Rabbi Robin Damsky is the founder and executive director of In the Gardens. She began this project in response to the need for fresh, healthy, organic food in the inner city and beyond, combined with her growing concern about the climate crisis. In 2011 she turned her personal property into an edible, organic, permaculture landscape. This was the beginning of In the Gardens, working with local volunteers and trainees to design gardens, donate food to the hungry, teach mindfulness, and tend our planet.

Robin is trained in teaching mindfulness practice through meditation, movement and song. She was ordained by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and has completed the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Clergy Leadership Program in mindfulness practice, and its Meditation Teacher Program. She has a BFA in dance from Ohio University.

Robin has recently launched Limitless Judaism, an online project of learning, movement, meditation, melody and practice that draws the lines of connection between our physical bodies, our spiritual expression and Gaia, our earth-cosmos, for healing ourselves and our earth. She works in leadership in numerous organizations committed to farming, fresh food and the well being of our planet.

Judy Grobe Sachs is a premier volunteer and the administrative assistant for In The Gardens. She discovered chemistry in high school, math and physics in college, and computers in graduate school. After earning a Ph.D., in Chemistry, she was privileged to spend 40 years of learning, research, and service in various capacities at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

By a lucky coincidence, Judy retired from UIC and was looking for a new way to explore her continuing interests in learning, literature, food and cooking (and family), when In the Gardens was in its infancy. She has been happy with her work with Rabbi Robin and In the Gardens over the years, both for the challenge of the work at hand and the opportunity for learning and growth that affords.

Dr. Sobyl Bunis was schooled at Cornell University in Psychology, Sociology and Child Development. She then worked as a recreational counselor for emotionally disturbed children, teaching at the American School in Malaysia. She is a graduate of Cleveland Chiropractic College of Los Angeles. Her current practice of 29 years in Holistic Chiropractic and Natural Family Care combines chiropractic, neuro-emotional technique, nutritional programs, detoxification and homeopathy to provide health and well-being.

Dr. Bunis is also a 2013 graduate of the San Luis Obispo Permaculture Design Course offered by the San Luis Obispo Permaculture Guild. It is based around three core ethics: Care for Earth, Care for People, Share the Wealth. Sobyl owns and works her own permaculture garden, which is engaged by and supports the greater community. She also teaches permaculture through the San Luis Obispo Permaculture Guild and is involved in designing permaculture garden sites in Central California.

Dr. Cynthia Klein-Banai has been the Associate Chancellor for Sustainability at University of Illinois at Chicago since January 2008. Prior to this she was Assistant Director for Chemical Safety in the Environmental Health and Safety Office at UIC for seven years, where she oversaw environmental compliance, hazardous waste management, the laboratory safety program, and chemical safety training. She has also worked as an environmental consultant. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Division of Environmental Health and Safety, she worked for two years on a study on pollution prevention in laboratories.

Cynthia has a BA in Biology from Washington University in St. Louis and an MS in Environmental Science from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 2010, Cynthia completed her PhD in Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at UIC, where she conducted her research on sustainability metrics for higher education. She takes her sustainability commitment home, as she has grown fruits and vegetables in her own garden for 25 years, including raising hens. She founded the West Suburban Temple Har Zion Food Pantry garden in 2013 that provided over 400 lbs. of produce last year.

Qiana Carswell is currently the Product Development and Distribution Manager for Chicago Style Vegan Corporation, a Chicago based food distribution company that focuses on providing healthy, cholesterol free alternatives to traditional comfort foods.  Her career as a Materials Scientist has been extensive.  Throughout her career she has been instrumental in Research and Development, Quality Control, and Standard Operating Procedure development for several scientific startups, academic institutions, as well as Food and Drug Administration and International Organization for Standardization corporations.

Qiana currently manages the Beyond Hunger/Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry Garden established 2014.