*cino Work, People

Welcoming New *cino staff: Nikki

This week we are continuing our series of introductions to our Summer Associates, Next up is Nikki.

Nikki Ambs, a Three Rivers local, is no stranger to *cino and The Huss Project. Thanks to her Aunt, Julie Keefer, a prominent member of the *cino community, she learned all about what makes our organization unique years ago. She was drawn to this position because she wants to “help the community through service and make new connections with people.” 

In Nikki’s own words, her passion for joining *cino came from a longing to better understand the community she grew up in. 

“As someone from Three Rivers, I want to get more involved in the community that I am from.  I think it’s important to learn more about where you are from, and through this opportunity I am able to do so!”

Nikki is currently attending Western Michigan University where she studies Graphic Design and music.

We can’t wait to see the insights that Nikki gleans from this Summer at The Huss Project.

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*cino Work, People

Welcoming New *cino staff: Tiffany

This week we are continuing to introduce you to the newest members of our *cino community. It is our hope that you will better understand what drives us towards doing this work by getting to know our staff members.

Next up is Tiffany Chiang.

Tiffany, a native of Kalamazoo, developed an interest in being an AmeriCorps Summer Associate after her friend and current *cino AmeriCorps Staff member Jeff Torano,  told her about the great work the organization was doing.

After graduating college, Tiffany was confused about what she wanted to do with her life. She was interested in working outdoors and with other people so the opportunity to work at The Huss Project seemed like a perfect fit!

“Jeff was actually the one who told me about CINO! After hearing about it from him I was interested in learning more and found the Huss Project home page. It seemed like a community that I would fit well into and I was really interested in learning more about how an urban farm actually runs.”

In her free time Tiffany enjoys spending time outside hiking, playing piano, working with ceramics, and rock climbing.

We can’t wait to hear more about her experience at the end of the Summer. 

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*cino Work, People

Welcoming New *cino staff: Jaz

With the start of Summer comes beautiful, new opportunities to build community and grow our organization. This year we welcomed three AmeriCorps Summer Associates to help maintain our flourishing urban farm at The Huss Project. This week we want to introduce you to one of them.

Jaz Popa, originally from New Jersey, has called Michigan home since college. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and a minor in Food Systems. Her passion for farming, specifically urban farming, came after taking a few classes in food systems and seeing the need for a major societal shift in the way we approach food.   

She decided to join *cino for the Summer because it aligned with her pa

ssion for helping others  as well as “to help provide food insecure community areas with fresh,  healthy food and increase food access / knowledge.” 

Jaz also felt that the opportunity to work with AmeriCorps would provide her “a way for me to get involved in my neighboring communities to work on preventing poverty through food access”. 

When she’s not saving the world from hunger, Jaz loves visiting the beach and her family in New Jersey, growing her own food, and painting. 

We are so thrilled Jaz has joined us for this short season and we appreciate the dedication she has already brought to her work at *cino.

Stayed tuned for more introductions of the new *cino staff in upcoming weeks!

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