A lovely time was had by all at our 2024 Annual Meeting hosted by the Red Tail Golf Club in Devens. It was an enjoyable evening of good food, good company, powerful client stories that brought tears to everyone’s eyes, and recognition of the extraordinary work done by the supporters of the Pantry over the past fiscal year.
The 2024 Year in Review video presented at the Annual Meeting can be viewed here.
Top 25 Volunteers
We had many volunteers with well over 100 hours donated this year. Pictured above are some of the Top 25 Volunteers with Volunteer Coordinator Eileen O’Dea and board members Merle Adelman and Kelli Hnath. Our complete list of 2024 volunteers can be found in our Annual Report. (In the report, all volunteers with 100 hours or more have an asterisk beside their names.)
- Cathleen Blair – 397.5 hours
- Lynne Roper – 335.5 hours
- Fred Schnepper – 321.5 hours
- Kathryne Walsh – 320.5 hours
- Andre Menard – 318.25
- Rosemary Anderson – 291 hours
- Kim Johnson – 267.75 hours
- Yu-Chi Hsu – 259.5 hours
- Charline Barron – 237.5 hours
- Renee Cook – 228.5 hours
- Stewart Cady – 225 hours
- Lorraine DiNardo – 209.75 hours
- Kathleen Raftery – 196.25 hours
- Eileen Gorss – 178 hours
- Eileen Leduc – 176.5 hours
- Peter Galluzzo – 166.75 hours
- James Hanlon – 162.5 hours
- Jessie Panek – 159.25 hours
- Carolyn Waite – 159 hours
- Maribeth Ford – 158 hours
- Charles Waite – 156.25 hours
- Scott Lewis – 146.25 hours
- Janet Stevens – 143.5 hours
- Karen Bergan – 142.75 hours
- Wanda Burns – 142 hours
The Charlane VanWormer Award
The Charlane VanWormer Award was presented to John Cauley by Food Coordinator Jocie McCaffrey and board member Jim Breslauer, for his tireless work volunteering at the Pantry and at many other organizations in the community, including Team Rubicon and Clear Path for Veterans New England.
Grande Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service
Food Coordinator Assistants Diane Bishop and Sarah Smith presented Renee Cook with this year’s Grande Award. Renee played a significant role in many events and programs this year at the Pantry, especially Soup for the Soul and Cheers to 40 Years!
Outstanding Community Partner Awards
Board members Jeff Howe and Leslie Row presented the Outstanding Community Partner Awards to four local Councils on Aging for their continued partnerships with the Pantry. They have been instrumental in helping us provide food for our homebound clients. Thank you for all you do, Ayer Council on Aging, Harvard Council on Aging, Littleton Council on Aging and Shirley Council on Aging (not pictured, unfortunately they were unable to attend)!
Special Recognition – Loaves & Fishes Production Team
The volunteer-based Loaves & Fishes Production Team works very hard behind the scenes, capturing photos and videos of Pantry activities, assisting in producing all of our major events, making memorable movies, and much more! Executive Director Patty Stern and Senior Administrative Assistant Mellissa Richard are pictured here with the team – Pat Kelly, Jon Panek, Dave Astolfi, Diane Douglas, Kirby Dolak, and Scott Lewis. Karen Riggert is also a team member, but she was not available for the photo.
Special thanks to guitarist Eric Phelps for providing beautiful acoustic guitar music.
