Angelina Magerl approaches her work with a level of compassion for others and an appreciation for past generations that is both rare and refreshing in this time of ever-evolving technology and fast-paced living.
Recently hired as a community food associate with the Center for Rural Affairs, Angelina works with Native communities in northeast Nebraska—planning activities and educational workshops that aim to encourage more home and community gardens.
She also organizes some of the Center’s program events including the Omaha Nation farmers market, does outreach, and builds partnerships within the communities the organization serves.
Angelina feels grateful to work alongside people she holds dear to her heart.
“I was raised in Winnebago, Nebraska, until I was about 12 years old,” she said. “Throughout my childhood, my family almost always had a garden, and when we didn't have one, we harvested what grew wild in and around Winnebago, like mushrooms, plums, chokecherries, black walnuts, and milkweed.”
Angelina brings experience in managing community gardens and farmers markets, tending nursery plants, and providing gardeners support to grow plants and vegetables in Arizona.
“While I was the community garden coordinator for the Tempe Community Action Agency in Tempe, Arizona, I was responsible for maintaining and overseeing the sustainability of multiple community gardens and their farmers market,” she said. “In that position, I worked within each community to provide fresh, organic produce to the locals through volunteer work and by donating the produce that was grown to the local food pantry and senior centers.”
She also coordinated community events at each garden, ranging from educational workshops, art showings, and Girl Scout and Eagle Scout projects, to sustainability events in cooperation with the City of Tempe and Arizona State University.
“While working at the Center, I hope to use my previous experiences to help empower the communities we serve through education, empathy, and support,” Angelina said. “I’m grateful to be able to work within and have the chance to make that happen in the community that I currently live and grew up in.”
In addition, she has a familial connection to the Center that made joining the organization even more enticing. Angelina’s grandmother, Laura Whitewing, was part of the organization during the mid to late 1970s.
“She worked there a very long time ago, before I was even born, when the main office was in Walthill, Nebraska,” she said. “The Center’s dedication to inclusivity and diversity also attracted me to the organization. I admire the work they do and the resources they bring to the communities they serve.”
Angelina is based in Winnebago and can be reached at angelinam@cfra.org.
