Our board member spotlight for the month features board member, Al Visone:
“I was born in Bayonne, NJ in 1946 and grew up in Hackensack, NJ to two blue collar parents. I have only one sibling, a sister. After graduating from Hackensack High School, where I am listed on their Wall of Hero’s as a Viet Nam Era Veteran, I entered the Army and served with the 1st Armored Division, Old Ironsides, until I was transferred to the 291st Military Police Company at Redstone Arsenal, where I met my wife of 55 years. We were blessed with twins, a girl and a boy who we are very proud of and settled in the Monrovia community.
I was the first person in my family to attend college and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and another in Accounting, both from Athens University. I started my adult work experience with 1st National Bank, now named Regions Bank, as an Outside Adjuster and progressed my way up to Collection Manager. From there I accepted a position with the John Blue Company in Huntsville in the Inventory Control Department and served as a Production Planner for the Pump Shop, Foundry, and Assembly Departments. I then transferred into the Accounting Department as Pricing Analyst, Accounting Manager, and finally served as Vice President of Finance and Corporate Treasurer of Burnley Corporation.
I have spent a good deal of my adult life serving the Monrovia Community through volunteer work as Vice President, Firefighter, and Emergency Medical Technician with Monrovia Fire and Rescue where my wife and I are lifetime members. Now that life experience has slowed me down, I felt a need to serve in a different manner. Next Step Farms has filled that need. At first, I did not think that I had anything to contribute other than maintenance on the farm property, but one day I visited the classroom with my wife, who has volunteered, and fell in love with the positive and honest attitudes of the clients, now I volunteer every Tuesday teaching and learning from them how to live the everyday tasks of independence. Most of all, I am learning patience, but I am a work in progress. Every client has progressed according to their abilities in everyday tasks and one in particular has moved a mountain and now prepares bank deposits and even goes to the bank with me to finish the task. You can imagine how my heart leaped when the teller asked her what we do at Next Step Farms and she immediately began to tell her all about it.
As for the future, I can see Next Step Farms as a statewide household name and maybe even nationwide. I am proud to serve as a Board Member especially since it supports my daughter, the owner. “
