Before retiring from The Community Kitchen, I helped more than one thousand volunteers fulfill their passion. I also helped provide more than one-million meals and raised more than one-million dollars to sustain The Kitchen for just shy of eight years. I increased the nutritional value of the meals we serve while saving financial resources. I improved operations by developing applications, procedures, and programs that increased efficiency and productivity. I united, connected and informed community leaders, public agencies, non-governmental organizations, volunteer crew leaders, and volunteers in our common mission to sustain and improve the health of our neighbors.

Reduce. Recycle. Reuse. Whether it was diverting food from feeding a landfill to feeding people or helping create a spreadsheet to project a $20 million budget, I put my skills to the test while bettering our community. Conserving resources and preserving our natural assets has been a passion I briefly turned into a paying gig.

I designed and built sustainable educational training programs for non-profit organizations, state agencies and young people. I helped diverse members of the professional and volunteer community identify and use their voices to share values-based stories that connected with audiences and encouraged positive change. I annually trained seasonal staff, volunteers, and college interns how to use formal education strategies in informal contexts. I also trained them in social/emotional intelligence, experiential education strategies, and how to use a broad range of digital technology to create strong, compelling stories. I was responsible for developing two web sites, designing and distributing print collateral, and creating digital content for on-line and social media distribution.

I trained board members, staff and volunteers in the donor-centered Benevon Model of individual giving, wrote successful state and foundation funding proposals, managed signature special events, branded and positioned five agency programs, and wrote copy for and designed print collateral used in marketing, volunteer recruitment, and donor solicitations and retention. I managed donor cultivation and recognition programs, and built and strengthened community relationships.