Alison Colwell is the Executive Director of the Galiano Club Community Food Program. The program is in its 15th year on Galiano Island and was formed to promote food security and community building through the medium of food.
Alison regularly teaches cooking and preserving classes, leads the “Soup for Seniors” frozen meals and community lunch program, the school hot lunch program, manages the Food Bank and organizes many of the popular community-wide events, such as Nettlefest, Winter Solstice and the Community Picnic. Over 50% of the island’s permanent population participate in these events annually.
Her duties include everything from grant writing to meal planning, volunteer co-ordination to kitchen management. She has taken classes with Fresh Choice Kitchens – on community kitchen leadership, with Bernardin on Canning skills, with Volunteer Victoria on Non Profit Leadership and Volunteer management and Food Safe training.
Before working for the Food Program, Alison was the owner of the Blackberry Patch Kitchen, a popular island bakery, and is the author of five cookbooks.
Shauna Anderson has been the School Garden Coordinator at Galiano Island Community School (SD64) since February 2022. As a garden coordinator, Shauna focuses on providing garden-based education, maintaining the garden, harvesting fresh snacks for the school community and helping families and community members to grow their own food. Shauna also works to plan and facilitate community meal events, as well as other programs and initiatives. With a background in fine arts, nature education and a strong interest in local biodiversity, Shauna incorporates these fields into her current work to create dynamic programming for students.