A Time For Planning

Proper planning for an organization’s growth and needs requires that all facets of the organization have access to one source of truth — one vision, one plan, and one set of numbers from which to plan. After the last 18 months, it is time to really take a look at every facet of the Second Harvest operation. Time to review our goals, visions and hopes.

Second Harvest leadership and some Board members are in the middle of just that. Last Fall, Second Harvest engaged the services of Deb Mills-Scofield, as our facilitator for this process. Deb, whose credentials include CEO/founder of Finding Blue Lobsters, Inc., venture capitalist and Brown University mentoring, Engineering Advisory Council and visiting scholar, has worked with Second Harvest since 2008 on our other strategic plan projects.

Deb shares, “Second Harvest’s growth in talent, expertise, innovation, leadership and operational excellence over the past 12 years has been amazing. It’s why they’ve been able to meet the COVID-19 crisis head on, feeding so many so quickly and effectively while keeping everyone as safe as possible.” She adds, “Unlike many other food banks, the way Julie Morefield-Chase integrated the National Guard directly into the food bank’s operations resulted exponentially scaled distributions near to those in need. Despite the inordinate stress and fatigue of the past 20 months, now is the time to leverage all the learnings and ideas for the next 5 years.”

The group will continue to hone and refine our hopes and dreams through this process during these first few months of the new year. We will reach for that clear north star with specific and clear tactics and plans to grow hope in our region by creating pathways to nutritious food.