Board of Directors

Danielle Estes - President

Danielle Estes is currently pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She has a strong interest in social justice issues as well as community education and action. She has remained active and served as an officer in several student organizations. She was recently reintroduced to local food issues as a research adviser for the Southern Illinois Community Food Assessment. She hopes to use the skills she has gained as a researcher and educator to work with community members to better understand and solve our collective issues.

Kristin Pass - Vice President

Kristin Pass is a native Southern Illinoisan who recently relocated back to the area. She is relatively new to the local food movement but has a background in community organizing as well as experience working and volunteering for various non-profit organizations. In addition, she brings experience as an analyst for a large retail corporation and more recently as a small business owner. Currently, she works at Neighborhood Coop Grocery in the Produce Department.

Mike Fiello - Secretary

Mike Fiello is the managing attorney of the Southern Regional office of Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation. Land of Lincoln is the civil legal services provider for 23 counties in southern Illinois offering high quality legal assistance to low-income people. He has been with Land of Lincoln for 26 years. He previously served on the board of the Neighborhood Co-op Grocery Store.

Amanda Pankau - Treasurer

Amanda's involvement with Food Works began as a Community Outreach Intern assigned to help organize Food Work's 2010 Documentary Series. Amanda has a masters degree from Southern Illinois University in Wildlife Ecology and currently works as an Environmental Consultant in Murphysboro. Her knowledge and concern for the environment and natural resources led to an interest in sustainable agriculture and local food. In her spare time she enjoys gardening, spending time outside, and keeping chickens.

Missy Greathouse

Missy is the Program Coordinator at Dispute Resolution Institute, Inc. Dispute Resolution Institute is a local non-profit that offers mediation services. Mediation is a process that encourages parties with a dispute to resolve their differences themselves with the help of a mediator who keeps the parties on task and encourages them to speak honestly and respectfully with each other. An attorney, Missy oversees the First Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Family Mediation Program, which provides free or low cost mediation to indigent parents with custody and visitation issues. She also oversees the Illinois Agricultural Mediation Program, a statewide program offering mediation to farmers and others who have disputes with federally funded agriculture programs.

Michael Hatfield

Mike is a graduate of Southern Illinois University Carbondale with a degree in Forestry. He and his wife own Flyway Family Farm, a nine-acre farm in Makanda, where they have been growing sustainably since 2008. They raise a wide range of plants, animals and fungi, with an emphasis on self-reliance. A 2012 graduate of Southern Illinois Farm Beginnings, Mike is expanding their mushroom enterprise this year in order to supply the region with fresh specialty mushrooms.

Jill Rendleman