History

In late 2010, armed with a pickup truck, a small group of volunteers, and a handful of farmers willing to open their fields, we filled the first boxes of rescued fruits and vegetables. Today we work with over 100 farmers and recipient organizations.

 
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BOARD

 

Ashley Costa

Board Member

Born and raised in Lompoc, Ashley Costa graduated from UCLA in 2009 with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Political Science and a minor in Portuguese. She was elected to the Lompoc City Council in 2010 as the youngest Councilwoman ever elected in Lompoc and served until 2014. Ashley is now the Executive Director of the Lompoc-based non-profit, the Lompoc Valley Community Healthcare Organization and facilitates the Healthy Lompoc Coalition, a multi-sector stakeholder group created to address the current health issues in the community. Committed to her own health journey, she is an avid CrossFit athlete and owns a local boutique strength and conditioning gym in Lompoc.

Lisa Bertero Palmer

Board Member

Lisa has more than 25 years of experience as a practitioner in communications strategy development, research, community outreach, public hearings, media relations, and crisis communications, managing numerous complex and long-term public affairs efforts for projects navigating the public permitting process, primarily in California. 

After spending most of her career working for a national public affairs firm, she launched her own strategic communications consulting practice in 2016, assisting private, non-profit and public agency clients with communications strategy, message development and stakeholder engagement.

She also serves as a board member of the Los Olivos Community Services District and Santa Ynez Valley Community Aquatics Foundation. 

Lisa holds a degree in Political Science from UC San Diego. She lives in Los Olivos, CA with her husband Steve where they raised their three now-young adult sons. In her free time she enjoys running, hiking, family adventures and travel.

David Coryat

Board Member

David has been deeply involved in working with under-represented populations for the past 4 years. He is the Executive Director of Fuente Sagrada Foundation, a non-profit focused on services for the unhoused. He has worked directly with New Beginnings, SBACT, and City Net. He currently sits on the board of Veggie Rescue and Good Samaritan Shelters while also leading the Advisory Committee for the Good Samaritan Food Project.

 

Ellen Albertoni

Board Member

I was born and raised in the Salinas Valley, South Monterey County, on a dairy farm outside of Soledad. After I got married, raised a little family and worked hard, I eventually bought a salon. In between, there were a number of years of traveling back and forth to Tucson, AZ and cultivating my love for archaeology and anthropology. After too many years in a salon, I sold it and went back to school, enrolling in the Archaeological Technology Program at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz. Upon graduation, I worked with a CRM firm in the Salinas Valley and began to create jewelry from repurposed materials. I became involved with Mission San Antonio de Padua, assisting in their museum, fundraising, wrangling herds of fourth graders and tourists, and helping in their retreat center.

I am now Executive Director of The Solvang Senior Center. The Center is a place of welcome, of friendship, health and vibrant fellowship. When the fresh produce delivered by Veggie Rescue arrives at The Center, the members are giddy with excitement. I am thrilled to be a part of the Veggie Rescue team, nourishing our community.

Harold Litwiler

Board Member

Harold is an accomplished administrator who promotes a positive community through leadership and education. After growing up in Baywood Park and Morro Bay, he moved from Monterey, CA back to the Central Coast. Harold studied Organizational Leadership at Simpson University and received a degree in 2007. After graduation, he returned to the child nutrition profession to provide leadership in building and strengthening these programs to excel and offer innovative and unique experiences to children.

In his free time, Harold loves to take photographs and his work has been featured around the world in print and digital media. He also enjoys hiking and traveling with his wife Tania.

He is the current co-chair of the Santa Barbara Wellness Summit and has held several elected positions in the California School Nutrition Association and is currently on the Santa Maria Bonita DARE fundraising committee and Wellness Council.

Mark Overduin

Board Member

Veggie Rescue Board member since 2016, engaged in gardening since childhood, graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 1989, Mark has been professionally engaged in the vegetable business from the seed development, production and marketing side with Bejo Seeds, Inc, since 1991. He currently covers the US and Canada as Managing Director. Based in the 5-Cities area of our beautiful Central Coast, he is married and proud father of 5 children.

 

Janessa Van Vechten

Board Member

A Santa Barbara native, Janessa spent the last two years as a Program Manager for the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County. She ran nutrition education programs for children in local after school programs, food distribution programs for seniors, and resource fairs and food distributions for low income families. She has a background working for international nonprofits such as Kiva (microfinance) in San Francisco and the International Rescue Committee in Oakland. Growing up, Janessa spent many happy times on her grandparents' farm in Sonoma County and has since treasured local farms and the fresh food produced throughout California. Janessa has her BA from UC Berkeley and will start a remote MA program at UPenn in the Fall of 2019.


Santiago Brown

Board Member

Santiago has little experience working with non-profit companies, but does have 20 years of experience working in leadership roles with plant breeding and production companies (mainly ornamentals) in several countries around the world. His responsibilities have ranged from Research Assistant to Managing Director. For the past six years he has been leading the R&D department (Breeding and Product Development) at Ball FloraPlant (a Ball Horticulture Company).

Growing up in Ecuador with a strong community/Catholic background, Santiago has been exposed to many organizations that have centered their objectives in helping underserved communities such as Centro Muchacho Trabajador, Gota de Leche and Madre Teresa de Calcuta (Tumbaco, Ecuador).

 Through his education and work Santiago has had the opportunity to travel through many developing countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. This exposure has given him a broad perspective of how the world is functioning (or not functioning). He is committed to give back to the world and help communities in need.

Dreaming about being a physician Santiago studied Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (Boston University), which lead him into a different path to pursue a career in Plant Breeding (Wageningen University) and Business Administration (BU). Today Santiago lives in San Luis Obispo, CA with his wife Michelle and three kids Adrián, Mathias and Nina. You can find Santiago frequently rolling down the nearby hills of SLO on his mountain bike or taking pictures.

Terry Delaney

Founder

Founded Veggie Rescue in 2010. A life long sales & marketing veteran of the seafood industry. Resident of the Santa Ynez Valley for 29 wonderful years with his wife Holly co-founder of Veggie Rescue. Terry's grandparents were farmers in Nebraska and time spent in his grandmother’s garden in Costa Mesa, CA began his love and understanding of food & the soil at a young age.

 

STAFF

 

Judy Taggart

Executive Director

Judy grew up in Goleta and has deep affection for serving her community and helping animals. She has an extensive background in program development, project management, and community engagement.

She earned Master of Science degree in kinesiology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and was proud to be a member and vice chair of Santa Barbara County Public Health Department: Health Care Centers Board for 9 years.

Through her consultancy Fit Development, she works with entrepreneurs to develop strategy, operations and marketing systems. Prior to this work, she served as chief operating officer at the Santa Barbara Foundation. Her other professional roles include educational administrator at Santa Barbara City College and community health director for the Lompoc Valley Community Healthcare Organization.

Christine Franke

Director of Development & Communications

Christine and her family moved to Santa Ynez in 2022 and she has embraced the valley lifestyle, including tending to a vegetable garden, propagating succulents, and caring for six chickens. 

After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and a Visual Arts minor from the University of California, San Diego, she obtained a Film, Television, and Video Certificate from UCLA.  Several years later, Christine made a seamless career change.  Armed with a Fundraising and Institutional Management Certificate from California State University, Northridge, she held development positions at The Pasadena Symphony, Union Station Foundation, Pasadena Playhouse, and Kidspace Children’s Museum. 

She is thrilled to bring her creativity, enthusiasm, and 25 years of nonprofit experience to Veggie Rescue. 

 

Peter Litwiler

Operations Coordinator

Kevin Kemp

Fleet Manager

Olga Leatherbury

Driver