FARM’s Front of House Manager and Volunteer Coordinator wants two things for Boone: that all people are nourished with food and compassion, and to have a robust community theatre. Sharon Pinney has been accomplishing the first of her wants for the past one-and-a half years when she talks with patrons, knowing many by name and personality, providing resources outside of FARM, and introducing food that may be a new taste and texture. “I want people to come here and have a safe place to be part of a community. It is really important to me to nourish people with food.” Her dynamic personality and constant smile also help in another area of her life, which is also important to her, acting. A 2001 graduate of Appalachian State with a BA in Theatre Arts, Sharon has lived and acted in Wilmington, NC, the “East Coast Hollywood,” and New York City. She has performed in a variety of plays from Shakespeare to Horn in the West. Vice-Chair of the Blue Ridge Community Theatre, Sharon believes theatre and FARM have something in common, “they are both all about community.” When considering how her acting career helps with her current role, Sharon believes that “a good actor must be a compassionate and empathetic person so you can put yourself in a situation and a role. I have to do the same thing in my job here at FARM. I have to understand people and put myself in someone else’s shoes.” Whether as a mother of two daughters, owner of a restaurant in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, actor in Queens, New York or FARM employee, Sharon demonstrates the words of Shakespeare’s Juliet,
“My bounty is a boundless as the sea/My love as deep; The more I give to thee/The
more I have, for both are infinite.”