{"id":44602,"date":"2020-01-17T11:21:40","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T16:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=44602"},"modified":"2020-01-27T07:57:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T12:57:04","slug":"tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Brenneman ’92 to lead Project GROWS agricultural education nonprofit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Project GROWS announced Thursday the hire of Tom Brenneman ’92<\/strong> as its new executive director. Brenneman will start on the job on Monday, Jan. 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are thrilled to have Tom come on board,\u201d Project GROWS Board President James Goalder said in a press release. \u201cTom\u2019s experience and qualifications made him an easy choice and we can\u2019t wait to see everything he accomplishes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project GROWS <\/a>is a non-profit, educational farm for youth on four acres in the Central Shenandoah Valley. The mission is to improve the health of children and youth in Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County through garden-based food education and extending access to local and nutritious food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The non-profit offers field trips to school groups, several healthy food incentive programs and Farm to School tastings in local school cafeterias. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the help of volunteers, Project GROWS cultivates four acres of fruit and vegetable production emphasizing ecological practices. Produce from the farm travels into the community through Community Supported Agriculture shares, partnerships with public  schools and local restaurants, and finally through individual sales made at farmer\u2019s markets situated in underserved communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 1992 graduate with a degree in social work, Brenneman has retained close ties to Eastern Mennonite University in various ways, including as an adjunct professor in the pre-law program designing and teaching a class on child welfare and juvenile justice. With professors at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP), he has also collaborated on projects addressing migration in the Sonoran borderlands and in work with 3D Human Security, an organization formerly based at CJP that encouraged U.S. government agencies to protect humanitarian space while embracing conflict prevention and peacebuilding principles.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More recently, Brenneman worked with the student-run Sustainable Food Initiative in his leadership role at The Farm at Willow Run<\/a>, which is owned by Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. He runs a four-acre, farm-to-table program serving 1,600 meals daily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Students with the Sustainable Food Initiative at EMU harvest vegetables at The Farm at Willow Run. (Photo by Michael Sheeler)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited to come on board to work with the amazing staff and board of Project GROWS,\u201d Brenneman said. \u201cI\u2019m the one who is excited to see where we GROW as a team with the amazing  work underway and the strength of Project GROWS\u2019 mission and impact! I\u2019m humbled to share in this opportunity and eager to join as a member of the team in this new season of growing, learning and community impact with Project GROWS.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Project GROWS announced Thursday the hire of Tom Brenneman ’92 as its new executive director. Brenneman will start on the job on Monday, Jan. 20. \u201cWe are thrilled to have ... read more about Tom Brenneman ’92 to lead Project GROWS agricultural education nonprofit<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,17562,5643],"tags":[],"feature":[17426],"class_list":["post-44602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-digest","category-environmental-sustainability","feature-myemu-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nTom Brenneman '92 to lead Project GROWS agricultural education nonprofit - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tom Brenneman '92 to lead Project GROWS agricultural education nonprofit - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Project GROWS announced Thursday the hire of Tom Brenneman ’92 as its new executive director. Brenneman will start on the job on Monday, Jan. 20. \u201cWe are thrilled to have\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-17T16:21:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-27T12:57:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2020\/01\/20150724-Farm-at-Willow-Run-036-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/\",\"name\":\"Tom Brenneman '92 to lead Project GROWS agricultural education nonprofit - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2020\/01\/20150724-Farm-at-Willow-Run-036.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-17T16:21:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-27T12:57:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2020\/01\/20150724-Farm-at-Willow-Run-036.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2020\/01\/20150724-Farm-at-Willow-Run-036.jpg\",\"width\":3888,\"height\":2592,\"caption\":\"Photo by: Michael Sheeler\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tom Brenneman ’92 to lead Project GROWS agricultural education nonprofit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tom Brenneman '92 to lead Project GROWS agricultural education nonprofit - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tom Brenneman '92 to lead Project GROWS agricultural education nonprofit - EMU News","og_description":"Project GROWS announced Thursday the hire of Tom Brenneman ’92 as its new executive director. Brenneman will start on the job on Monday, Jan. 20. \u201cWe are thrilled to have","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2020-01-17T16:21:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-27T12:57:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2020\/01\/20150724-Farm-at-Willow-Run-036-1024x683.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/","name":"Tom Brenneman '92 to lead Project GROWS agricultural education nonprofit - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2020\/01\/20150724-Farm-at-Willow-Run-036.jpg","datePublished":"2020-01-17T16:21:40+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-27T12:57:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2020\/01\/20150724-Farm-at-Willow-Run-036.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2020\/01\/20150724-Farm-at-Willow-Run-036.jpg","width":3888,"height":2592,"caption":"Photo by: Michael Sheeler"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2020\/tom-brenneman-92-to-lead-project-grows-agricultural-education-nonprofit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tom Brenneman ’92 to lead Project GROWS agricultural education nonprofit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245","name":"admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44602"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44688,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44602\/revisions\/44688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44602"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=44602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}