7 program changes to get excited about

Our members, Randy and Michelle, grab a snack and chat.

This year we committed to doing a lot of listening. Listening to members, to volunteers, to our staff, and to our community.

After listening for several months, our program team met extensively to brainstorm and dream about how we might better serve our members. Many members haven’t visited the Center but could really benefit from the connection and community in our art classes, spiritual groups, choir, and our Community Room.

How could we bridge the visitation program and community-building at the Center?

How could we open up the doors for real engagement with community?

Many of you know that our long-time Support Services Navigator, Meagann, is leaving to work with her husband. And every summer, the Jesuit volunteer who leads our Community Room turns over. We also just learned that Caitlin, our Support Services Coordinator, was leaving to focus on another area of social work.

This was our opportunity to put the plan we’d been formulating for months into action:

  1. First, we’re hiring a dedicated Community Room Lead who will work with us on a full-time, permanent basis. We are happy to announce that we have hired Celeste Horne, who comes to us from Central City Concern. Celeste will begin next Monday (July 30th).
  2. Instead of our Community Room Lead reporting to Support Services as it would today, Celeste will report to Sara Pelfrey, who manages our community outreach and coordinates member home visits.
  3. Sara Pelfrey’s title will change to Member Outreach and Community Engagement Manager to reflect the inclusion of Community Room oversight, and employee management.
  4. With the increased responsibility, we’re giving Sara some extra help. We are happy to announce that we have hired Janet Paker beginning mid-August as our Outreach Assistant to help in the Community Room and bolster our outreach.
  5. Sara and Janet will sit adjacent to the Community Room, where they can meet potential members immediately upon walking into the Community Room.
  6. We’ll be moving Support Services to the volunteer side of our building so they can give full attention to members during one-on-one meetings. Moreover, it will make it easier for volunteers to collaborate with staff before and after member home visits.
  7. Without Community Room oversight responsibilities, Support Services now has the flexibility to work with volunteer visitors to arrange a meeting in a member’s home if they are unable to visit our office.

How will these changes benefit members?

Having the Community Room and visitation and outreach managed by the same team will allow for better communication between programs, and reduce stress on front-line staff.

And it will allow us to shape the Community Room environment into a place where members can focus on making warm connections and building friendships, and less of a waiting room for Support Services.

We can’t wait to see new friendships blooming in our Community Room and members beginning to engage with our community at a deeper level!

P.S. We're never done listening. If you want to continue the conversation, please reach out to one of our staff members. Thank you for caring and for partnering with us on this journey. Because no one deserves to live in isolation.

By Jillianne Bandstra

Jillianne never grew out of the childhood “But, why?” stage. This insatiable curiosity led her to get two masters degrees (Adult Ed. & MBA). Jillianne can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon than listening to someone’s story and getting a glimpse of the unseen history that we all hold. She believes there is beauty and value in all our stories, even if they’re messy. Outside of her work as our Communications Manager, you’ll find her chasing middle-schoolers in her role as a Youth Director and stepping on Legos left by her two young boys.