Our Board and Team

Get to know the dedicated board and team members behind Marymoor Community Garden Association. We are united in our passion to create an inclusive community garden that provides a safe and welcoming growing space. Read on to learn more about who we are and what we do. If you would like to join please consider applying here.

MCGA Board Members:

Gia P- President, Volunteer Coordinator, Grounds Team Lead, Communications

Gia gardens with her family and enjoys growing rare and unusual crops. Her interest in gardening began as a child when she used to garden with her parents in Guam. She aims to nurture successful gardens through horticultural education/mentoring as a WSU Extension Master Gardener and to build a diverse and inclusive gardening community through outreach. Unequivocally, one of the best things about being at MCGA is meeting gardeners and sharing produce.

Vinay M- Vice President, Board Member

A passionate gardener and advocate for community gardening, Vinay joined MCGA in 2019. He discovered that gardening was a way for him to exercise his body and relax his mind. Once he discovered Marymoor, he was drawn to the beauty and potential of the space, something he did not have at home. Over the years, and after starting with basic crops, he has learned to maximize crop production by use interplanting and companion planting. He is committed to helping the community garden thrive and to spreading the joy and benefits of gardening to as many people as possible.

Michael L- Secretary, Board Member, Tech Support

Michael gardens at Marymoor because he enjoys taking advantage of the full sun to grow unique varieties of crops and has found a lot of joy in creating and maintaining he plots. He is passionate about helping MCGA improve its communication through the website and dashboard as well as making sure the mentoring program supports the success of each gardener.

Karen P- Treasurer, Board Member

Betsy G- Board Member, Newsletter Editor

Betsy is a happily retired mother of three grown children and 3 grandchildren (so far!) and co-gardens with her husband Michael. Together they have amassed over 30 years of gardening! When she isn’t gardening, she is a freelance calligrapher, loves to draw and volunteers her time at a hospital. Gardening, though, has given her the opportunity to be creative, plant many different flowers and veggies and further the mission of growing food not only for family, but for the community who needs it. She enjoys soaking up nature, sun, and new friendships!

Carol J- Board Member, Newsletter, Food Bank Liaison

Carol has been gardening at Marymoor since 2011. She and her daughter have bonded while sharing two plots at MCGA. Carol and her daughter love the concept of a community garden, working together during work parties, being with like-minded folks of all nationalities and backgrounds and sharing information. She likens the garden to a patchwork quilt, every plot is a little different from the next, all carefully thought out and planted with lots of love, sweat and even tears! Carol contends there is no better gift than organically grown produce as fresh as it can be!! She is most proud of the Food Bank Garden which provides fresh produce to HopeLink.

Amy C- Board Member, Produce Driver, Grounds Liaison

Amy is a trained architect and artist who joined the MCGA solely as her mother’s planter box builder. She soon grew to love the garden and has taken it over! It turns out, one of her favorite things is picking fresh sugars snap peas off an arbor trellis. Working in the garden occasionally becomes a family affair when she can manage to pry her three kids and husband away from their screens. Amy loves encouraging her fellow gardeners and learning from them. She believes strongly in the community at Marymoor and the effort behind it, as well as the future of the garden.

Ken A- Board Member, Tech Officer,

Ken and his wife Mary Anne joined the garden in 2014. Mary Anne sees planting and weeding as a form of relaxation, and you can find her in the dirt most days. Ken, on the other hand, is more of a techie/engineering type and enjoys tweaking and tuning the plot for maximum planting space. Over the years, they’ve expanded their at-home, spring-time seeding grow-out into a near year-round project using only LED fixtures. They are considering a greenhouse to further increase their options. Ken spends his time developing apps for agricultural and inspection drones and Mary Anne spends her time teaching piano to students of all ages.

Mary Anne Szollar- Board Member, Mentorship Officer

MCGA Team Members:

Michelle R- Food Bank Lead, Newsletter, Mentor

As one of the original founders of MCGA, Michelle is still active as our tireless food bank manager. She supports the garden in many ways; as a knowledgeable gardener who is always willing to lend a hand, as a historian whose knowledge base has no bounds, and she provides valuable gardening advice. If you don’t know her, you should seek her out!

John T- Food Bank Lead, Finance oversight

John tends to his plot with his wife Cheryl. The two have been gardening at Marymoor since the 90’s. Both are addicted to homegrown tomatoes and go into terrible withdrawal for nine or so months during the year. Corn is also a favorite! John plans much of the food bank work prior to and during the growing season. John leads food bank work parties to ensure maximum produce production and quality, and camaraderie. John also supports the MCGA board finance committee on an “as needed” basis in doing data analysis, particularly involving water usage, the garden’s largest expense.

Hannah K- Food Bank Lead

Hannah was born and raised in the beautiful Sammamish valley, just four miles from Marymoor and began gardening as a toddler, under her dad’s tutelage. She has been gardening at Marymoor now for 16 years and has worked as food bank lead for the past 3 seasons. She loves the gardens, the community and all she’s learned from others. What a grand experience!

Michelle U- Produce Driver Lead

Michelle leads the Hopelink produce delivery team. She takes great pride in this role to ensure the produce that gets harvested from the Food Bank at MCGA and personal donations, reach the hands of those who need it most in the community. She grew up in Iowa and studied Forestry in college. She later moved to the PNW and worked with the US Forest Service. Even though she now works in the tech industry, her love for sustainable agriculture is deeply rooted and she shares that passion with her husband, Eric, and children who are regulars at the garden.

Lillian- Grounds Team

Lillian has been a gardener at MCGA since 2018. As a new gardener, she was immediately welcomed by a volunteer team of fellow gardeners to assist her in clearing and preparing her plot for use. That experience left a powerful impression on her! There is a wonderful diverse community that just keeps on giving, whether it be volunteering to support the Food Bank efforts, to clearing abandoned plots, tending the ornamental/beneficial beds, or just helping a neighbor. Her go-to veggies are pole beans, indeterminate tomatoes, garlic, beets, and spring onions. In 2022, she tried trellising, and had an amazing yield of tomatoes, beans and cucumbers!!

Ann S- Grounds Team

Ann has been gardening at Marymoor since 2022. She loves spending time amongst like-minded people who enjoy tending and nurturing the gardens and learning from others about diverse food cultures through what they’re growing. Her favorite things to grow are unique things that can’t be found in stores, and garden snacks like ground cherries and snap peas to munch on and share while puttering in the garden.

Kris- MCGA Instagram Photographer

Kris has been involved in some field of photography for many years, including photojournalism, portraiture, and now nature photography. When she began gardening at MCGA, she noticed all the different birds that migrate through the park, including many that she’d never seen before. She says it’s a joy to be in nature and see the wildlife in the garden.