Naji Gehchan: Welcome to SpreadLove in Organizations, the healthcare leadership podcast where we explore leadership with purpose.
I am Naji your host, for a special episode today touching health through food. I am excited to be joined by Rose Saia Executive Director of Centre Street Food Pantry. Rose joined Centre Street in 2019 as a part-time Pantry Manager. When the pandemic began, she pivoted the operation to a new program and distribution model to address the exponential increase in food insecurity. She became Executive Director in 2021. Prior to joining Centre Street, she was Pantry Director for Open Table, a Metrowest regional grocery and meals agency. Her experience in nonprofit organizations includes being a member of the board of directors and marketing chair for The Capital Network and WEST (Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology) and as a CEO coach for women leading high growth businesses at The Commonwealth Institute. Her professional career is anchored in high technology where she was a leader of technical, product marketing and business development teams for startups and global providers. She was the CEO and co-founder of a network security consulting and product company that was acquired by Juniper Networks. Rose is also a published writer and professional true-life storyteller who has appeared on local stages and on the national television series, “Stories from the Stage.”
01:50
Rose, you’re a storyteller. I love how you tell stories and how much I learn from you and the way you tell these stories. So would you tell us your story and how you came to now lead a food relief agency?
Rose Saïa: Of course. think one of the things that I’ll mention to the audience is that my storytelling skills really were sharpened as a result of becoming a
02:18
competitor in Moth, the Moth competitions. People may know the Moth as the Moth Radio Hour, which is a nationally broadcast show that features uh impromptu stories told by people just like you and I. uh And the way they get those stories is they go from different stages in the country and just you put your name in a bag and you get called and then you stand up in front of people you don’t know and tell these uh really intimate
02:48
sometimes, you know, points of your life. And I was invited by somebody to do a local story on a local stage. And I had never really listened to the moth. And somebody said, well, you know, maybe you should think about that. And so the moth, you know, when you asked me to tell my story, really looks for a very compact kind of story. And, you know, it’s all driven around.
03:15
you and what was transformative for you. So I think in answering your question, one thing I can say that I was able to dive into through the moth was the fact that I grew up in Boston. I grew up in a very gritty neighborhood in Boston, South Boston, known as Southie, um at a time when um it was working class. due to the circumstances in my specific family, I was food insecure from the time I was about five.
03:45
until probably the age of 20. And of course, didn’t really recognize it as that. That’s sort of an insight that came later. But I was in a family where my mom suffered from mental illness. had dissociative disorder, anxiety and depression, and my dad was affiliated with the mafia. So there was a lot of chaos. I was homeless a couple of times.
04:14
I was stalked by the FBI and the mafia as a little kid. But the overarching theme of my childhood was my mother trying to be sure we had food, housing, heat, lights, and how that was a secret, which is an interesting backdrop to the world today. There was a lot of shame. My mother had a lot of pride.
04:43
And there’s a specific story actually on the Moth Radio Hour uh that I told about in fourth grade how a teacher saw that and what that teacher did about it. um that’s a very quick synopsis, I think, but probably one that sets us up for some more questions. Well, thank you. Thank you, Rose, again for sharing this part of your story and delving in it actually.
05:13
As you’re saying, like the second part of the question is for me, how does, how did this kind of shaped your purpose and the way you lead today? I know how passionate you are in a center street food pantry where I had really the privilege to be working closely with you as a board member. How does the story shaped your leadership and how you’re serving today in the pantry?
05:42
I mean, absolutely, it’s a foundation for the work that I do at a very practical level. You know, I have a way, a relatable way to interact with those that we serve, either as understanding the perspective of the young, child, and that might be in that family, but even more important, the perspective of those who are relying on Center Street as part of their safety net for food.
06:11
And that doesn’t come up. Often, you know many people who’ve many of the clients who come to Center Street don’t really know my background, but I think when you. Have had that experience. You have a shorthand that you can conduct with that person. You know a comment, a bit of encouragement, a way to listen that that creates a bond of trust. Quite honestly, so there’s that dimension of it and leadership and. m
06:40
that allows me to also hear very carefully what are these people experiencing? It’s not just my recollection of it, but it allows me to soak in and really understand what’s happening with these people today and what do we as an organization need to consider and do to respond to them. And I think that’s the ultimate goal when you’re in a service.
07:06
organization that you really want to understand those you’re serving and be responsive to them. So I think, you know, an example I can give you of that and how it played out in Center Street is that when the pandemic hit, we had a very small market and people could choose what they wanted. And then after the pandemic within a week, nobody could go inside. And so we pivoted, we were outdoors, we were getting our groceries, but very quickly after that, um
07:34
I created what I called a programmatic model to give out food, which was really looking at the food that people needed for their families so they could go home and make meals. Not here’s 10 things in a bag. Good luck with that. And I know from when I was a kid, there wasn’t a Center Street. My mom went to a state agency and brought home a bag of five very different things and said, how is this food?
08:01
How do I, how do I’m going to feed you with this? You know, a can of shortening, a jar of peanut butter, bag of flour. So the leadership I think I’ve brought is under, is constantly trying to take a pulse on what is going to be the most helpful to these clients. Not just, you know, not just because of my interactions with them and hearing them and hearing about their family sizes, but also taking in the feedback of organizations who also support them like local hospitals, Newton-Wesley hospitals, other agencies.
08:31
So the result of that is that Center Street has various programs that all coalesce, groceries, fresh produce, kids club, personal care items, that give families core elements of what they need that are healthy and nutritious so they can go home, make meals, and have enough food for their families. I think that was another dimension I wanted to address. It is not equitable or dignified.
09:01
to give somebody with seven people in their family a box of pasta, and you give somebody who’s a senior a box of pasta. So, know, allocation wise. So really trying to instill that kind of approach, again, starting with my own experience of what it was like, but also then really being able to build upon that, to listen and craft a programmatic approach that was dignified.
09:29
based upon what the clients need, based upon what we’re hearing in the community that these people need today. Yeah. Yeah. You brought up two words that are obviously very close to your heart and the heart of what is done at the pantry, equity, dignity. And really, I remember, you know, joining and trying to help when all those programs and COVID happened. I…
09:56
you know, before going and I want to go into the food insecurity more specifically, uh but what key learnings you really transformed a pantry and we can go into also the numbers of pre-COVID, post-COVID. But when you think about this time and shifting operations, looking back, is there specific moments of leadership or specific lessons on leadership during crisis and
10:26
And really how you took the community into resilience that you can think of and that we can teach us now. You know, I think, um, I’ll answer that and then explain. I think you need a moment of, we can do this. I can do this when everything says you cannot. Everything says it’s not the same. Um, I certainly know coming out of high technology.
10:56
that high technology has always been a field of constant innovation, constant take a problem and make it, find a way to have a better solution, right? Even when it doesn’t seem like that’s going to be possible. And I was part of a team actually that started delivery of full motion video to people before YouTube, right? I mean, just things that seemed you can’t do that. there’s, there’s that, I came out of that, that you can always do that. So I think when the pandemic hit and
11:26
You know, I remember it vividly. It was a Tuesday when the governor had the shutdown and we were in a service. And, you know, I spoke to our board chair at that point and she said, well, what are we going to do? And I said, we’re going to go outside and we’re going to do this. We can do this. And I think it’s that belief in what doesn’t seem possible is possible. If you think about it, it’s problem solving and it’s faith in those around you. I did not do that alone.
11:57
Right? We lost our whole volunteer team though. So there weren’t a lot of us. So it was really thinking about, who can stand with us at this time? What are the resources we have and how do we best use them? And, you know, there were people from the board and there were people, you know, we thought about how people could come in and pack bags and who were there. And I think that is a nice segue to think about, you know, what is it that makes somebody in my position, you know, leading a food relief agency successful?
12:25
It is the belief in those you do not know that they’re going to bring their best selves and align with you to create something really quite amazing. You know, we are a volunteer run organization. We rely on 60 to 75 people every Tuesday, a stable of 150 people a month. There’s 300 names in our database. You know, one of the great challenges and rewards of my position.
12:55
is leaning heavily on the talents and the commitment of those people. And I think to do this, you have to have a picture of how do you get them all to orchestrate? Somebody who came to Center Street once said it looked like a symphony, right? Everybody knew their part. Everybody was able to interact, right? And I think it’s that approach. I think that’s what makes food relief different than any other social services organization. We are
13:24
I am very dependent and grateful for the people who come in and aware that they are skilled people in their own right. But that day, what they really want to do is pack produce or unload produce or be part of something that is meaningful. I didn’t give you any stats on the food insecurity, but certainly being able to share how are we able to make that happen. How do we make that happen today?
13:54
That’s how we do it. Yeah. know, like, obviously I’ve seen, as you’re saying, the magic of the symphony, right? And people getting together to serve and make an impact. But let’s go on the numbers, as you’re saying, because, you know, even for me, when I discovered Ida Newton, as many would know, when I discovered the pantry, I never even
14:23
imagine that there is food insecurity in my community and the neighborhood we live in. Even though I discussed with my daughter, because as you know, like I brought them a couple of times, they were, they never even would have imagined this. But yet, still in each community, unfortunately, people face this. So I’m bringing it through this lens, because I know, and we discussed it quite a bit, like food insecurity feels like a social issue. It’s not
14:53
in our neighborhoods. But the numbers are here and it exists. And unfortunately, I’ll let you go through those numbers are quite striking and increasing as you keep reminding us, unfortunately, every week. So tell us about this, like from a community lens, how many the explosion number we’ve been seeing over the past few years, but also taking it at a more
15:22
state level, national level, and global perspective that you always keep on reminding us that it’s what we see at the pantry is a reflection of the global state of the world. That is a really great way to segue into this because I shared with you that I always take a look at the Boston Globe every day because and I read the New York Times and those are very difficult things to do because I learned that
15:50
If I read about it at a national level, I will see it at the pantry in 10 to 14 days. And I think that was played out quite strikingly when the war began between Russia and Ukraine. within two weeks, there was a woman standing on the corner and this truly a little boy was hiding behind her coat. And she was new and she had walked there. She had taken the T and when we
16:20
talked to her about the groceries she wanted. She kept insisting, only fresh food, only fresh food. She just stood tall, really clear in her speaking. And then I brought her what we have is our Kids Club Bag Program, which is a bag that has extra breakfast and lunch foods for kids that they like. She took one look inside, and of course the little boy was now coming out from behind the coat and looking in the bag and he was smiling and she gave it back. She said, only fresh food.
16:50
So I went back and I got, we had strawberries, we had bananas, so I got more of that. And that’s when she finally smiled and said, we have been hiding in a subway in Ukraine for almost two weeks and all we had to eat was things out of cans. This is what I want today. So I see that over and over again, whether it be immigrants, whether it be…
17:16
a housing crisis or prices going up, you know, that’s just the reality of what’s happening. I think at a local level, sociologically, we all know that we always think the problem is in another neighborhood. That’s just a common thing. And I regularly hear from people in Newton, I don’t understand. How can there be food insecurity in Newton? And, you know, it is a community that is…
17:43
You know, of course it has a number of people who are not food insecure, but it speaks to the constant state of food insecurity in our country. Senior citizens are chronically food insecure because they are on fixed incomes and housing prices have increased and the contributions for those housing prices, whether it be, um you know, through rent control or heat assistance have been squeezed. uh We don’t have rent control.
18:11
Of course, prices have gone up, and if people can’t own their own homes, that, and taxes go up. Senior citizens, that was the majority of who used to visit Center Street before the pandemic were senior citizens. Now let’s move the pendulum. Now it’s families with children. 65 % of those who visit Center Street are families with children because uh wages have not kept up, fuel prices have increased, housing prices have increased.
18:41
And this isn’t about what it used to be. It’s not just, well, I can’t make my check last for three or four days until my next check comes in. We are now a regular part of the safety net that families use to augment the food they need so their children are not hungry. That’s even with school meals, because there’s just not enough money for food. And a stark statistic I read from the USDA in 2023,
19:11
is that of the people who are getting snapped in this country, 42 million nationally, 1 million in the state of Massachusetts, something like 80 % of them include families with children, and those include senior families with children. So a chronic issue that is now blown up is that this is not news. News, news. We are a country, we are a local community.
19:40
that has people who are chronically struggling to put enough food on the table. And while the numbers are different in Newton, the reported numbers for food insecurity take into account those on fixed incomes, those on disability incomes, those who are reporting to be at the federal poverty level, which let’s put that in perspective, is somewhere between 24 and say $40,000 a year of income.
20:06
I’m gonna pause and let that soak in for those who live in communities like Newton, like how do you get by? So the food insecurity rate in Newton is probably rated between five and 6 % of the population, which by the way is 89,000 people. That’s still a lot of people. Then you go to another community that we serve like Waltham where it’s 10 % out of 65,000. So you can start to see the thousands aggregating here, right? But that’s not taking into account the people who…
20:35
don’t end up in that statistic. Those are people who are earning just above that, 50, $60,000 or two people earning 75 or $80,000, right? Which is not a lot of money anymore for a family of four. It is not taking into account those who are episodically hit by a healthcare issue, their own injury or health issue that has them not work. And I will say that the issues that most affect
21:05
food insecurity outside of the reported statistics are health related emergencies. Absolutely. I cannot tell you how many people have said to me, I’m here today because my mother has cancer. I can’t work as much. My sister’s trying to help. We’ve got five kids between us. We’re trying to help my mom with cancer. Health crisis is probably a key determinant of food insecurity.
21:35
whether for the people experiencing the health crisis or those trying to support them. And that’s where there’s a great intersection between health outcomes, getting health care to people and hunger. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s, you know, as we talked about it, I was, you know, in the beginning saying how through food it’s certainly, and this is what we try to do at our pantry, right? Like trying to bring
22:02
healthy options, as you said, and healthy meals for people. uh But this is another point where it touches food insecurity. The health crisis touching it, and at the end of the day, obviously the food touches your health, and it’s kind of a full circle, unfortunately. And really, you said 42 million food insecure in the US by statistics, without counting a little bit more. That’s just striking.
22:32
number. We’re in the 11 % of the population, basically. One in six. It’s hard for people to wrap their heads around that. Again, in Massachusetts, due to truly what Massachusetts has done, which is to provide two meals a day for children and a number of other things that have tried to keep our citizens healthy and well, it is not enough to personalize those numbers here.
22:59
in eastern massachusetts you know amidst affluent communities and people who are doing extremely well we are surrounded by people who are not doing extremely well and they are those people driving lifts and it done you know working retail jobs at starbucks oh and they’re they’re they’re dentalists hygienist assistants they’re in the hospitals i had somebody horrified and argue with me once when i said look i see people getting out of their cars in scrubs
23:28
to pick up food and that person said, that is impossible. Nobody in the medical community could possibly be coming to a food pantry. said, well, I don’t think they were dressed up for Halloween. I think there’s that and I think the piece people don’t understand is food equals health, not just because we want to provide medically tailored food for those in need. Of course at the pantry, we provide low salt, 30 foods, 35 % of what we distribute is fresh.
23:57
produce. We’re providing a variety of whole grain fresh bread. There are medically tailored kinds of things and initiatives related to food equaling better health. But that’s skipping over the basics, which is that the fact that people are struggling to have enough food on the table is a health crisis. It’s not about just being diabetic or high blood pressure or the things that, you know,
24:26
many organizations are looking at to try and provide better food because we know that if you do not give children the basic foundation of healthy food, they are going to be health compromised. And never mind the opportunities they don’t get, they’re cognitively compromised. So I think this synergy between health and food and what I would love to see
24:52
are more initiatives like the one I see at New York Wellesley Hospital where people are now asked, know, do you have enough food at home? Are you able to get the healthy food you have at home? And the next step, quite honestly, is a partnership between the food relief organizations and those groups. You know, you’re talking to someone who’s leading an incredible community-supported food relief organization that touches six
25:20
communities in greater Boston. do that through the generosity of individuals primarily. We don’t receive any state funds. We don’t receive any city funds. We don’t have any broad partnerships. We’re working out of tiny little rooms and of church. right, but to really transform this, we need partnerships. All of us need ways to get the food to people in places where they are. And they need to start to see, in my opinion, that that’s part of their mission.
25:50
That’s my wish. If I were to look to try and broaden the reach here, hospitals, medical community centers, they prescribe medicine. What if you’re here, you’re talking to somebody who says, I’m really struggling. You want to hand them a list of resources, you want to hand them a bag of food or a $25 gift card from the market. I just think we as a nation, we as local communities, there are a lot of really well-intentioned people.
26:20
there needs to be this kind of transformative moment here uh in those kinds of partnerships and other approaches like free grocery stores for people who qualify. Right. uh So, you know, know I’ve drifted a bit maybe from your original question, but you’re trying to look at where do we go from here? How do we make, how do we help? Right. And really looking at health, you know, more than any other basic human need, you know, my line is we need to provide basic.
26:50
human needs to people. That’s food, that’s housing, that’s healthcare. You give those three things, you have a population of people who can work and thrive, reach their potential, but reach their potential and contribute in a way to the better life for all of us. So I think there’s a real synergy there that I think is
27:18
people are trying to move forward, we’re all sort of in our silos about, and my hope would be that we can make some progress. Yeah. It’s actually a great segue to a question I was thinking of, taking it from here, as you said, what do we do next? How can we help? How can listeners help? And really when you think about the stories that stay with you.
27:47
from the families, the volunteers, the community, what gives you hope about the future of addressing food insecurity in our community and even more largely? I’m so glad you asked because sometimes I swim in a sea of sadness um at times because it is. uh Yet, I don’t feel sad. And the reason I don’t
28:15
feel sad is first and foremost, those who visit us for food are the most resilient, upbeat, capable people I think I’ve ever seen. And they are uh truly an example of how you transform hardship into hope, the way they live their lives, the way they share their gratitude with the volunteers. that’s just extraordinary. It’s a privilege to be able to talk with them and have their trust.
28:45
The other hopeful piece is I am in a situation where I am working alongside people like you and hundreds of others who give their time, give of themselves to make that difference and are concerned for people they don’t know but are willing to put in the work to make that difference. Not everybody can do that, right? Then there are those who donate financially to support our work and we direct
29:14
98 % of the funds we get into programs that deliver food and we transform their money into food at a rate that’s more effective than someone just handing us food. So, you without that financial support, we could not go further. Then if you keep going up the chain, there are people in organizations, whether they be the hospitals, the social service agencies, the state government, who are trying to bring us together, who are trying to put systemic changes in place.
29:44
For the first time ever, there’s a coalition, uh Make Hunger History in Massachusetts. There’s an office for food security, both at the city level and the city of Austin and the state level. It’s hard though, right? Because while we’re doing the work, it’s hard to then pop up and create the framework of changes. And it’s extremely hard when at a very high level, the federal government isn’t collaborating with us on that. In fact, it’s creating…
30:14
circumstances that are sabotaging it. So I think I’m hopeful that the core DNA of our humanity is to want to help those who are around us. all want to know. It’s just, we are, you know, it’s the moving train thing. If we saw someone in front of a moving train, nine out of 10 people will push that person out of the way. We are people, our humanity is to help. That’s so positive.
30:44
We need to find ways to channel that, that create both local and broad change. So I am hopeful because we all, doesn’t matter where you’re from in this country. I just heard people from Elliott County, Kentucky saying, I just want to feed my family. You could go around, you could ask people from any race, any culture, any religion, any part of this country, what is the core tenant of their success and dignity as a human? And they will say,
31:13
I just want to feed my family. And that is what mobilizes us. So I’m optimistic. I’m optimistic that this moment in time will pass, that we will get better at it, that good people will always be drawn to help. And let me be clear here. People in this country are dealing with hunger. It’s not starvation at the level you see in famine. Because people don’t…
31:42
People think hunger and they think starvation. Hunger here means people are skipping meals so their kids eat. They are not getting enough food on the table so that the kid doesn’t walk away hungry or they’re not hungry. Hunger means they’re not getting access to the nutritious food that they need, not just want, but need to be healthy so they’re not dealing with doctor visits, dentist visits. uh
32:12
That’s hunger, and that’s real, and that’s here. So, I’m just profoundly grateful that there are people who support Center Street, who support their local organizations, and those who are in positions of more influence than me, who are at state and government levels to try, and in hospitals, to make broad sweeping changes. So that’s my hope.
32:41
That’s my optimism.
32:44
So Rose, I’ll give you now a word and I would love your first reaction to it. So the first one is leadership. Well, we admire our leaders, don’t we? I I think about leadership being an essential piece of uh an essential quality for change. think that’s what I would say. You need leadership to transform something. You need leadership for change.
33:12
We discussed a lot about this. My second word is hunger.
33:22
Yeah, that immediately touched me as a child, right? And I will say that for me, hunger created a level of resilience. It created… um
33:40
a belief in myself and learning how to live with it all the time and overcome it. I’ll just share very quickly, when I was in high school, I was on a lot of sports teams and I went to uh a private high school in Milton um and the girls would go out afterwards for pizza and I could never join. And I always said it was because I had to get home and I had a long commute, all that was true. I didn’t have a dollar.
34:09
to contribute, right? And I maintained that, you know, and I never thought of myself as lesser than, I just couldn’t do that. And I was going to overcome that. I was still going to go home, do my homework and be one of them. So there’s a certain resilience that comes with hunger. It’s unfortunate and not always the outcome, right? But that’s just my little, little story.
34:39
What about Center Street? You know, it’s a Center Street is a sounds crazy, but it’s a joyous place. um You know, here we are this dealing with this onslaught of need, especially in this day. um And we’ve created this m convivial collaborative community that of people who genuinely enjoy coming in, get right to work. um
35:09
and offer that and more. uh And I’ll share with you that there’s a volunteer who’s with us right now who was a volunteer pre-pandemic. He used to walk around the pantry and help people get their groceries. And he’s not a young man. Many volunteers are retired. are ah very fit, though. I’ve often said, boy, don’t put me next to that person. You’re going to put me to shame. uh
35:37
And he walked up to me and he volunteers regularly and he’s volunteered regularly. He’s great rapport with clients. When he heard about what was happening this week with Snap, he took me aside. He said, I know you can’t tell me exactly what’s going, what we’re going to do differently. I’m sure we’re going to get that message. I just want you to know you want to open another day. I will be there all day. You want to open at night? I will come at night. You can rely. I am here, right? That’s just crazy good. And I just said,
36:06
Thank you. mean, I’m often overwhelmed by the generosity and the good naturedness of everyone. um So yeah, that’s Center Street. uh It’s really a remarkable organization that regularly, by the way, deals with very extreme circumstances, right? We’re weather dependent. know, people are sometimes outside bringing groceries to people at the curb when it’s 20 degrees, when it’s raining. You know, we have tents that we have to pop.
36:35
water off of and it falls down people’s backs and everybody’s laughing, you know, we, we, and, we are all, you know, with, just a little bit of guidance from me in the very early days, interacting with respect and kindness to all who come, you know, the fact that last week we had cotton candy to give out to the children because a volunteer has a cotton candy machine and they came in to do that. It brings a level of, um,
37:06
Again, dignity. You’re not coming to a food pantry. One of the clients even said to me, she told her daughter when they were out of milk, don’t worry, mommy’s going to go and get milk today. She’s going shopping. We’re shopping. And the fact that those parents could bring home a cotton candy cone to their kids, they didn’t go to the food pantry. And then they did. So there’s this sort great feeling here of
37:35
of how do we interact with our clients? And our volunteers exemplify that every single time. One of the tweaks I introduced, by the way, is if people are wondering is never ask somebody, are they here for the food pantry? If somebody asks you for something, never say no reflexively. Always say, how can I help you today? What more can I get you today? And if they ask for something, then say, let me see what I can do about that. Because these are people that are constantly having to
38:05
negotiate things, their healthcare premiums, whatever it is. To be welcomed with, me see what I can do for you, or is there something else you need, or how are you today, or isn’t it great? Just keep it at that level so they feel like this is a safe place. They can ask for something. And the ask is simple. Can I have wheat bread instead of white bread, or do you have any more of that? And to hear, let me see what I can do. Let me go.
38:35
It doesn’t mean you can accommodate everyone or that we’re having special favors. uh People know that. The act of being heard, acknowledged. brings this humanity. No, we don’t do that. And now I think an extension of that, which I’ll share with you, about is we had a situation and we have situations at times when we just have more people than we can serve. We are just truly out of food.
39:05
And so we have this breakfast bag program, which came to me out of clients. ah And we give, if we are out, we always make sure we have eggs, cheese, milk, and fresh sliced bread. We can hand that back to people who we don’t have a full complement of groceries for. It doesn’t count against them coming in to get groceries. And that not only gives them dinner, but breakfast the next morning. Because sometimes there actually is no food at home.
39:34
And it came to me when somebody saw that we had some leftover bagels one night and we didn’t have any more. And she said, do you, can I have those? I said, of course you can have those. She said, well, if you have some eggs, I can make egg sandwiches for my children tonight. So I think, you know, the fact that we go that little extra so that, you know, again, that goes back to something I said very early in the podcast, you know, listening to what people need right now and being aware that there are people who are going home to nothing.
40:04
It just is. So we’ve got that stop cap. And that’s another piece of dignity. Not know we’re out of food, but I don’t have a full complement of groceries, but I do have this. Is that going to be helpful to you? And nine times out of 10 it is. So I’m just grateful we can do that. And that’s because we get donations, right? can, we, you know, we, we do get the eggs from the food bank at no cost. do, you know, but get other things, but we need to buy that bread.
40:34
um But that’s a bet for somebody who isn’t able to go home with any food at all that night. And as you started, it’s a special place, joyous place, I think what you said, from certainly the households who come to volunteers, to the board, you, our staff, and also certainly donors who make
41:03
all of this also possible. So thanks, Rose, how you’ve been leading and bringing those pieces, really like tying up from your story and how you think about this to now serving people with dignity and equity. The last word I always ask my guests is spread love in organizations. What’s your reaction to this?
41:32
such a great way to refocus the purpose of organizations. We all get caught uh in nonprofit, particularly on the mission. We all meet the mission. But coming out of the corporate world, that would just seem like a complete contrary thing to say. And I will tell you that when I had my software company, uh we partnered with nonprofit organizations to help them.
42:02
I think the idea of spreading the love is spreading our humanity. Let’s not forget that as part of what we intellectually are here to do. I think we emotionally package up that feeling of love. Because what is it? It’s love for one another. It’s love for ourselves to be able to step up and acknowledge maybe the parts of all of us. My story is somewhat unique as I’ve learned, but…
42:30
many people have had hardship in their early lives in different ways, whether they come from countries that they dealt with it. And you have to have a certain amount of love for yourself to own that. And when you own it, it allows you to move forward and in a positive way. So I think that’s a fabulous thing because we don’t think about love and we so many hours, you know, and I think, you know, um
43:00
You know, I think when you see people who are very good at what they do, they love it. Yeah. Right. They love it. And so I think back to the leadership thing, leadership probably has a lot of love in it. It does. It certainly does.
43:21
Any final words of wisdom, Rose, for leaders around the world? Don’t give up. It’s hard. Just don’t. You know, I will tell you that I thought I was joining Center Street, I’d only be there a couple of years, and I would retire. I didn’t really think about what that meant.
43:46
And now I realize that for some leaders, there’s a purpose. And it’s okay if that purpose is more of your life than you thought, right? These are times when it would be easy and understandable to just give up. No. People, need you. Every leader in every way, whether it’s a small meals agency to a government position,
44:16
We are small ripples in a big pond and together the large impact will be, it’s going to make a difference. Just visualize it. We’re all throwing that pebble in the pond. And the more of us who do that, the better we will all be. So don’t give up. Well, thank you so much, Rose, for this very inspiring discussion we’ve had and for all you do locally and
44:45
beyond, I should say. Thanks again for joining me today. Thank you very much.
44:53
Thanks for listening to the show. For more episodes, make sure to subscribe to spreadloveio.com or whatever you listen to your podcasts. Let’s inspire change together and make a positive impact in healthcare one story at a time.
Naji Gehchan: Thanks for listening to the show! For more episodes, make sure to subscribe to Spreadloveio.com or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Let’s inspire change together and make a positive impact in healthcare, one story at a time.
Follow us on LinkedIn and connect with us on spreadloveio.com. We’re eager to hear your thoughts and feedback. Most importantly, spread love in your organizations and spread the word around you to inspire others and amplify this movement, our world so desperately needs