Our Staff & Board

Sophie joined the North Valley Food Bank (NVFB) in January 2021. She has more than 10 years of non-profit experience managing education, social services and humanitarian programs in Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan and the US. Sophie is a passionate advocate for social justice and dignity in emergency assistance for marginalized communities.

Prior to building food security in our North-West Montana communities, Sophie served as the Director for Refugee Programs at The Alliance in Houston, Texas, where she led the Covid-19 response for local refugee and immigrant communities. Sophie holds a Master of Disaster Management from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and a Master of Education in German as Second Language and a Bachelor of Arabic Studies from the University of Leipzig, Germany.

Sophie is originally from Germany and her family is home in the Lusatian Mountains on the southeastern border with Czech Republic and Poland.  She moved to the US in 2016 to join her husband, Chris, after meeting him overseas. In her free time, Sophie loves snowboarding, writing, rummaging the local bookstore, and exploring the beauty of Montana with her tiny daughter, Frankie, her husband and their dog, Einstein.

Email Sophie at sophie@northvalleyfoodbank.org 

Lauren Jarrold is the Director of Operations at the North Valley Food Bank (NVFB).

Lauren grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and moved to the Flathead Valley in 2012. She studied Art with a concentration in darkroom photography and has since put down the camera and taken up throwing pottery. She spent eight years developing and managing programs for the Montana Conservation Corps prior to starting with the North Valley Food Bank in 2020.

When not at the Food Bank she can be found cooking, gardening, or exploring nearby lakes with her partner and sons. 

Email Lauren at lauren@northvalleyfoodbank.org

Larry Vanmersbergen was born and raised in Northwest Washington and moved to Alaska in 1976. Larry obtained a Management degree from Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage and went on to live and work all over Alaska for over 30 years.

He worked in banking, food service management, outdoor guiding, and as a truck driver.  Larry retired in 2017 and moved back to the Lower 48 where he has been working seasonal jobs  until he joined us.

Larry and his wife, Tonya, are new to our area and we are delighted that they have elected to serve the local community by joining North Valley Food Bank. As far as we are concerned, Larry and Tonya couldn't be more welcome!!

Email Larry at larry@northvalleyfoodbank.org.

Whitney is originally from Colorado and loves all things outdoors. This passion took her to Utah, Wyoming and now Montana. In 2016, she relocated to the Whitefish area with her husband James seeking the small ski town way of life.
Whitney attended the University of Utah, earning a degree in Mass Communication. She worked for a news organization in Salt Lake City before taking time to travel. Whitney and her husband built a tiny house on wheels and drove it to Whitefish with the thought of being here for a year. They fell in love with the area and settled into a “regular” house in Columbia Falls.
Most recently Whitney was the editor at the Whitefish Pilot before joining the food bank in January 2024. At the Pilot, Whitney was immersed in the community and loved meeting new people. Through covering various organizations, she developed an interest in nonprofit work. She hopes to be a helpful, friendly face to all volunteers and customers of NVFB in her role as Volunteer Coordinator.
When not at the food bank, Whitney enjoys hanging with her husband and young kids, Milo and baby Nellie. She loves snowboarding, SUP, exploring the outdoors, traveling and watching sports.

Email Whitney at whitney@northvalleyfoodbank.org.

Maddie was born and raised in Wisconsin and relocated to the Whitefish area in 2022 for a year of AmeriCorps service at NVFB. She immediately fell in love with the community and all the beauty Montana has to offer and is now the Community Outreach Coordinator at NVFB!

Prior to moving to Whitefish, Maddie obtained a Bachelor's degree in marketing and a minor in environmental sustainability from the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire and previously worked for an organization that strives to diversify the outdoors and make outdoor education accessible to all communities.  

When not at NVFB, you can find Maddie exploring local trails, hitting the ski slopes, traveling to new places, or lounged in a hammock with a good book. 

Email Maddie at maddie@northvalleyfoodbank.org.

Katama joined NVFB in April 2023. She was born and raised in New York State’s capital region and attended the University of California, Davis where she majored in Anthropology and History. Initially focusing on archaeology, she shifted her interests her senior year, interning in a non-profit and government office. After earning her degree, she moved to Washington DC where she interned at a non-profit focused on low-income housing policy. She then worked at a non-profit focused on bipartisan exchanges between former and current members of Congress.

Seeking to connect more with the outdoors, Katama departed from the nation’s capital and moved to the Flathead in 2022, serving that year in the Montana Conservation Corps as a Field Crew Leader. Katama has since decided to pursue her interest in addressing food insecurity in rural areas, which has led to her position at North Valley Food Bank. She is very excited to be part of the food bank’s work in the Warehouse Coordinator role!  

When she’s not in the warehouse, Katama enjoys scouring the area’s bookstores and coffee shops or picking up a game of tennis. Email Katama at katama@northvalleyfoodbank.org.

Rachael hails from Eureka, MT where much of her extended family lives. She attended college at UM-Western in Dillon, MT and graduated with a BA in Literature and Writing. Whitefish was meant to be a short stepping stone, but it became home for over 15 years. She took her love of cooking and organizing from the slopes of Big Mountain to the classrooms of the Early Childhood Center at FVCC and many places in between. The best part of the last 15 years in Whitefish was the birth of her son (though watching live music in town is a close second). She hopes to expand her knowledge of the non-profit realm and help end stigmas around food insecurities by creating new resources for food prep and recipes. Engaging children with food is a significant passion for cultivating the next generation of beet lovers and kale snackers.

When not working in the kitchen or fawning over spreadsheets, Rachael can be found knitting, baking, visiting family, playing with the dog (Prince Louie), writing or learning life with a toddler.

Savannah moved to the Flathead Valley in April 2024 to serve as an Americorps VISTA at NVFB. She has a Masters of Social Work and has worked with children, youth, and families in various capacities, from foster care to the neonatal ICU. She loves working with new and expecting families and kids across ages to build resiliency through trauma-informed care. Prior to becoming a social worker, she spent time in far West Texas as a fundraiser at a non-profit art museum. 

During her time at NVFB, she will be working on designing and implementing programs to engage kids and families through culinary programs. She is so excited to promote food justice and to welcome kids into the kitchen to make cooking accessible and fun.

Originally from the East Coast, she looks forward to exploring the wilderness of Montana. In her free time, she enjoys trying her hand at vegetable gardening, exploring thrift stores and used bookstores, and hanging out with her two cats, Chicken and Frances.

Elizabeth was born in Florida, where she went to school and received a bachelor's in International Business and Marketing. From there she followed a rather nomadic lifestyle, living and working internationally before finding herself in San Diego, CA. co-owning a freediving
company. She has since switched career paths and joined NVFB through MCC's Big Sky Watershed Corps. Through this term of service, she is excited to learn from farmers about local food, connecting people to the land, and what is needed for stewarding our lands and waters.

When not at the food bank or in the field you can find Elizabeth with a book, doing yoga, or "playing outside," either hiking/backpacking, diving, kayaking, or talking to the trees.