Board Update - April 2021
One of my commitments as the incoming new President of Daily Bread was to increase transparency into the way the Pantry was run. In an earlier Newsletter, I described the general governance structure - which in a nutshell is that the Pantry is run by its Board of Directors. You can now find a little bit of information about the individual Board members here.
​
The Board typically meets once per month (these days by Zoom). We keep fairly detailed minutes, which I am happy to share with any active volunteer who expresses an interest. Another option would be to post them automatically on the website but, for a variety of reasons, I don't think that would be particularly helpful. Instead, I'll post a link to the Agenda here (and will do the same in future Newsletters) and perhaps add a little commentary if it seems some additional context is necessary. If you'd like to know more about any particular item, please feel free to ask.
Of the items listed, it is perhaps worthwhile to note:
​
-
Board Composition: The current By-Laws of the Pantry contemplate an eight-member Board. With the departure of Debbie Landzberg and another director, Michael McKnight, last year, we have been two short for a while. There is no particular urgency to fill the positions - it is more important to find the right people who can add diversity and new capabilities. For obvious reasons, I've redacted the name of the candidate we are currently thinking about (who is not currently associated with the Pantry). What I would say is if you - or anyone you know - might be interested in serving on the Board, please let me know.
​
-
Post-Covid Distribution Model: This is a subject very dear to my heart. Right now, we are still very much in the "emergency response" phase of coping with the pandemic. But it is not obvious to me that we should assume, once the crisis has passed, we should return to exactly the same operating model we had before March of 2020. We should definitely be asking "what would best serve our clients both in the short and the long term?" Perhaps that might involve more client choice, healthier food options (though we are doing pretty good at that already, I think), different or expanded distribution hours, distributions by appointment, additional services, moving to a different space...you get the idea. And to be clear, this is NOT just something the Board should be thinking about. Every volunteer I am sure will have some ideas to contribute. So, let 'em rip!