Have you ever wondered when you crossed the George Washington Bridge in the early morning, who is coming towards New Jersey as a reverse commuter? Well, one of those cars has a Rotary Club of Ridgewood AM member!
Yes, Stacey Antine the Founder and Director of HealthBarn USA located at the Irene Habernickel Family Park commutes each day from New York City. However, Stacey is no stranger to Bergen County, she grew up in Northern NJ and still considers it home.
After graduating from Providence College, Stacey began a career in public relations and eventually headed up the The Global Food and Nutrition Practice at Ogilvy PR Worldwide as Executive Vice President. Her clients included Dannon Yogurt, Unilever, Kellogg’s, and many others in the food and beverage sector. Her area of expertise was focused on the nutritional aspects of various consumer food products as the industry began to offer healthier choices in the 1990’s. The corporate food industry and nutrition began to align around the adolescent and adult risks associated with processed foods including obesity and diabetes.
Stacey remained focused on the nutritional aspects of foods during the day and at night she pursued and received a Master’s Degree in Food, Nutrition and Dietetics at NYU and earned the credentials of R.D. Registered Dietitian. One of her breakthroughs while working with Hoffman LaRoche was a PR campaign focused on getting government approval for folic acid fortification in the bread supply to reduce the risk of neural tube defects in infants.
In the early 2000’s Stacey had some life changing events which led her to start HealthBarn USA. First, she realized that the business model of the processed food industry’s large scale production and distribution makes fresh ingredients less accessible and convenient to mass markets. Her passion for healthy eating was in conflict with her corporate product marketing executive career. At about the same time, her father was diagnosed with cancer. It was during this time in caring for her dad that she arrived at the concept of Healing Meals which are homemade nutritious meals, soups and desserts to help cancer patients thrive and sustain their weight during this medical crisis. Her dad successfully recovered and Stacey believes Healing Meals was an important part of his recovery along with an excellent team of oncologists.
At this pivotal time, Stacey had an epiphany that she could combine her corporate experience with her passion for healthy living. She decided to call it HealthBarn USA. At first, she looked at starting a profit-based company using venture capital funding but the ownership stakes that VC’s demanded were too high. That is when she decided to self-fund HealthBarn USA, Inc. as an educational company in 2005. Then, in 2016, she founded HealthBarn Foundation, non-profit 501C3 to gift nutritious food for families with ill children and people in need. She had already established a very powerful rolodex which gave her access to doctors, bankers, industry executives and professionals. She also had her most important advisor; her dad, a retired marine.
Her rallying cry became carpe diem as she started cold calling locations in Bergen County to open HealthBarn USA’s brick and mortar location. She found like-minded supporters at a local family farm in Wyckoff and began with the Harvesters program for ages 8-12 that grew to more than 10 education programs, workshops, field trips and assemblies. After 10 years, the lease was terminated and Stacey began looking for a new location in Bergen Country. Through a personal contact she was directed to Ridgewood Parks and Recreation. Coincidentally Ridgewood had purchased the Habernickel Horse Farm and converted it to a beautiful park leaving one house on the property that was vacant and needed a new tenant. It was the perfect match for Ridgewood and HealthBarn.
HealthBarn operates under a lease arrangement through The Village of Ridgewood and as Stacey states, “Nancy Bigos the Director of Parks and Recreation is my boss!”. HeathBarnUSA has been able to expand its programs for kids and the community at large. Her classes and camps teach children and adults that good eating can be FUN while growing their own food in the organic garden and preparing their abundance in delicious recipes shared as a family.
Stacey joined The Rotary Club of Ridgewood AM in 2022 and she was impressed by the philosophy of Service Above Self as well as the focus on children, especially the mission to eradicate Polio worldwide. We are very thankful to have Stacey in our community and in Rotary! When you next cross the George Washington Bridge on the way into Manhattan, you may be meeting Stacey as she heads towards Ridgewood, give her a honk and a wave!
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