Karen Foster and April Cannon: Adventures every day
Written by Charles Noyes
Photos by Shana Sureck Photography
Sponsored by Valley Home Improvement
Published in Northampton Living (April 2021)
Karen Foster has spent most of her life being active and in motion, so it’s no wonder that in 2007 she met her future wife, April Cannon, while playing pick-up indoor soccer. “Exploring the outdoors has always been a big part of our relationship,” Karen said. Their first date was a kayaking trip from Montague to Sunderland along the Connecticut River and little did they know that they would get married on the banks of that same river two years later.
Fast-forward to today and they live together in Northampton with their two kids: Jesse, 9, and Gavin, 6. The whole family shares a deep appreciation of nature and the outdoors. “It’s a huge reason we both settled down here, in the Valley,” said April. “It’s rural and there are elements of urban life, but there are opportunities for hiking like up at the DAR. Swimming, skiing, and hiking are all favorite family activities. And we live right next to the bike path so there’s something for all of us.”
Karen channeled that love of the outdoors into her dream job as the executive director of All Out Adventures (AOA), a non-profit focused on providing outdoor lessons, training, and experiences for people with disabilities. Karen had been working as a teacher, but knew something was missing from her life. “I’m an introvert by nature and I work very linearly; I don’t do well with a lot of distractions,” she reminisced. “It wasn’t long before I realized my personality wasn’t a great fit for the classroom, but I still loved teaching. That’s what I love so much about AOA, I’m still teaching but it’s in a more personal, practical, and hands-on kind of way. When I first started, I had a separate full-time job and I didn’t submit half my AOA timesheets because I just loved working there so much.”
Karen isn’t the only one in the family who feels drawn to education. April has taught at Shutesbury Elementary for the last 14 years and has loved every minute of it. “Kids are fun,” she beamed. “Adults have so many pressures and responsibilities and there are different situations going on in the world that we have to grapple with, but kids are kids. I think they’re fun to talk to.” And even though a lot of that talking has been done over webcam recently, April has found kids to be resilient and adaptive in ways that many adults aren’t.
Two of those resilient kids are Jesse and Gavin, who have been making the best of their pandemic lockdown. When asked how they enjoy remote learning, Gavin said, “It’s okay, but it’s hard for people with bad Internet” and Jesse said he’s excited to get back to school and see his friends again when it’s safe. In the meantime, Gavin has been trying to catch every Pokémon and Jesse is perfecting his baking. His favorite things to make are cakes and roasted carrots and he’s even advanced to making layer cake.
On top of her work for AOA and raising two brilliant children, Karen is also on Northampton’s city council representing the 2nd ward. Her political aspirations began as a reaction to the 2016 presidential election, which came as a shock to her. “I thought about what I can do and how I could step up at a local level and this seemed like the best option. It is such a privilege to serve this city and I want to step up and work towards the kind of world I want my children to grow up in.”
Karen has a wide range of aspirations for the rest of her tenure. For starters, she wants to update a 1981 city ordinance on accessible parking that uses outdated language. She also wants to adopt a recent Amherst bylaw that outlaws the use of wild and exotic animals for entertainment. This is all on top of the ongoing effort to address the wedge issue of community policing that has been on many people’s minds since summer. “I want people to see that there’s a lot more that conversation in a way that brings people together rather than apart.” A city commission is set to make recommendations on policing in the next few months and Karen is looking forward to translating that into policies that benefit the community.
At the end of the day, Karen and April are happy to have found each other and to have found the Valley. “Being in a same sex relationship,” says April, “there’s really no better place.” Karen believes strongly that the strength of the Valley lies in its people and the collective attitude that everyone is trying to make it a better place. “The people I’ve gotten to know are all doing the best they can just like the rest of us. I think that people in general are pretty well-intentioned. One of the things I’ve learned is working hard to connect with constituents to help them demystify how our government functions. Right now I’m helping people with our website to get on the vaccine waiting list. I just hope by doing those small medial steps between government and people I’m doing my part to ease some of that mistrust.” She added, “We’re all people just doing the best we can, but we all need to pay attention and make our voices heard.”
