Meet our Advisory Board!
By: Joey Marcacci
Check out our Q&A with Advisory Board Vice Chair, Lisa Higgins!
When did you originally join the board?
2018, I’m a pretty recent addition to the board.
Why did you choose to become a board member?
Before my career in theatre, I started my professional life as an agricultural journalist. I have a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Natural Resources Communications from Michigan State University, and my first job was at Michigan Farmer Magazine. I then moved to Pennsylvania to work at an organic farming magazine called The New Farm. I was hired later by the Pennsylvania Stage Company in downtown Allentown. After I was “re-freed” (Lisa doesn’t like the word ‘retire’), somebody that I knew from the Stage Company was the President of the Board at Second Harvest. He said, “We’d love to have you on the board”. I replied to him saying, “You know, I don’t have that kind of money,” but he clarified that it wasn’t that type of board. I was interviewed for the position and I got in! It’s really been a joy being back in the food business.
What is your favorite part about being involved with Second Harvest?
It’s the people. We did a big marketing survey of the 150+ pantries the food bank serves at the end of January. At the end of the survey, there was a question that asked if they would like a staff person to contact them to talk about anything that was covered in the survey or otherwise. One of the concerns on the Second Harvest staff was what if a bunch of people want to be contacted and we don’t have the time to get back to everyone? The Second Harvest staff is always over-extended. There’s always more to be done than can what humanly be done, but you must deliver the best that you can. So, our whole team volunteered and said that we’d do all the calls and divide them up. It turned out that there were around 40 people that needed to be called.
What do you like to do when you are not at work?
I do a lot of cooking. We belong to a farm (CSA – Community Supported Agriculture) and I learned how to cook all different kinds of things that I’ve never cooked with because I never knew what they would deliver. Usually, I cook for friends. I had a friend who was going through a hard time with family, and I cooked for them for about once a week for six months.
What is your life motto?
“It will be revealed.”