About us

Digging in the dirt at Stephen and Harriet Myers Middle School and Albany High School, the Vegetable Project is a collaborative effort of parents, faculty and other staff members and community partners that supports after-school and summertime Garden Clubs, mentoring, summer jobs for teens; presents classroom lessons; and brings families together for occasional weekend events. The Vegetable Project is a 501c3 tax-exempt nonprofit corporation.

Here’s our brochure with more.

Board of directors

Dan Curry of Albany, a property manager with Tri-City Rentals in Albany, joined the Vegetable Project board in 2017. A graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, Mr. Curry was previously director of sales for Schmaltz Brewing Company.

David Hopkins of Albany has served as counsel to the Vegetable Project board since the organization incorporated in 2015. A retired lawyer and college professor, Mr. Hopkins is the parent of an Albany schools graduate. He co-founded the TREET Program at the College of Saint Rose in 1996, through which he has led field biology projects at all grade levels in Albany and Schenectady schools.   

Isaiah James of Albany joined the Vegetable Project board in August 2021. A Myers Garden Club regular as a seventh grader, Mr. James received a bachelor’s degree from the University at Albany in 2021.

Jeena Madden of Albany has been a member of the Vegetable Project board since March 2020. A pediatrician with St. Peter’s Health Partners Medical Associates in Albany, Ms. Madden is a graduate of Albany Medical College and Siena College. She has held numerous leadership positions in Albany schools PTSAs, where her children are students.

Jennifer McErlean of Albany, a long-time volunteer in the Vegetable Project’s school gardening programming, has served on the Vegetable Project board since the organization’s incorporation in September 2015. Dr. McErlean teaches environmental ethics and philosophy of education and other courses at Siena College. She also serves on the steering committee of Capital Area Against Mass Incarceration.

Kevin Rockwood of Ballston Lake joined the Vegetable Project board and became its treasurer in May 2020. A Siena College graduate and small business owner, Mr. Rockwood has been business education teacher at Albany High School since 2007.

Timitra Rose of Menands, who says she did not appreciate a good tomato until planting her own garden at age 35, is assistant principal at Albany’s New Scotland Elementary School. Ms. Rose taught elementary school in Albany, worked in the private sector in New York City for 14 years and returned to New York’s capital city and its school district in 2015. She was assistant principal at Myers Middle School, West Hill Middle School and Edmund J. O’Neal Middle School before moving to New Scotland Elementary. She joined the Vegetable Project board in April 2020.

Bill Stoneman of Albany started a garden program at Stephen & Harriet Myers Middle School in Albany in 2009, when his daughter was an eighth grader there. The program grew into the Vegetable Project. The son, grandson and brother of elementary school teachers, Mr. Stoneman earned a master’s degree in teaching from the College of Saint Rose after many years in journalism. He has served as president and chief weed puller at the Vegetable Project since its formal organization in 2015.

 

Friends of the Vegetable Project

Many ways to participate and contribute

Seen in the community

Why a garden? Why the Vegetable Project?

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