Members and Volunteers
We are a group of seed savers from coast to coast who protect Canada's seed biodiversity by growing it ourselves and sharing it with others. Every year, we multiply the most vulnerable seed varieties that we can, exchange seeds with each other, and keep those varieties alive and in cultivation for future gardeners to enjoy.
We are a membership organization with over 3000 members across Canada that make Seeds of Diversity a vibrant and visible part of the gardening and food security scene. Our funding primarily comes from charitable donations made by both members and non-members. [Become a member]
Besides multiplying rare seeds, we volunteer at over 150 Seedy Saturday and Seedy Sunday events across Canada, write articles for our popular monthly email bulletin, package seeds for community seed libraries, and help beginner seed savers learn the easy techniques for growing good seeds.
Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors is made up of volunteers, elected by our membership, who guide Seeds of Diversity's vision and oversee the work of our staff. We value contributions from members in all regions of Canada, from diverse backgrounds, who offer experience in non-profit governance and community leadership.
Kate Veinot, Chair - Currently the Director of Operations and Neighbourhood Planning at Just Food in Ottawa, ON
Rebecca Ivanoff, Secretary - Seed Program Manager, Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario. Ontario staff member of Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security. Seed grower, participatory plant breeder, educator.
Susan Ladner, Treasurer - Seed company owner, seed conservator, web site, online marketing, digital business experience.
Wendy Sauvé, Director - Organizing member of Edmonton Seedy Sunday since 2007. Committee to start up a seed library at the Edmonton Public Library. Currently serving as membership chair neighbourhood organization-the North Glenora Community League. Love of gardening and some easy-peasy seed saving experience.
Susan Carey, Director - Co-founder of the Guelph Tool Library, coordinator of the Guelph Seed Library, board experience in local arts, transit, and food resiliency agencies.
Katlynn Sverko, Director - 10+ years in the non-profit sector, entrepreneur, screenwriter, specialist in accessibility design, Director of Research at the Diversity Institute.
Patricia McKinnon-Coco, Director - Edmonton Seedy Saturday organizer, located at the Edmonton Urban Farm, community and school gardener.
Ryan Hayhurst, Director
Michael Smith, Director
Staff
Bob Wildfong, Executive Director
Bob has been saving seeds and teaching about garden biodiversity for over 30 years. He mixes science and storytelling to reveal the secret lives of seeds, plants, and pollinators. Bob has been a member of Seeds of Diversity since 1988, and became our first Executive Director in 2002, after a career in software engineering. He teaches garden and food history at the Waterloo Region Museum, and as a board member of the Pollinator Partnership Canada helps build the movement to preserve pollinators. He is a past president of the Culinary Historians of Canada, and delights in explaining how we can learn about future food sustainability by remembering past lessons.
Angie Koch, Seed Library Coordinator
Angie is a local, organic vegetable farmer and educator. When she is not out in the fields at her farm near Waterloo, ON, Angie manages the collection of seeds stored on site and works, coordinates our volunteer grow-outs, and works with other seed libraries to establish protocols and provide training materials for the storage and record keeping of seeds in their collections. Angie is also proud to be the first Canadian farmer to certify herself under the Bee-Friendly Farmer program in 2012!
Christine Sloboda, Office Administrator
Christine volunteered in our office for many years, and joined our staff in 2019. When you email our office to inquire about membership, donations, Seedy Saturdays, or a hundred other things, Christine will be there to help you.
Email: office@seeds.ca
Rayna Almas, Program Director - Youth in Food Systems; Media and Seedy Saturday Coordinator
Rayna joined our team in 2019 to help grow our School Food Gardens program. She has since become an integral part of operations and development for our youth programming. She is also the Seeds of Diversity Media Coordinator in addition to supporting national Seedy Saturday efforts each fall and winter. She has a degree in Child, Youth, and Family from the University of Guelph and has completed specialized coursework in Psychology, Food Security & Urban Agriculture, and Business Administration.
When not working, Rayna enjoys hiking, camping, trying new recipes, and continuing her search for the greatest latte in Canada (she invites any hiking and/or cafe recommendations, a worthy distraction to her inbox)
Email: rayna@seeds.ca
Andrew Jackson, Program Manager - Youth in Food Systems
Email: andrew@seeds.ca
Kendra Salvatore, Program Coordinator - Youth in Food Systems
Email: kendra@seeds.ca