Aaron Abrams – Board Co-Chair
Aaron Abrams is a native Portlander, and 4th generation Oregonian. His connections to Sauvie Island began nearly as soon as he could walk, with regular trips to the island to pick berries or visit the pumpkin patch. Aaron’s interest and involvement with the Sauvie Island Center grows out of his commitment to building local resilience and capacity for community-based problem solving.
Aaron works as an urban planner specializing in public involvement and strategic planning for the engineering and planning firm BergerABAM. He holds a BA in political science from the University of Oregon and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State. He has worked on a range of food systems and strategic planning efforts, including the Sauvie Island Center and Zenger Farm strategic plans, as well as the Portland Metro regional strategic plan for resource conservation and recycling.
Aaron lives in Southeast Portland where he enjoys cooking, soccer, running, and experimenting with his garden.
Jenn Adams – Board Co-Chair
As a child, Jenn spent warm summer days digging in her grandparent’s vegetable garden, evenings making sausage in her aunt and uncle’s basement and most often could be found at the end of her mom’s apron strings. The way food can bring people together stays important in her life.
Jenn has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and English. For the past six years, She has had the pleasure to publish Portland’s Chinook Book, an annual coupon book promoting sustainable and local businesses and sold by schools as a fundraiser throughout the metro area. She thrives in this intersection of environment, commerce and community.
Any given day you might find her riding her bike along the Springwater Corridor, running along the trails of Forest Park or digging in her garden.
Sara Petrocine – Board Secretary
Sara grew up in Ashland, OR, where she was lucky enough to have access to all kinds of delicious and freshoods. After moving to the Portland area for college, Sara delighted in the many wonderful farms in the area, becoming a fan of the Hood River Fruit Loop, and of course, Sauvie Island. Sara believes food, where it came from, how it is cooked, and how it is consumed, has a powerful influence on health, happiness, and our connections with community and family.
After graduating from Pacific University with a degree in Political Science, Sara joined AmeriCorps, working at the City of Portland’s then Office of Sustainable Development before going to work for Commissioner Leonard at Portland City Hall where she is currently a Senior Policy Advisor.
When she is not trying to get na taflen, the Dutch term she learned from her grandparents for lingering around the table after a meal, to catch on amongst her friends, Sara can be found running, biking, eating, or attending festivals of any kind.
Shari Raider, Board Treasurer
Shari Raider founded Sauvie Island Organics in 1993, and is dedicated to growing a wide array of high quality seasonal produce for local markets. The farm markets its produce through a 200-member Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and to many of Portland’s premier restaurants. Over the years, the farm has demonstrated its commitment to the community by hosting educational programs, coordinating volunteer work parties, organizing seasonal farm festivals and playing host to numerous school groups connecting urban youth with farming.
Looking for land to farm, Shari moved to Portland after receiving a certificate in Ecological Horticulture from the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC). Before entering the Farm and Garden Program at UCSC, Shari worked and apprenticed in some of the finest restaurants in California’s Bay Area. Shari apprenticed at Chez Panisse, Le Trou and The Acorn Café, then spent a year cooking at Greens in San Francisco. “I had the privilege of being taught by great chefs who truly believed in the phrase ‘buy local’,” she says.
Shari earned a BA from Cornell University, majoring in Hotel and Restaurant management. While there, she ran a weekend food program at a local community center. Every Saturday and Sunday, people gathered for a free hot meal they could not otherwise afford. Each week, local restaurants and businesses donated food to feed the community.
Sarah LoGiudice
Sarah LoGiudice grew up outside Philadelphia. Food played an integral and memorable role in her childhood, from picking raspberries at her grandmother’s farm to walking the isles of cheeses at the Italian market in Phil. As an adult she was anxious to make the connections back to the farm, and give others the opportunity to do the same.
Sarah pursued a master’s degree in the Portland International Leadership in Ecology Culture and Learning (LECL) program at Portland State to sharpen her knowledge about local food systems and school gardens. She complimented that program with a masters in Urban and Regional Planning and currently works as an urban planner with Fregonese Associates. Sarah is spending her eighth season of Saturdays selling vegetables for Groundwork Organics at the Portland Farmers Market.
Tim Hahn
Tim Hahn is a recently-retired educator who has worked with school garden projects both in his own classrooms and in collaboration with other teachers. His 30-plus years of elementary classroom experience began in Minnesota, continued in the Netherlands and took root in Portland in 1980.
In 2004, he became involved with PSU and PIIECL’s Project FEED in developing and implementing garden and food-based curriculum at Buckman School in southeast Portland. During the past year, he has been involved in program and curriculum development at Lane Middle School and the adjacent Learning Garden Lab, a collaborative project of PSU and Portland Public Schools.
Tim enjoys a variety of non-extreme seasonal sports and claims to be a half-decent fiddler when the mood and the moon are right.
Suzy Root
Suzy Root grew up in Houston,Texas learning to eat and cook great food but not having much connection to where it came from or how to grow it. She moved to Portland in 1992 and fell in love with the Northwest and all its bounty. Sauvie Island has been one of her favorite refuges, providing tranquility, inspiration and endless supplies of blackberries.
Suzy has a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Lewis and Clark College and an MFA from theTyler School of Art in Philadelphia. She has taught art in Portland Public Schools for the past five years and is dedicated to integrating school communities with creative spaces to learn, plant, grow and eat.
Suzy is a longtime North Portlander who cherishes the proximity to the Willamette River,Forest Park and Sauvie Island.
Patrick Willis
Patrick Willis is an OSU Extension Asst. Professor managing 4-H Youth Development programs in Washington County. Pat has a Master of Science in Biology and Teaching from Portland State University, and has over 25 years of experience in natural resource programs and environmental education. He has been a program manager at OMSI, the Executive Director of Jackson Bottom Wetlands, a 725 acre wildlife preserve in Hillsboro, Oregon, and a classroom science teacher. He has developed and implemented a wide array of natural science and place-based programs for teachers and youth. He lives on Sauvie Island with his wife and two kids and happily calls himself the “farm hand” on their family farm, Sauvie Island Lavendar Farm.
Cory Schreiber, Advisory Board
An Oregon native, Cory Schreiber opened Wildwood Restaurant in 1994 and rapidly became a leader in the region’s bustling culinary scene. Cory won the James Beard Award in 1998 for Best Chef Pacific Northwest – a fitting tribute to a man who cherishes the land, its people, and produce much in the same way Beard, a native Oregonian himself, did.
After leaving Wildwood in 2007, Cory applied his considerable experience and knowledge of local food as the Farm-to-School Program Manager at the Oregon Department of Agriculture. In this role, he helped develop a program that connects Oregon’s K-12 schools and local farms, with the goals of serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, improving student nutrition, providing educational opportunities in nutrition and agriculture, and supporting Oregon’s farmers.
In January, 2010, Cory joined the faculty of the Art Institute of Portland as its “culinary artist in residence.” He now teaches classes at the AIP’s International Culinary School, located in Portland’s Pearl District.
Cory is the author of two cookbooks: Wildwood: Cooking from the Source in the Pacific Northwest, (Ten Speed Press, 2000) and Rustic Fruit Desserts (Ten Speed Press, 2009, co-authored by Julie Richardson).
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