A Gouverneur native and St. Lawrence
University graduate, Gloria McAdam was lured awayfrom the North Country for a
job in Hartford, Connecticut. For the
many years that she lived in Connecticut, she maintained close ties with the
North Country through her large extended family. When the opportunity arose to return to the
area, and continue her thirty years of work fighting hunger, she jumped at the
chance to join GardenShare in January of 2015.
First
organized in 1996, GardenShare is a locally led, nonprofit organization working
to end hunger and strengthen the local food system in the North Country. The levels of poverty and food insecurity in
the counties of the North Country are among the highest in New York State,
behind only the Bronx, Kings, and Manhattan. In St. Lawrence County, 17.5
percent of the population lives in poverty including 23.1 percent of our
children. One study estimates that 1,800 children are hungry here, with 6,800
more at risk of hunger. St. Lawrence County's food pantries distribute nearly
800,000 meals per year.
GardenShare has gained wide
experience and visibility through its innovative efforts to address the problem
of hunger. GardenShare's work to solve hunger opened our eyes to broader issues
of food and farming and public policy. Today GardenShare embraces a
far-reaching vision of a secure and fair food system. GardenShare unites diverse constituencies —
consumers, farmers, environmentalists, business owners and people living on
limited incomes — to implement innovative programs that connect food, farming,
and rural revitalization.
From 1984 until 2014, Gloria served as
President and CEO of Foodshare, the Feeding America regional food bank serving
the Hartford area. During this time, the
need within that region grew tremendously, but so did Foodshare's response. In 2013, Foodshare distributed 14 million
pounds of donated food, with a wholesale value of well over $20 million, to 300 local organizations that feed
hungry people. This is more than one
hundred times as much food as was distributed in 1984! In addition to this tremendous growth in the
amount of food distributed, Gloria provided leadership to Foodshare's
involvement in education and outreach efforts, advocacy on behalf of hungry
people, building a stable resource base for the organization, and the
acquisition of a permanent warehouse facility for Foodshare.
Gloria has been involved in hunger
issues and food banking on both a regional and national level. Gloria served for two years on the Board of Directors
of Feeding America, the country’s largest charitable food program. Gloria was a founding member and former chair
of the City of Hartford Food Policy Commission, the Connecticut Food Policy
Council, and End Hunger Connecticut! In
addtion to many local organizations honoring her work in Connecticut, Gloria
was honored in 2002 by Secretary of Agriculture Ann Venemann with the
Secretary’s Honor Award, the highest recognition bestowed by the United States
Department of Agriculture.
Prior to Foodshare, Gloria was a
District Executive for the Long Rivers Council, Boy Scouts of America for five
years. She was among the first women to
work in this capacity with the Boy Scouts.
Gloria has also worked in the national headquarters of the United Mine
Workers of America and the office of Congressman Donald Mitchell, both in
Washington, D.C.
Gloria has a bachelor's degree in
government from St. Lawrence University, where as a student, she was a Trustee
Scholar. St. Lawrence awarded her the
"Sol Feinstone Alumni Award," its highest recognition for distinguished
alumni, in 1992. Gloria resides in West
Pierrepont, where she shares her home with two large rescued dogs of questionable
lineage. Gloria's children are scattered
to the four winds and all engaged in service to humanity, which makes her very
happy (the service part, not the scattered part!).
