2025 Food, Faith, & Farms Conference

Our 11th Conference ventures out to the Peninsula for the first time in San Mateo County at CZI Community Space in Redwood City, CA.  Our theme will focus on how faith-based organizations can facilitate access to facilities and people power to serve the community. Learn about resources and hear success stories in using assets like kitchens and cold storage to serve your community. Build your congregation’s capacity and your partner relationships to be prepared and to help make a difference in the future. We will also focus on how faith communities can support food access for immigrants, and refugees. You can attend all or part of the program. 

Ram Appalaraju
President of Insight World Aid

Ram Appalaraju is the president of Insight World Aid; a Buddhist organization focused on serving marginalized communities in local communities and global communities with their basic needs such as food, education. In addition, he offers listening and compassion circles to the communities to dignify and bring respect to underprivileged people. He also serves as a chaplain and spiritual caregiver at Santa Clara County prison and jails. He is also part of the Red Cross Disaster Care Spiritual Services team for Northern California.

Judy Carle

Sister Judy Carle has dedicated her life to education, formation, and leadership within the Sisters of Mercy including 16 years in Congregational Leadership (local and national) and working to establish the Institute of the Sisters of the Americas present in 12 countries. She has served in Mercy High Schools, formation for new members, and leadership roles with Mercy Housing (in 41states) and on the board of Common Spirit Healthcare system (142 hospitals in 21 states). A guiding presence in the original Nuns and Nones pilot program, (6 month residential in 2019) Sister Judy serves on it’s advisory committee, in addition to ministries with Dignity Health Board, Healing WELL (Tenderloin SF), Catherine Center (formerly incarcerated women), Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (immigration) and Mercy Volunteer Corps. Her lifelong commitment centers on education, justice, and fostering deep relationships across generations and communities.

Rev. Ambrose Carroll
Green the Church

A graduate of Oakland High School, Ambrose holds a B.S. in Clinical/Community Psychology from Florida Memorial University, a Masters in Divinity from Morehouse School of Religion, a Doctor of Divinity from United Theological Seminary, and a Masters of Business Administration from Golden Gate University’s Ageno School of Business. In 2009, Ambrose founded the Renewal Worship Center Christian Church of Denver, Colorado as one of the first foundationally environmentally friendly churches in the country. Carrol and his family are presently expanding their work to the Bay Area creating a National Campaign to “Green the Church”.

Michael Downs
Director of Justice and Kinship at Bishop O’Dowd High School

In his role as Director of Justice and Kinship at Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, Michael Downs leads a Creation Care team that lives out its school’s charism rooted in kinship with creation, social justice, and joy. In his role as teacher of a senior social action course and first-of-its-kind Spiritual Ecology course, he has developed curricula that is taking hold in other schools as well. His achievements in environmental education and justice, recognized by the Laudato Si Champion and St. Francis De Sales Excellence in Teaching Awards, reflect his commitment to nurturing leaders who will care for our common home. Michael also serves on the California Catholic Conference Environmental Stewardship Committee, and the Vatican’s Laudato Si Action Platform’s Working Group for Educational Institutions. He has a Masters in Education from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters in Christian Spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley.

Michael will talk about the award winning Life Lab at Bishop O’Dowd and engaging high school students to learn about climate and agriculture. Learn about the legacy of Pope Francis’ work Laudato Si, and how it has inspired work in the Catholic world and beyond to support sustainable food systems that address the climate crisis.

Bryce Galvan
Community Education Specialist at Northern Valley Catholic Social Services

Bryce Galvan is a Community Education Specialist with Northern Valley Catholic Social Services who specializes in Gardening Education. He has a B.A. in Science Education and an A.S. in Natural Sciences. Bryce has been with NVCSS for 6 years. He started as a resident manager for low income apartments in Trinity County. After leaving for several years to pursue a career as a consultant in the controlled environment agriculture industry he returned to NVCSS as a Garden Educator in Butte County. Having worked in both the Housing and CalFresh Healthy Living departments of NVCSS has given Bryce some unique insights into the challenges of some of our most vulnerable populations. He works with NVCSS multi-family properties, wellness centers, emergency shelters to combat food insecurity through gardening and nutrition services.

Mark Kokoletsos
Regional Food Rescue Manager at Second Harvest

Mark has been at Second Harvest of Silicon Valley for almost 25 years. In that time, he started as a Second Harvest driver dropping off orders to agencies and distribution sites and worked on the Second Helping program as a driver/coordinator which was an early version of food rescue, both grocery and prepared.

Mark then moved into the Programs team for about 13 years where he brought agencies into Second Harvest, administered and trained volunteers at and ran 30 Produce Mobile sites which were mobile farmers markets. Many of these morphed into regular full grocery distribution sites at local community centers, schools and churches. This was all volunteer run with the site staff and local volunteers performing most of the work many of whom were community members participating in the program. They brought in online ordering at the beginning of my tenure on this team which meant that the agencies that received food directly from Second Harvest would spend less time at our warehouse.

For the last 7 years Mark has worked with our Food Sourcing and Grocery Rescue teams where he is responsible for all retail donors in San Mateo and northern Santa Clara Counties. His team has increased the number of donors that we work with and agencies that we enable to pick up the donations rather than using our drivers. This ensures that the food goes directly to those who need it rather than through another step at our warehouse. They train and equip our agencies to take on this function, sometimes purchasing vehicles and food handling equipment.

In my personal time Mark likes to hike, garden and spend time with friends.

Mahtab Nikoo
MTO Shahmaghsoudi School of Islamic Sufism

Mahtab Nikoo is a long-time student of MTO School of Islamic Sufism in Hillsborough California. She has an MBA and MA in counseling and has worked with a foster care agency for many years. MTO Hillsborough volunteers have been collaborating with many local organizations in order to ensure a healthy planet and a future where both humans and the environment can thrive. One of our focuses has been on recycling food to avoid food waste, feeding the food insecure and creating urban gardening for food self-sufficiency, improvement of health, and community involvement around healthy food resources.
MTO is an international non-profit organization with centers on six continents with over one million members.
Sufism is a discipline, a system of education that facilitates the journey of self-knowledge, a journey which enables the individual to discover his stable reality, and ultimately the reality of religion. MTO Sustainability is committed to the future sustainability and prosperity of our planet. We recognize the urgency of climate change, and the level of collaboration needed to bring about lasting change.

Lesia Preston
Executive Director of Ecumenical Hunger Program

Lesia has been with EHP since 1982 and has been essential to program development over the past 2 decades. Although her journey in service started in her adolescent years, she has built her foundation in non-profit, holding several positions over the years until taking her role as the Executive Director. Lesia enjoys building out the future for EHP with the support of the Board of Directors. She has a degree in Social Science with a focus on Human Services and has extensive program administration and case management experience. She has served on many committees within the community in order to have a grasp on current needs, changes within the community and to be aware of resources available to EHP families. Lesia utilizes her extensive certifications (health and wellness, food and nutrition education, and health enhancement) and years of experience in the community to contribute knowledge for growing the organization and best assisting those who stand to benefit most, the community that she serves.

Isaac Spaeth

Isaac Spaeth currently serves on the education committee at Canticle Farms in Allegany, NY where he helps develop engaging learning opportunities and workshops for all ages at the farm. Besides this he runs a small urban farm to help feed his family and neighbors.

Steve Schwartz
Executive Director of Interfaith Food

The Interfaith Sustainable Food Collaborative is led by Steve Schwartz, an experienced local food systems advocate with more than 25 years of professional leadership working with farmers and farm policy to advance sustainable agriculture. He is the founder of California Farmlink which he directed for 13 years working to provide access to land and financing for beginning and immigrant farmers. He was the first staff person for the Community Alliance with Family Farmers’ Rural Policy Council. Steve is an innovator in farmland access and preservation, as well as affordable financing alternatives for family farmers.

He engaged as a volunteer in interfaith organizing in Sacramento; and has worked with Buddhist and Jewish communities to facilitate projects to connect congregants to the environment and food system. In 2012 he engaged with the Community Food Security Coalition’s Food and Faith Committee and the Sonoma County Community Garden Network. Under his 13 years of leadership, FarmLink organized the first agricultural Individual Development Account program and a successful loan program.