Meet our Advisory Board! By: Joey Marcacci
Check out our Q&A with advisory board chair Betsy Storey-Bono!
When did you originally join the board?
About 5 years ago.
Why did you choose to become a board member?
I really wanted to use part of my free time to do something that puts back into the community. Social justice and issues around food security have always been meaningful to me, so I reached out to Alan Jennings (Executive Director of Community Action) and asked about where I can contribute. He thought this would be a good place and I said let’s do it. My mother used to work at the soup kitchen feeding people and my grandmother during the depression fed people, so it’s kind of a family legacy. It’s kind of what we do.
What is your favorite part about being involved with Second Harvest?
It’s an impact thing. I’m actually removed from the people who receive the food, but there’s something in the knowing that there is such a pernicious problem out there, that there’s such disparity, and knowing that I can contribute to resolution for that.
What is something you wish more people understood about poverty and hunger?
I wish they understood that people aren’t lazy. They aren’t looking for a handout. They would rather have the dignity of not having to do that. And yet, the way we are set up in our society has us in a way that there are people who have and people who have not. The vast majority of the people we serve are children, senior citizens, and working families who are making very hard choices. This can help them.
What do you like to do when you are not at work?
I am a volunteer at Second Harvest, so I have a fulltime job (Concannon, Miller & Co.). But (aside from that) I like to cycle, I like to hike, I’m a veracious reader, I have a wide social circle, and I like to travel. A lot of times those things intersect, I’ve always got a book in my hand and if I’m travelling, I’m with people. I’ve got a big family as well.
What is your life motto?
One of the things I do say is “persistence is omnipotent”, which is part of a larger quote by Calvin Coolidge.