The St. Louis Earth Day staff and Board of Directors is pleased to welcome Jaime Kelley to the team as the new Green Dining Alliance Program Coordinator! Jaime will be working with stakeholders to continue to develop the program, and with restaurants as they make the commitment to sustainability.
Jaime presenting on the GDA at a Blue Skies Recycling event at The Magic House.
As a restaurant manager and food server fresh out of Boston College, Jaime was amazed by the amount of surplus food available at the end of every Sunday Brunch shift. Unable to stomach the idea of having it go to waste, she began a program of donating the extra food to a local emergency shelter/soup kitchen. She has always seen food as an important social, economic, and environmental issue of our times.
With a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering & Urban Policy and Planning from Tufts University, Jaime has been working in the environmental field since 1997. She has been actively involved in greening the built environment in St. Louis since 2001, and has been recognized as a LEED AP since 2004. Over the years, she has gained a strong technical background that informs her working knowledge of best practices in the management of natural resources and building performance.
When it comes to her thoughts on restaurants today, Jaime feels that it is not only a question of salvaging the food surplus, but also a rich opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue and action focused on improving the environmental footprint of facility operations and the wider food production system.
Jaime’s two sons can attest to the fact that she is not known for her culinary artistry (she’s much more comfortable as dishwasher). However, she is delighted to help the St. Louis region continue to go green – dish by dish!
