A message from our Board Chair, Sam Drier…
“As we welcome 2020, so we close the door on one decade and open the door to a new decade… one that we, here at BabyGoRound, are extremely excited about as we embark on our next phase — one where we transition our organization from a grassroots phase to a growth phase. We are excited to scale up our model and not only deliver on our mission of allowing for more families to be served, having these families fully serviced and serving more communities, but also increasing the benefits of our program and its ultimate reach and impact!
The start of the decade has also brought with it change. We are sad to be bidding farewell to our Executive Director, Stephanie. Stephanie joined BabyGoRound in 2016 as a volunteer and assumed the role of Operations Manager in October 2017. In October 2019, after being awarded a scaled funding grant from Social Venture Partners (SVP), a venture philanthropic organization, to assume a full-time leadership model, Stephanie was promoted to the Executive Director role. In the short span of 2.5 years, Stephanie has had a significant impact on our organization. During her tenure, Stephanie has curated a fantastic team of part-time employees who together have helped create a more stable base and enhance both client and volunteer experience – I’m sure many of you have had the pleasure of meeting the facility team! Having Stephanie and the team in place enabled us to reach an all-time record in November of servicing 197 families in one month! She also undertook the daunting task of migrating us from a paper system to a digital system – this system, with the generosity of the Diamond Foundation, went went live in November last year and we are looking so forward to being able to electronically document our work with families, improving our efficiency and allowing us to more easily report on the impact of the work we do. Stephanie also brought with her great thought leadership and strategic vision to our organization. These are but a few of the many accomplishments Stephanie has achieved during her time with us. She leaves us with a strong platform off which to execute our growth strategy, and for this, we are truly grateful, and she will definitely be missed!
As one door closes, so another one opens and we would like to extend a warm welcome to our new Executive Director, Lisa Brooks, who joined BabyGoRound in January 2020. I’m sure a few of you have had the pleasure of meeting her in the facility. Lisa brings more than twenty years leadership experience in the non-profit sector, having worked as a funder, program manager, senior manager and management consultant. She is passionate about working in non-profit organizations that collaborate with families, donors and other agencies to make communities better places for everyone. Through her work, Lisa has witnessed the transformation that can occur when organizations work with families to identify and provide the support they need to overcome the barriers they are experiencing. We are so excited to have Lisa on board and we are looking forward to continuing this amazing journey with all of you – our staff, our community, our supporters! Here’s to a fantastic, exciting 2020!”
— Sam Drier, Board Chair & Finance Director