Farming & Food Security — Upcoming Springboard Series Event
- SHECP
- Jan 16
- 4 min read
SHECP is excited to host Maureen McNamara Best, Executive Director of the Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP), and Zach Zook, Chief Strategy Officer for the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, for a Springboard event on Tuesday, February 17th. Register here!
The discussion, moderated by Professor Ryan McCoy, will explore the ways in which different organizations across the country are leveraging their local networks and opportunities to integrate farming into their efforts to address food access barriers. This event is co-hosted by the Bucknell University's Center for Community Engaged Leadership, Learning & Research and Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee University.
Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Time: 6PM – 7PM ET
Who Should Attend: This event is open to the public.
About the Speakers:
Maureen McNamara Best, Local Environmental Agriculture Project
Maureen McNamara Best is the Executive Director of LEAP, Local Environmental Agriculture Project, in Roanoke, VA. Maureen loves food -- thinking about food, growing food, eating food, cooking food, and, of course, buying local food at LEAP's famers markets. Maureen has been working with food, agriculture, and community since the early 2000s. Her work and professional experience is wide-ranging and includes teaching high school agriculture in Raleigh, NC, working with migrant farmworkers in eastern North Carolina and in the Colorado plains, doing food safety inspections in Boulder, CO, and studying the economic viability of the local food system in Northern Colorado.
Maureen has an MA in Anthropology from Colorado State University and undergraduate degrees in Agriculture Education, Spanish, and Anthropology from North Carolina State University. Maureen is a Bloomberg Fellow at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health where she studies the intersection of food systems, community, and health. Maureen, her spouse, two young kids, and pup all love Roanoke and are happy to call Southwestern Virginia home.
Zach Zook, Central Pennsylvania Food Bank
As Chief Strategy Officer, Zach leads the Impact, Policy Research, and Government Relations teams at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. He is responsible for leading strategic planning of priorities and initiatives along with implementation across the organization. Zach and his team apply neighbor-centered research, data, and analysis to policies, programs, and process improvement internally, with partner agencies, and with anti-poverty policy advocacy work at the local, state, and federal level. Zach has been at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank since July 2021.
Prior to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, Zach worked in Beirut, Lebanon with Mennonite Central Committee where he developed and managed more than 50 humanitarian relief, food security, and livelihoods projects in Lebanon and Syria as part of the Syrian Humanitarian Crisis Response. Zach has a Master’s in Public Affairs in Domestic Policy from Princeton University where he focused on poverty, food insecurity, and public policy. During graduate school, Zach was a Policy Fellow in the New Jersey Governor’s Policy Office. He holds a Bachelor’s in Economics and Math from Eastern Mennonite University.
Ryan McCoy, Professor of Environmental Studies
Ryan McCoy, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Washington and Lee University, will serve as the event moderator. McCoy is a philosopher whose research focuses on social and ethical problems in climate change research and policy, as well as community-based approaches to address these challenges. He teaches Food Ethics, Environmental Humanities, Environmental Justice, and Introduction to Environmental Studies. Prior to joining the core faculty in Environmental Studies, he was a fellow at the USDA Midwest Climate Hub, and has experience conducting assessments and field work with farmers and other ag-professionals across the Midwest region.
About the Event Co-Hosts:
Bucknell University's Center for Community Engaged Leadership, Learning & Research
The Center's mission is to "build intentional and transformational opportunities for Bucknellians and community partners to collaborate equitably and learn deeply around identified priorities and strengths to positively impact our world." Learn more about the work on Bucknell's campus >>
Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee University
The Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee is a student run organization that aims to address food waste and food insecurity through a variety of outreach programs, and works to "strengthen bodies, empower minds and build communities through food." In addition to serving prepared meals, distributing groceries, and delivering weekly packages of non-perishable breakfast, lunch, and snack items, the Campus Kitchen coordinates an annual event series called Just Food. These events explore the intersection between the food system and issues of poverty and justice and have included lectures on food in the carceral system, redlining, and public policy. Learn more about Campus Kitchen at Washington and Lee >>
All SHECP Springboard events are designed to begin a conversation with a virtual, Consortium-wide webinar designed to provide background on a topic and introduce unique perspectives. You are then encouraged to continue the conversation within your own classroom or community. For each event, SHECP will provide several questions or prompts as one way to continue the conversation.
We invite you to incorporate these Springboard events into your class, programs, groups of faculty and staff, or broader community discussions in the way that works best for you!
Log-on to watch the event live as a group and then continue the conversation at the conclusion of the webinar
View the recording at later date as a group and then continue the conversation at the conclusion of the webinar
Ask participants to watch the event individually and then plan a follow-up discussion, either in-person or virtually
Assign the recording as an assignment or part of the assignment in preparation for a class or student group meeting
Use SHECP’s discussion questions or create questions that reflect local context
