We're excited to introduce our newest staff member, Ruth Dinerman, who came on board this week as our first Development Director. Ruth holds a BA from Oberlin College and an MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College, City University of New York. She comes to the Mad River Valley by a circuitous route that’s taken her to various places in the Midwest, New York City, China, Boston, and most recently, the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. She’s taught high school students who were failing in the Newark, NJ public schools to enjoy writing, run programs to help adults prepare for college, and taught English to Chinese undergraduate and graduate students as well as to Chinese engineers and mechanics. After living and working in China for four years, she settled in New England, fiercely committed to protecting the natural world. At the Appalachian Mountain Club, she involved volunteers from Maine to DC in stewardship projects and advocacy to protect the region’s mountains and rivers. As she became increasingly concerned with issues of sustainability, she’s helped farmers increase their energy independence through efficiency and renewable energy improvements, and created a program to teach new moms about ways to reduce toxics in their homes to protect their babies. Since 2001, she’s been raising money for not-for-profits, most recently, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. She loves writing, reading, raising chickens, hiking, bicycling, as well as live music and theater.

In her role as Development Director here at Yestermorrow, Ruth is responsible for creating and executing a comprehensive strategy that grows contributions to Yestermorrow and developing Yestermorrow’s Capital Campaign to expand campus facilities. She works on a variety of fundraising and outreach activities such as alumni relations, special events and social media campaigns. You can contact her at Ruth (at) yestermorrow.org.