Ceres Staff
Cathryn Couch
Executive Director
Cathryn Couch, M.B.A., is a professional chef and activist. Her life work centers around helping people connect with local, seasonal and whole foods, discover the joy of cooking for themselves, and find meaningful ways to engage in their communities. She has worked in the corporate and not-for-profit worlds, including four years as Director of Communications for The Hunger Project-U.S., an educational organization focused on changing our understanding of the causes of and solutions to hunger in the world. Cathryn has been supporting The Ceres Community Project’s flowering since its inception in the summer of 2006.
JoEllen DeNicola
Nutrition Director
JoEllen DeNicola APP, NE believes that nutrition is the foundation of health and that whole foods are the basis for good nutrition. Her background as a Holistic Nutrition Educator and organic gardener created the perfect fit with The Ceres Community Project’s intention of reconnecting people to healthy whole foods. As Ceres’ Nutrition Director, JoEllen created the Healing Foods Cooking Course to give people dealing with illness the tools they need to eat for health and healing . JoEllen has a BS from the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources. She received a certification in Polarity Therapy in 2001 and in 2007 completed the Nutrition Education certification from Bauman College of Holistic Nutrition. She also has been an organic gardener for 25 years and is a certified Permaculture Design Consultant.
Margaret Howe
Director, Healing Meals Program
Margaret Howe is a community and peace activist. The Ceres
Community Project brings together her passion for creating a more humane just world through compassion, people power and action. She has worked on peace, human rights, demilitarization, community organizing, and local food issues for many years. She loves bringing people together in creative projects like Ceres, and especially likes seeing a spark in kids when they are contributing to their world.
Kristie Amezcua
Development & Community Outreach Director
Kristie loves that Ceres sees teenagers for who they are, respecting their capacity for growth and responsibility, their wisdom and compassion. She was drawn to Ceres because it models the true essence of community - mentoring young people, caring for our neighbors, and contributing to the whole from a place of love. Kristie graduated from California State University, Chico with B.A. in Creative Writing and went on to post graduate studies in film at the Northwest Film Center in Portland Oregon. She began working in the non-profit sector in the late eighties raising funds to create a homeless shelter for women and children that included a children's center for creative expression. Her previous work with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, SYDA Foundation and Summerfield School and Farm has taken her throughout North America, India, Asia, Mexico and parts of Europe.
Skip JIrrels
Director of Operations
& Human Resources
With more than a dozen years of business management and operations experience, Skip comes to the Ceres Community Project with a commitment to enhance existing operational structures to support Ceres' growth and effectiveness. He brings creative and heart-centered attention, and a motto of being fundamentally fair, to his work devising solutions for people and processes. Skip is actively involved in Sebastopol as a board member of both the Sebastopol Community Emergency Response Team and the SunRidge Foundation. Being a part of the Ceres Community Project and what it provides to all of those involved nurtures Skip's deep intention to serve the highest good of the community in which he lives.
Anna Stuffelbeam
Youth Coordinator
Anna Stuffelbeam is long-time Ceres chef who joined the staff in January as our Youth Coordinator. Anna began working in the Ceres Project kitchen during the summer of 2007 when she was 17. She served on the Ceres board of Directors from the Fall of 2008 to the Summer of 2009, and has been one of our adult mentors in the kitchen for the past year. Anna brings to the position a deep love of all things food related. She’s an avid gardener, an experienced whole foods chef, and a student of food cultures around the world. For the past several years, Anna has worked as a chef at Occidental Arts & Ecology Center. Her background includes several years assisting on outdoor education programs for young people. Anna has a deep commitment to transforming our society’s dysfunctional relationship with food, and to inspiring young people to become leaders in this movement.
Julie Stuffelbeam
Kitchen Manager
Julie's interest in nutrition, food and herbs has been an evolving journey. Beginning with organizing food coops in the midwest to feed her family healthy organic food, she moved through being a vegetarian and vegan to now learning about traditional diets that include fermented foods, sprouted grains and organ meats. It's been quite a journey. She brings her love of learning about food and her organizational skills to the job of Kitchen Manager for the Ceres Project.
Marsha Wachs
Client Relations Manager
Marsha Wachs brings her 15 years of experience in the counseling field to her position as client relations manager. She is passionate about traveling and exploring, gardening, hiking, and cooking. She practices Yoga regularly, and participates in an ongoing book group. “Once I felt ‘out of the woods’ in terms of my own breast cancer experience I wanted to be of some service to others. I was drawn to the entire concept of The Ceres Project and began by delivering food to our clients. I’ve been so nurtured and inspired by the connections that have developed both with clients and with all of the volunteers associated with Ceres. I feel honored to be a part of this journey!!”
Bim Lipp
Delivery Co-coordinator
Bim Lipp has been volunteering with community projects in Sebastopol since 1992. Bim began with The Ceres Community Project in February 2008 as a delivery volunteer and has helped coordinate the weekly deliveries since mid 2008. He enjoys the deeper sense of involvement with the community that he feels through this work. In addition to his time spent volunteering, Bim enjoys growing and making red wine, travel photography and flying ultralights.
Nancy Paulus
Bookkeeper
Nancy Paulus is a bookkeeper and office manager with a B.S. in Business Administration. She found non-profit work very satisfying after working three years at a small senior center in the Sierra Nevada foothills. For many years she has been interested in wellbeing from nutrition to energy healing. She is also a massage therapist and Reiki Master. She began with Ceres Community Project as a volunteer delivery person in 2009 and assisted with month end accounting. She is delighted to work with Ceres in teaching teens nutrition and sustainability while benefiting health-challenged clients and supporting Planet Earth in organic agriculture.
