Executive Director

Amy Payne was born and grew up in La Palma, California. She volunteered from an early age with her parents and sisters at church and in the community.  In early elementary school, Amy and a group of friends started a campaign to raise money to feed hungry children in Africa.   Amy’s love of food and cooking started as early as her volunteerism.  When she was in junior high she would put on elaborate five course meals for her parents’ friends using the fine china and every pan in the house!  After high school she went to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and studied Engineering and minored in Dance.  After college she married her best friend, Sean Payne, and they started a family in Cypress, California.  Their two daughters, Mairi-Claire and Gianna, were born in 2007 and 2010 respectively. In 2008 they moved to Seal Beach, California to be closer to Sean’s office.  In 2011, challenged with a career choice, Amy left engineering to raise her daughters full-time. At the same time she felt a calling to help children with food insecurity in her local community. In 2012, she partnered with Food for the Soul in Texas to provide summer assistance to families in Cypress.    Since, Summer Harvest has expanded to service her local community of Los Alamitos Unified School District.