Staff and Volunteers

Susan Witt, Executive Director Susan has been the executive director of the E. F. Schumacher Society in Great Barrington, Massachusetts since its founding in 1980, leading its national and international educational programs. In her home region of the Berkshires she co-created the BerkShares local currency program and its predecessor the SHARE micro-credit program, administers the Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires, and serves on boards of other community organizations. Her essays on regional economics appear in a variety of books and publications and her work has received prominent press coverage.

Christopher Lindstrom, Special Projects Coordinator Chris has worked for the Schumacher Society since 2003. He organized the Society's June 2004 conference "Local Currencies in Twenty-First Century: Understanding Money, Building Local Economies, Renewing Community." The conference brought together 300 local currency theorists and activists from 17 countries in a seminal gathering. Chris is a founding board member of BerkShares, a local currency for the Southern Berkshire region. He organizes and presents at conferences on the subject of transforming money. A graduate of Simon's Rock College of Bard, he grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Michael Gordon , Outreach Coordinator Michael attended the University of New Hampshire where he concentrated on environmental conservation and environmental philosophy. After graduating he joined the Student Conservation Association as an intern working in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness of central Idaho. His time spent in Idaho, Montana and western Massachusetts has helped bring a deep appreciation of wilderness and wilderness issues to the work of the E. F. Schumacher Society. He is interested in how wilderness can be part of local economic systems.

Sarah Hearn, Systems and Office Manager Sarah Hearn recently moved to the Berkshires from her home in New York City. She came to join a group of her peers who have created a group called "Think OutWord" to self-educate themselves in the social and economic thinking of Rudolf Steiner. She brings strong academic skills from her training at Connecticut College. Well organized, self-motivated, a quick learner, she has multiple responsibilities with the Schumacher Society including office support to the board of BerkShares, publications coordinator, web updating, and volunteer coordinator.

 

Interns

Chad has spent the last few years traveling the United States. He spent close to 6 months coordinating volunteers in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and also spent two summers working with children in northern California. His experiences have given him an appreciation for the rich cultures and traditions that make up our country, and have also illustrated to him the importance of rethinking our relationships to our natural resources. Chad graduated from Michigan State University in Political Science.

Beeta Jahedi is currently a student at Simon's Rock College. She interns two days a week doing grant research, database management, and providing a helping hand wherever is needed.

Amalia has recently joined the Schumacher Society team. She is undertaking the task of organizing and cataloguing E. F. Schumacher's personal archives. Her interests include sustainable food economies and agricultural communities.

Tuesday Volunteers

Jean Dillard's experience as a nurse made her conscious of the need for affordable health care for all. She has been a tireless campaigner for single payer health insurance, writing letters, meeting with state and federal representatives, and doing the hard work of community organizing. She is likewise an advocate for election financing reform and an advocate for those treated unfairly in all walks of life. Her favorite book is The Way, by Edward Goldsmith, founder of Britain's The Ecologist magazine. She admires the international peace efforts of Kofi Anon. It was because of Jean's enthusiasm to help the E. F. Schumacher Society that we initiated the Tuesday volunteer day.

Tuesdays are famous for the great lunches. Wanda Weigert has taken responsibility for these lunches for the past five years. Born in Poland, she left as a small girl during the War, attending school in France, Portugal, and England. Following the War she moved to Venezuela where she met her husband, Tony. They moved to the states, then retired in the Berkshires. Young at heart, a succession of interns have come to love Wanda. Their time in the kitchen helping her cook are among their favorite memories of their work with the E. F. Schumacher Society. The conversation can occur in Spanish or French or English without a hitch.

Sarah Hudson has been a dedicated friend and volunteer at the Schumacher Society for over a year. She is a devoted supporter of local farmers, taking a keen and active interest in their issues. In a broader sense, she is interested in the intersection between agriculture and human rights, and has also been involved with Central American issues stemming from this dichotomy. She serves on a local planning board.

Elinor Hamill is a Vermonter by birth. Those of us familiar with the Green State know that means independent, short on talking, long on working, and tough both spiritually and physically. Add to that a love of music and you have Elinor. No library task is too demanding. If a cataloguing job is incomplete on Tuesday, she will be back Wednesday and Thursday to make sure it is done. A resident of the Forest Row neighborhood on Community Land Trust land, it is a pleasure to have Elinor join the team.

Ann Braxton traveled the world working as a librarian in Korea, Germany, and other countries before settling in the Berkshires. A lover of opera, proficient with advances in computer technology, a wide ranging reader, informed on contemporary political issues, Ann brings her professional experience and knowledge to her work with the E. F. Schumacher Library.

Al Acciani ran a popular dental practice in Hudson, New York for over 40 years, but he still found time to ski, fly planes, attend concerts, travel, eat well, and enjoy the company of family and friends. His innate warmth, charm, and humor enliven the luncheon table on Tuesdays. He quips that he never did his own bookkeeping while in practice, but he cheerfully pays the bills and deposits the checks for the E. F. Schumacher Society on his Tuesday visits.