Mission: GRuB grows healthy food, people, and community. With roots in the land, we create opportunities for people to learn, lead, and thrive.
About: GRuB works at the intersection of food, education, and health systems. With roots in the land, we create opportunities for people to learn, lead, and thrive. We envision an equitable world where we are all nourished by healthy relationships, resilient community, and good food. Each year, GRuB directly engages approximately 1,500 Thurston County residents of all ages in relationships-based programming around growing & preparing good food. We primarily work with marginalized young people with low incomes and/or behavioral and disciplinary indicators of high ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) scores, families with low incomes, students, seniors experiencing hunger, tribal communities, and veterans.
Location: Olympia, WA
Deb Crockett
Co-Executive Director
As an environmental educator, Deb fell in love with farms as a place for gathering community, connecting with the land, and providing nourishment–both for individuals and for deeper social change. During 15 years at Angelic Organics Learning Center in Northern Illinois, she developed innovative farm-based educational programming while growing her own non-profit leadership skills and agricultural experience. Deb returned to her home state of Washington in 2019 to join the GRuB team, where she resonates with the playfulness, intentionality, kindness, groundedness, and adaptability of the GRuB community. Her hidden talents include delivering goat kids, solving really hard puzzles, disguising vegetables in desserts, and generating a punny twist for whatever task is at hand. On a weekend day, you might find her foraging huckleberries on a mountain trail, exploring a tidepool, grubbing around in the garden soil, or snuggling her Aussiedoodle Lucy.
Sade Gilliom
Co-Executive Director
Sade has worked with four Olympia, WA-based, non-profit orgs and has 14 years of experience in environmental education, program development and event management. They first came to GRuB as an Americorps Member with the GRuB Garden Project in 2017; since then, they’ve held a variety of roles including: Summer Camp Leader, Grant Coordinator, Operations Manager and Finance and Land Stewardship Manager and recently moved into the Co-Executive Director position with Deb Crockett. Starting this year, they are collaborating with the Department of Youth, Children, and Families to launch a garden program with youth who are incarcerated. Sade’s passions include regenerative farming, wild crafting, ecology, criminal justice reform, community connection and everything GRuBby! They spend their free time with their dogs, goats and chickens on their farm and kayaking in the Salish Sea.