Helen Nadel, Executive Director

Welcome to the SCG + EATS team, Helen!

Bio coming soon!

Reach out to Helen at helen@summitcommunitygardens.org

Melissa Soltesz, Garden Director

Melissa Soltesz joined the Summit Community Gardens team as Garden Director in 2022. Her passion for gardening and love for this community brought her to the position. She originally moved to Park City in 1996 and has lived here on and off for over 20 years. Melissa received her bachelors degree in art and dedicated over 25 years to representing artists in galleries in New York City, Portland, and Park City and still maintains her art appraisal business. She started at Summit Community Gardens as an enthusiastic volunteer and quickly turned this passion into a career. Melissa helped to create and is the lead grower for the Food Farmacy program, which distributes fresh produce to families in need in our community. She is a certified Master Gardener from Utah State University and is currently working to complete the Market Gardener Masterclass, created by famed farmer, author, educator, and advocate Jean-Martin Fourtier, who founded the Market Gardener Institute. Melissa loves supporting the community gardeners, as well as discovering new opportunities to engage and excite Park City residents about growing and eating healthy food. When Melissa isn’t in the garden obsessing over tomatoes, you’ll find her outside enjoying the mountains with her sweet pup, Foxy Brown!

Reach out to Melissa at melissa@summitcommunitygardens.org

Erica Snyder, Director of Youth Education

Erica is excited about garden education because it combines two of her passions: working with children and growing food! She has worked as an teacher in Montessori schools for the last five years, teaching first through sixth grade. STEM subjects were her favorite as they can spark curiosity in young minds. She earned her bachelor's degree in social work from the University of Utah, with a focus on child development. She earned her masters degree from Westminster College in nonprofit administration, completing her thesis on local food systems. She has previously managed SCG and another community garden in Salt Lake City. She has gained extensive experience: working with with children and families, working in local economies and working within the local food system. When she’s not at work, Erica enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, and recreating in the mountains.

Reach out to Erica at erica@summitcommunitygardens.org

Kristy Kennedy, Volunteer Coordinator

Kristy grew up in the midwest where corn was abundant and an intricate part of the summer cycle of life. Many weekends were shared harvesting home-grown food, shucking corn, snapping green beans and making hand churned ice cream with her grandparents. The past twenty-two years of living in the mountains of Colorado and Utah have nurtured a call to live as harmoniously as possible with nature through the study of plants; their medicinal and nutritional values. She completed the USU High Altitude Master Gardener program in 2016 and thereafter served in the role of assistant garden manager for Summit Community Gardens for two seasons. Simultaneously, she held the position of Secretary on the SCG Board. Following a decade of self and online study, she completed her herbal medicine certification with GreenThread Herbs in Salt Lake City. Kristy has been a yoga instructor for twenty years and teaches public and private classes around Park City.

Reach out to Kristy at kristy@summitcommunitygardens.org

Brightie Huddleston, Nutrition and Sustainability Educator

Growing food and healthy eating go hand in hand and that is why it makes sense for EATS and SCG to join forces!  Brightie is excited to bring her passion for food to the team as the Nutrition and Sustainability Educator, and learn more about high altitude gardening along the way.  In 2021, Brightie graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor’s in Food Science and Nutrition concentrating in Food Safety.  Before CSU, she attended culinary school for a year where she learned the basics of cooking and has been building on them ever since.  This past school year, she has been working in elementary schools in Park City teaching students about cooking and nutrition.  It has been very fun designing different lessons and recipes and she is thrilled to keep sharing her knowledge as we strive for a healthier generation.  When she's not in the kitchen or the classroom, she’s probably in the mountains snowboarding or backpacking. 

Reach out to Brightie at brightie@eatsparkcity.org

Kellie Hill, Director of Operations

Kellie comes from a background of AmeriCorps, CSA farming, environmental education, and sustainability. She studied Geography at Ohio University where she developed her love for sustainable food systems in Athens. Throughout college, Kellie frequently visited the student gardens through plant biology and food matters classes as well as for seeking oasis. She enjoys the manual labor and hard work that is required of growing food. Some of her fondest memories are through food and farming bringing some of her favorite people together. She is excited to serve as the Director of Operations for SCG EATS as her passion for growing food also requires extensive work on the back end to make that access more equitable to the community. Kellie loves cleaning, organizing, making new connections, and seeing others bloom in joy. When she’s not in the garden you might find her running ridgelines, rock climbing, swimming with her dog, baking bread, snowboarding, or playing with power tools.

Reach out to Kellie at kellie@eatsparkcity.org

Summit Community Gardens and EATS Board of Directors

  • Board positions are three-year appointments.

  • We meet on the third Tuesday of each month alternating between 9:00-10:30 am and 6:00-7:30 pm

  • We have 100% participation from the board for financial contributions.

  • If you want to join our team or volunteer, email the Board President, Melissa Stock at melissa.stock@eatsparkcity.org.

Current board members

Brian Reeves
Caitlin Ladd
Claire Trapp
Joan Meixner
Kelly Vendetti
Krystina Hawryluk
Lindsay Capoccia
Melissa Stock
Rebecca Becker
Rebecca Blanchette
Seychelle Marcus
Sloane Johnson
Wendi Laurence