mission
of a thriving community engaged
in a just and healthy food system is
one particularly close to her heart.
Madeleine studied at The Evergreen
State College where the interdisciplinary
curriculum allowed her to study the
ways in which the environment, social
justice, the economy, and culture are all
connected. After graduating she accepted
an AmeriCorps position in Nebraska
as the sustainability coordinator for a
small town. Through that position she
had the opportunity to work directly
with farmers as a market manager, with
city employees and elected officials
to have public land designated for
community gardens, and with experts
from the university to help establish
an organic teaching orchard. Learning
from and working with so many people
dedicated to their work with food
systems was an inspiring experience.
For the last three years, Madeleine has
been a volunteer manager with a local
non-profit. She loves getting to work
every day with folks dedicated to building
community and is looking forward
to meeting all the amazing people who
make the Veggie Co-op and Gleaning
projects possible. Madeleine is also a
regular volunteer herself, at
MotherEarth Farm in Puyallup and at a community
drop-in center for the Hillman
City neighborhood of Seattle. Passionate
about the belief that to work with the
land and to feed people are some of the
greatest positive impacts you can have
on the world, Madeleine is excited to be
working with the District and Harvest
Pierce County to build healthy food
systems, and a healthy environment.
Kristine Swanner,
Finance Administrative Assistant
Kristine joined Pierce Conservation
District in April 2017 as the Finance
Administrative Assistant. Kristine
will be providing general support to
Pierce Conservation District staff and
will be responsible for answering the
office’s main phone line, directing
calls, and other administrative tasks.
Kristine enjoys spending time with her
family, paper crafts, and reading. Kristine
believes in continuously doing her
part to help reduce the dependency on
natural resources by limiting her use of
water and electricity, and by recycling.