Here are biographies for the four candidates for the 2022-2024 term on the Board of Directors. Each candidate wrote their own bios. Paper copies can be obtained in the store.
Board Nominees for a three year term January 2022-December 2024
Christine Congelosi-Lulla
When we first moved to Cambridge about 11 years ago - when the Co-op was still in Hubbard Hall - we would only go in there occasionally. As we have become more aware of our purchasing habits, making conscious efforts to not buy things packaged in plastic, and to shop locally we have become much more consistent shoppers at the Co-op. I follow the Co-op on Facebook and like to see their efforts to engage the community with different events. I enjoyed being on the Hubbard Hall Board and working with people I did not know before joining the Board. I like being a part of something that is working to make Cambridge a better place for all community members and I believe the Co-op is doing just that.
Kathy Duhon I grew up on a small homestead in Louisiana, and as a child helped out with the chickens and gardens, and was jealous of big brothers who took care of the calves. In college I learned about Co-ops by living in one. When we moved to the Berkshires with a young family, it was first to Gould Farm, an intentional community that uses farming as therapy for the mentally ill. Later we became members of the Great Barrington Food Co-op and of the very first CSA in the country, that had just started in South Egremont. Before I moved to Cambridge last year, I lived on a small homestead farm in New Lebanon, where I once charged a bobcat who had one of our chickens in its mouth - the chicken and I both survived. I retired from ministry in 2019, drove a camper van around the country for a year, fell in love with an E. Greenwich fellow named Bruce Squiers, and decided to move to Cambridge. One of the reasons I chose Cambridge over other nearby towns was the Co-op. We moved into a new home on S. Union St. this summer and married in September at Lake Lauderdale Park, Katie having worked hard to get us cases of compostable picnic ware, which was great. I would love to help the Co-op in any way I can.
Ralph Provenza I am very much interested is being considered for Cambridge Food Co-op Board membership. Mary and I have lived in Cambridge for almost 35 years; we've raised our two sons here and we very much enjoy living in this community. I was a working Co-op member when we first arrived in the area many years ago but the needs of our growing family and our two developing careers prevented us from being as involved as we might have been back then. I have had a long and fulfilling career working for and on behalf of non-profit organizations and now that I am retired I am in a position to do a bit more to help this community remain healthy. To that end I should mention that I recently ran for the White Creek Town Board (apparently unsuccessfully!) and that I am currently enjoying my role as a member of the Mary McClellan Foundation Board. Over the years I have served on several not for profit boards both professionally and personally locally and at the statewide and national levels. In my work as Executive Director for a diverse community mental health center I have worked closely with that Board of Directors to promote the goals of our organization. I have developed fairly broad expertise in overall non-profit management including budgeting, marketing and in strategic planning and I would be happy to contribute to the Cambridge Food Co-op Board in any of those areas.
Kathleen Quinn
A native of Ballston Spa, Kathleen moved to the village Cambridge with her family in 2016 after 10 years of goat farming and homeschooling in Saratoga County, and many years in Albany and eastern Massachusetts before that. Cambridge was the scene of many happy memories from her childhood, visiting her grandparents on Academy Street, and spending time at Hedges Lake, but it was the prospect of living in a town with a food co-op that helped make the decision to move to Cambridge that much easier for her and her family. Experienced in customer service and non-profit administration, Kathleen originally joined the board in 2017, but stepped down to help cover a staff vacancy in the fall of 2019. What was to have been a temporary position turned into a pandemic position and maternity leave coverage and now 2+ years later, Kathleen would be honored to be back on the board. As a board member, she would like to focus on organizational planning, member engagement, and staff development.