Welcome, Eleanor Jones
Please join us in welcoming Eleanor Jones to the Healthy Acadia team!
Eleanor Jones joins us as Food Programs Manager in Hancock County. Eleanor coordinates a variety of food access programs across Hancock County that help to increase food security and access to healthy foods for all, including the Hancock County Gleaning Initiative, MDI FarmDrop, the Hancock County Food Drive, and the Maine Senior Farm Share Program. She is committed to supporting local farms while increasing access to healthy food in a role that combines her passions for healthy communities and sustainable food systems.
Eleanor, what prompted you to join the Healthy Acadia team?
Over the past few years, I have loved working on farms and community gardens, facilitating empowerment-based programming, and instilling equity throughout those positions. I am excited about the opportunities with Healthy Acadia to continue that work and grow alongside the community.
What most inspires you about Healthy Acadia's work?
I appreciate the capacity-building and problem-solving structure of Healthy Acadia programs: the ability to connect with the community, identify gaps and areas in need of support, and then respond with collaborative ideas, systems, and partnerships as solutions. These are imperative parts of building resilient and thriving communities.
What most inspires you on a personal level?
By building relationships with farmers and farms in the region, we have an opportunity to build connections through locally grown food. Everyone needs to eat, right? What are ways that we can create a just food system where equity and connection are at its core and our environments can thrive?
What is your favorite thing to do, or place to be, in Maine, and why?
I love a hot cup of coffee in the woods, swimming in rivers and lakes, looking at rocks, and exploring new trails (one of my favorites is FBC preserve Long Ledges!).
“Before working on a small organic vegetable and flower farm last growing season in the Skagit Valley, I researched environmental ethics, ecofeminism, and environmental justice for my Master’s degree in Environmental Philosophy from the University of Montana. I also hold a Bachelor’s degree in Religious & Ethical Studies from Meredith College where I studied ethics, women's anger, comedy, and popular culture. I have worked in various nonprofits in North Carolina, Montana, Washington, and now Maine all centered on supporting and empowering resilient communities.
I love growing, training, and pruning tomatoes; my favorites to eat are Cherokee Greens and Speckled Romans. I also like to kayak, and my favorite color is green!”
Eleanor currently resides in Ellsworth.