Lisa and her husband Ray at VFFC’s Harvest Festival in 2019
Dear Friends, today we write to celebrate the beautiful life and dedicated service of our Board Member Lisa Garson who passed away this fall.
Lisa loved to garden. She love, loved, farmers markets and all things local food. Lisa and her family embody the definition of bringing people together around food; always sharing their exceptional culinary abilities and using foods sourced with deep reverence for the interconnectedness of our earth and one another.
Lisa’s generous heart and talents infuse every bit of VFFC’s work. Being a small entrepreneurial organization here at VFFC, we often refer to ourselves as a scrappy family— working together, doing whatever it takes to serve our community and mission. As a volunteer board member, Lisa was always right there in the thick of it with us. From putting on our annual Harvest Festival; to launching our Online Market in the height of the pandemic; to coaching our team through spreadsheets, financial analysis, and systems operations—Lisa cared deeply and gave selflessly to advancing VFFC’s vision of food systems transformation.
She was a friend and mentor, especially during critical moments of organizational growth. Lisa always brought wisdom and incredible work ethic to every situation we faced. Literally a family endeavor, Lisa’s husband donates his time and musicianship to VFFC’s fundraisers and her two sons became part of VFFC’s team, serving stints as volunteers, interns and staff. They started preparing and serving meals out of VFFC’s kitchen during the pandemic and were then instrumental in the launch of Everyone Eats at VFFC. Lisa’s sons share her passions and are both pursuing culinary and food systems careers.
“Each time my feet touched the earth I knew my mother was there with me. I knew this body was not mine but a living continuation of my mother and my father and my grandparents and great-grandparents. Of all my ancestors. Those feet that I saw as "my" feet were actually "our" feet. Together my mother and I were leaving footprints in the damp soil.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh
With appreciation and gratitude for Lisa's abundant gifts and her influence and impact on our lives and on our work together, we know that her spirit of nurturing and loving the soil and the earth and her spirit of generosity and hospitality, will continue to infuse the work we do.
Thank you Lisa.
In honor of Lisa's love for the local food system and her work with VFFC, her family wishes to share that donations can be made to VFFC in her memory.