Erica Berman
Executive Director/ Founder
After 20 years in Paris and Italy, Erica swapped city living for a life steeped in sustainable values, nature, and creating less waste when she moved to Midcoast Maine in 2012 with her French husband, and Veggies to Table co-founder, Alain Ollier. In 2019 the launch of Veggies to Table stemmed from a deep-rooted desire to give back to their community. Previously Erica created and ran the boutique vacation rental company Haven In (luxury rentals in Paris, Provence, and Tuscany) and founded and curated HiP Paris a cultural blog on Paris. In her rare free time, Erica loves to read, cook, learn languages, walk in the woods, snuggle with her cats, and travel off the beaten track. Erica has a passion for flowers, beautiful interiors, industrial furniture, and reclaimed and reused everything. She has a degree in Journalism and Psychology from Syracuse University and originally hails from Lexington, Mass where her father still owns Berman’s Wine and Spirits which has been in the family since its inception in 1909.
Alain Ollier
Co-Founder
A world traveller, bread-baker, ice hockey-player, trained physical therapist, and marathon runner, Alain embraces life in Maine with gusto. He moved to the area with his wife Erica in 2012, happily leaving behind city life. He now teaches French and Spanish in Wiscasset Middle High and in the summer, Alain works full-time on the farm. He helps with everything from chain-sawing, irrigation and breaking ground to installing deer fencing and portable chicken coops. He can also be found taking care of his bees or baking loaves of sourdough bread, gâteaux, and French pastries for the team.
Gail Dudley
secretary
Gail retired to Maine in 2013 after teaching and the Landmark School in Massachusetts for 42 years. Her love of cooking and willingness to help others led her to volunteer for a local program Food for Thought designed to feed children and families in need in her community of the Boothbay Peninsula. During her five years with the Food for Thought program, she met Erica, became inspired and so began her mission to help Veggies to Table. In her spare time, Gail can usually be found in her kitchen creating some new and interesting dish or snuggling with her two cats.
Merry Fossel
board Chair
Merry moved to Maine in 1995. After retiring from a career that included the Peace Corps, teaching special ed, and evaluating and administering health and social service programs in five states—and after ten years of experimenting in her own garden—she decided to learn a lot more through the local Master Gardener Program. This led to various projects focused on food security. As a result, food security work has become a large part of her life for the last 14 years. Her experience includes a long stint as co-president of Morris Farm Trust, helping found the Lincoln County Gleaners, and actively working to create a food council in Lincoln County. Merry loves connecting people and supporting the systems they use to make good things happen.
Stephanie Katz
director
Maine is Stephanie’s happy place and she has been traveling to the Midcoast area for 30+ years to her home in Owl's Head. Distant cousins who connected at a funeral a few years back, Stephanie and Erica have remained in touch ever since. While sharing a love of food, flowers, and Maine, Stephanie became increasingly interested in, and excited about, the work of Veggies to Table. In her professional life, Stephanie is a fundraiser with more than two decades of experience in both educational and cultural institutions. She is currently Director of Major Gifts at St. Mark’s School in Massachusetts where she has worked since 2009. Since becoming involved with Veggies to Table, Stephanie developed a love for #flowerjoy and growing her own dahlias.
Donna Denniston
Director
After a career in education, Donna moved to the Boothbay Peninsula thinking she would devote her time to sculpting and volunteering. Those plans changed when she and her husband got three bee hives in 2020! Their passion quickly and unexpectedly grew into a business—Barters Island Bees. She loves this work as it allows her to support the environment and produce honey products that people enjoy. After selecting Veggies to Table as an organization to support, Donna met Erica and Alain and learned even more about local hunger. She is thrilled to join the board so she can help provide “nourishment for the body and the spirit” by sharing healthy organic produce and beautiful flowers. Donna lives around the corner from the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens with Denny, her husband of 50 years, her pup and a lot of bee hives.
Ric Fridge
Treasurer
Ric is a self-employed CPA from Nashville, Tennessee. He and his wife Cathy split their time between Nashville, Florida and Maine, traveling with their golden-doodle Leo everywhere they go. They have been visiting family in Maine most summers for over 30 years, and now come to the Boothbay Region for much of the summer each year. His professional career has been focused on non-profits and small business, particularly in the music and restaurant industries. When home, Ric volunteers in the homeless community and with various Christian ministries.
Rashi Verma
Director
A relative newcomer to Maine, Rashi has finally found roots and community in and around Jefferson. She discovered Veggies to Table while attending a farm tour in French with her husband, Zack, and they were both instantly drawn to the noble mission of ending hunger. She has enjoyed her time as a volunteer, and is honored to now serve on the board. She is a data engineer by day, but dabbles in theatre, running, dancing and any activity that immerses her in the beautiful Maine outdoors.