Welcome to Kelly Pinkley, Good Cheer VISTA

Kelly joins the Good Cheer team through the AmeriCorps VISTA program. VISTA stands for Volunteers in Service to America, and places year long VISTA members at non-profits that work towards poverty alleviation. At Good Cheer she will be managing our Gleaning Programs. [gallery ids="11325,11326" type="rectangular"]"Hi Whidbey Community Members!I just moved to your beautiful community from Austin Texas. I have a love of all things artistic and anything made from nature. I am so excited to be on Whidbey after almost 5 years of big city life and desert adventures in West Texas.I pursued careers specific to my degree in Graphic Design while in Austin by working for a film production company doing things like stage and costume design, location scouting, and film restoration. It got to the point where I did not feel like my job and my extracurriculars were in line with my goals to be more involved in my community and giving back, so I rerouted in 2015 to volunteer through a state AmeriCorps program called Casa Verde Builders where I worked closely with the homeless population in Austin by building tiny homes at a community intentionally created to house the chronically homeless. We also spent time doing home repairs for qualified elderly home owners through a city program committed to keeping Austin's community members in their homes for the extent of their lives. Thanks to the mentors I had through Casa Verde Builders I was able to build out my own trailer, see the city with a new pair of eyes, and add a new trade to my repertoire.

I am eager to learn all that I can from one of the state's most impressive food banks! I find it really amazing that the Gleeful Gleaners was started by community volunteers and self run the past 6 years, so I am happy to help anywhere the program needs it. I look forward to meeting more of our community gleaners, gardeners, and tree owners!" ~~~Kelly