FARMINGTON — United Way of the Tri-Valley Area welcomes two AmeriCorps members to serve for one year, initially, of a two-year program called Food for the Future.
Danielle Blair and Abigail Howell will focus on addressing food insecurity in Greater Franklin County. Specifically, they will develop a program to increase access to locally grown nutritious food; foster greater communication among 13 area food pantries to leverage more resources; and recruit and train food pantry volunteers to meet the growing need.
Howell graduated from Mt. Blue High School in Farmington this past spring. While in high school, she was involved with Interact, serving as president from 2016-17, during which time her duties included finding ways to volunteer. She has volunteered with many organizations, including United Way, Rotary and Safe Passage. In 2017, she traveled with a group of Rotaract members to Guatemala to serve in the program Safe Passage. She plans to attend college to study global studies. She lives in Farmington.
Blair graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree and a minor in Spanish from the honors program at the University of Maine at Farmington in 2017. Her degree was designed to explore the effects of politics and culture on individual circumstance.
She has been active in community service. Most recently, she volunteered for the first Color Me United 5k Run/Walk and filled totes for Totes for Teachers through United Way of the Tri-Valley Area.
While studying at the University College Cork in Ireland, she helped organize several citywide language exchange meetings and assisted Amnesty International in organizing a full-day event that brought refugees to the college campus for cooking, language, aerobics, money-management and social-living classes.
After her service, she plans to attend the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. She lives in Farmington.
Abigail Howell
Danielle Blair
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