Meet Our Team
Board of Directors
April McGreger
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April McGreger is a chef, writer, award-winning food preservationist, and longtime member of The People’s Kitchen Philadelphia community. She has worked with PKP since 2020 and has served for more than two years as a lead organizer of the kitchen’s daily operations, helping guide menu planning, food recovery, volunteer coordination, kitchen systems, preservation projects, and the transformation of donated and rescued food into nourishing meals for the community.
As the only regular kitchen staff member serving on the Executive Board, April brings a unique perspective that connects governance with the realities of daily kitchen work. Her role allows her to help translate PKP’s mission and values into practical systems that support volunteers, strengthen food recovery, improve kitchen flow, and uphold the dignity and quality of the meals served. She is especially committed to building models of mutual aid that center care, community participation, culinary excellence, and food sovereignty.
Before moving to Philadelphia in 2018, April founded and operated Farmer’s Daughter, an acclaimed pickling and preserving business in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she turned the North Carolina harvest into products that won thirteen Good Food Awards. Her work preserving and promoting endangered cultural traditions and ingredients was recognized in 2014 with the Slow Food Ark of Taste Betsy Lydon Award. Her recipes and writing have appeared in Bon Appétit, Southern Living, The New York Times, EatingWell, Martha Stewart Living, and other publications. She is the author of Sweet Potatoes from UNC Press and Canning and Preserving from Centennial Media.
Follow her work at @preservingthesouth
Alethia Erwin
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Alethia Erwin is the treasurer of The People’s Kitchen and has served on the Board of directors since 2020. She has been in the foodservice industry since 1988 and is accomplished in a broad range of specialties including restaurant management, staffing, cooking, serving, bar-tending, organizing, planning, catering, and overseeing events. From 2005-2014, Alethia was General Manager for Geechee Girl Rice Cafe, a critically acclaimed 50 seat restaurant in Philadelphia, PA where she managed the Front of the House, planned and executed catering events, served as prep and line cook, and recruited, hired, and trained staff. She was also instrumental in menu planning and recipe development. More recently Alethia served as the Events Manager for Material Culture, where in addition to overseeing events, she was responsible for staffing and for training front-of-the-house employees.
Alethia also independently plans and caters for events, using the Geechee Girl imprint.
Dr. Hajar Mokhlis
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Building Bridges in Public Health: Advocate for Equity
Hajar’s journey as a first-generation Moroccan American instilled in her a deep appreciation for different healthcare perspectives. Witnessing the impact of disparities firsthand ignited a passion for ensuring equitable access for all.
With a PharmD and a Master’s in Global Health from the esteemed Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Hajar combines her global experience and expertise to empower communities and advocate for patient rights. She is also dedicated to inspiring future generations through public health education.
Casey Alrich
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Casey Alrich is the Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Bridge Center. He engages new communities, supports the development of new partnerships, and helps incorporate new programming on behalf of Bridge’s many emergency medicine public health programs. He has over 20 years’ experience developing large-scale, national public health programs and coordinating and collaborating with federal and other stakeholders on behalf of these programs. This includes work with CDC, HHS, DHS, and others. He has overseen design and delivery of national and regional public health programs. His projects have involved engagement and recruitment of clinical providers and their practices, including program evaluation and widespread dissemination. He has managed interdisciplinary teams composed of technical assistance/training, data analytics, evaluation, clinical, and administrative members. Casey has a Masters in Public Health from George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Valerie Erwin
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Valerie Erwin is a Philadelphia chef and social activist. For 12 years, until 2014, Valerie owned the critically acclaimed Geechee Girl Rice Cafe. Geeche Girl showcased the food of the Low Country—the coast of South Carolina and Georgia—where her grandparents were born. For two years Valerie was the General Manager of EAT Café, a West Philadelphia neighborhood restaurant with an innovative pay-what-you-can model. Since 2020, Valerie has been the program manager of Farm to Families, a produce access program of St Christopher’s Foundation for Children.
She believes in the power of food as a tool in the pursuit of social justice. As such, she has worked for several years with Cristina Martinez and Ben Miller in the fight for rights for undocumented restaurant workers and with the People’s Kitchen, and with Restaurant Opportunities Center, an advocacy organization for food industry employees.
Valerie has served on the board of the Southern Foodways Alliance—the country’s premier institution for the study of food and culture. She now serves on the board of C-CAP, a culinary scholarship program for high school students, and on the board of the Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network, an anti-homelessness organization.
When not at work, she spends her time catering, doing business consulting, and working on food related projects with cultural institutions such as the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Jazz Project.
Pete Angevine
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Pete Angevine led a nationally distributed experimental Ice Cream brand which he founded with no prior experience in business or food, and grew to an industry-innovating, million-dollar operation with 60+ employees. Before that, he performed and recorded music internationally. Along the way he earned a degree in geography; produced an artist-designed historically-interpretive miniature golf course at a botanical garden; began designing clothes; built a comically small art gallery in his house; and so on. Currently, he works independently with a range of not-for-profit enterprises in fields including life science, public art, farmer cooperatives, and experimental music & theater.
