Meet Andrea
Early Life
I grew up in a working class family in Corinth where we raised livestock, and grew our own food. My father served in the Marine Corps before becoming a master plumber and HVAC tech; my mother worked as a clerk at the local post office.
My brother and I attended local public schools, and relied on programs like free school lunches. My parents taught me the importance of hard work, education, and being in service to your community.
This foundation is what motivated me to be the first in my family to earn a bachelor’s degree at the University of Maine, and then to continue on and attend University of New England for my master’s degree in public health.
Community-Focused Career
For over 12 years I’ve taught nutrition, health economics, equity and policy, and women’s health across Maine’s colleges and universities. As a union member and elected statewide chapter president, I’ve continually fought for educators, securing 4% annual raises for adjunct professors and shaping state unemployment policy on their behalf.
In 2015, at the age of 27, I worked alongside Mabel Wadsworth Center- as the youngest board president in the organization’s history - the Bangor Area Food Policy Council, Maine Public Health Association, Hope for Homeless, Bangor Mutual Aid, and more because every Mainer deserves food, healthcare, safety, and wellbeing.
Activist & Organizer
Most people know me as the protestor who chalked Susan Collin’s house due to her role in Roe v. Wade being overturned, but that is just one of the numerous efforts I have engaged in as an activist and organizer working towards a better Maine for ALL.
In 2012, I created a food policy council in Pittsfield and brought together local restaurants, food sellers, farmers, and officials to work collaboratively and strategize solutions for the community. This experience helped me to later have success coordinating relationships between food retail partners in the northern half of Maine and their local food relief agencies to ensure efficient movement and reporting of food donations.
During COVID lock-downs I helped a local non-profit with a focus on homelessness to develop a model that allowed them to continue their fundraising efforts in a no-contact manner. That initiative was so successful that it is still being used with the funds from that fundraiser going directly to fund the winter warming shelter at our local homeless shelter.
Last year when SNAP benefits were being denied, I provided on the ground support to develop a mutual aid network in Bangor and personally delivered groceries and household items to my neighbors in need. I have also provided nutrition education and cooking-based classes to SNAP-Ed recipients in the Bangor region.
Since 2017, I have been a trained Master Gardener through my local Cooperative Extension. Through the Master Gardener program I have been able to take my love of gardening and share it with others in my community.
I can often be seen participating in local protests and activist events like Pride celebrations, protests against the genocide in Gaza, anti ICE protests, and the National Women’s March.
