Hannah Reinhart
Hannah Reinhart, Community Development Coordinator
Started at GGI: 2007
What I Do at GGI: I do the volunteer coordinating for individuals and groups and am the point person for all interested or active volunteers; Supervise the community outreach VISTA member, practicum students and most interns; Work closely with the Community and Youth Program coordinators to ensure their programs are running effectively; Oversee and facilitate GGI evaluation efforts in conjunction with major grants.
Background: I have a B.A. in cultural studies from Hampshire College in western Massachusetts and an M.S. in Mass Communications from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville across the river. I grew up in St. Louis’ Shaw neighborhood (where my parents still live) and was introduced to the gardening profession through a job at a company called Flora and Fauna during a time when I was taking a break from school. I enjoyed the physical and environmental aspects of the work, but was not satisfied dead-heading daylilies for rich people who wouldn’t even let us use their bathrooms. I was 19 years old when I read my first article on urban farming and something clicked. I put the pieces of St. Louis’ thousands of vacant lots and my joy of gardening together and fantasized about becoming an urban farmer then and there. After going back to school and finishing my bachelor’s, I worked on organic farms in three states in order to gain the practical skills needed to launch my own operation in my hometown. I learned so much, made life-long friends and don’t regret a second of it, but somewhere along the way, reality set in. I was not making enough money to save up for anything, didn’t have any of the credit or capital needed to start a farm, and was facing a stubbornly unimaginative city that remains infinitely protective of its undeveloped and potentially taxable properties. I decided to go back to school and earn my master’s, and serendipitously discovered Gateway Greening was hiring for my position right around the time I was graduating. I realized that by joining Gateway Greening, I could not only accomplish but multiply many of the same goals I initially set out to achieve through urban farming by giving community members the practical tools they need to transform vacant eyesores into food-producing gardens. And I’ve been meeting amazing people, eating heartily and enjoying life every since!
Presently: My husband, George, and I live very simple, thrifty lives filled with animals, good food and beer. George homebrews and otherwise makes drinking and sharing quality beer a life priority, and I grow, scavenge for and preserve all the vegetables we can eat. George is a natural (and former professional) cook and is highly skilled at turning whatever vegetables I tell him need to be used first into tasty meals. Friends joke that you never know what's hiding in our enchiladas, but they sure as heck taste good. Other than gardening, eating and beer-drinking, we enjoy walking our five-year-old Chow/Shepard mix, Chimay, on her daily walks, doing our best to keep our hens happy and alive, cuddling with our two cats while watching movies, reading, commuting by bike, and other completely mundane activities associated with daily life.
Recent Photos
