Staff & Board
BOARD OF DIRECTORS -2022
Emily Bidgood, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee
Joel Hausser, Retired, B&J Farms
Lori Tipton, Retired
Brooke Wedding, Wedding Farms
Dawn White, Appalachian Hemp Farm
Brent Woolsey, Woolsey & Woolsey Law / Woolsey Overlook Farm
Ian Kirkpatrick
Executive Director
Vicky Rowe
Education Director
Vicky has been the Farm Day Camp counselor and Teen Program assistant for the past two seasons. She brings 20+ years of experience owning and operating her own equestrian facility for children and youth in California and a life long commitment to teaching children, including a degree in Children’s Psychology.
As Education Director, Vicky oversees the team of educators who offer Rural Resources’ excellent farm and food experiences, principally the Teen Training Program, in-school food and nutrition programming.
Position funded by the TN Department of Health Project Diabetes program.
Charlesey Charlton-McCallister
AmeriCorps member serving as the Farm Sustainability Manager
A graduate from MTSU with a bachelor's degree in Agriculture and Art, Charlesey has taught at North East State Community College while also taking over the family farm. She manages around 100 acres of land and a sheep operation. She keeps horses and loves endurance long distance riding.
The Farm Sustainability Manager works with the whole team to work towards Rural Resources farm being economically and environmentally sustainable within the educational context. They also teach in the educational programs.
Karen Powell
Senior Services SC
Facilities Maintenance
Karen keeps the facility welcoming for education and event rentals.
Teddy Dabbs
Grounds Manager
Teddy cares for livestock on a daily basis as well as overseeing gardens, repairs and maintenance. To everything there is a season on the farm. Teddy grew up on a Greene County farm and enjoys his time working in the country. When we have a cow in milk he loves showing children how to milk by hand.
Rushmie Bakshi
Culinary Educator / Kitchen Manager
Rushmie has been volunteering with youth and children for the past 15 years. She started actively cooking while a student at Dalhousie University, in Nova Scotia. She is passionate about food and looks forward to passing that love on to the community. Rushmie spent several years in North Carolina before moving to the Greeneville area in 2004. Two of her children were Farm Day Campers and volunteers.
The Culinary Educator leads the Teen culinary portion of the program, as well as teaches nutrition and love for fresh fruits and vegetables in -schools nad for field trips.
Rushmie is the on site Chef for Rural Resources events. She manages our fully commercial Kitchen to exact standards.
Parke Brumit
Community Outreach & Events Coordinator
Parke Brumit has joined the Rural Resources team as the Community Outreach and Events Coordinator. You may know Parke from the stage, as a teacher, organizer, and dancer for the Central Ballet of Greeneville. She is a Greeneville native who brings incredible talents in finances, public relations, communications, management.
If you want to sponsor an event or learn more about donating, contact Parke at events@ruralresources.
April Neas
Accounts Manager
Bookkeeper
April manages the accounting and processes grant reports. In addition to keeping the books and financial procedures in place, April works for Greeneville Schools, and volunteer in her church.