Volunteer Town Hall Recap from Stephanie Kelley, Executive Director
It is hard to believe that it has been nearly four months since the Volunteer Reset. Since then, there has been a lot going on at ECCO despite our deliberate attempts to slow down and stabilize our internal processes following 13 hectic months of construction and planning for the Grand Reopening. During our Volunteer Town Hall Meeting, I highlighted some of the big things that have happened since the Volunteer Reset (listed below)!
June – Hosted four grand reopening events:
- A reveal of the newly named spaces in the building
- Celebration for major donors of ECCO and the campaign
- Gathering of ECCO volunteers and staff
- The Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
I am happy to report that ECCO’s newly renovated space was met with glowing reviews from all of our stakeholders…especially our clients.
July – Welcomed two new Board Members to the organization’s governing body.
- Aaron Clark with Insurance Office of America
- Conor Duggan with JP Morgan Bank
Both bring a great deal of professional expertise and energy to our dynamic Board of Directors.
August – The staff completed ECCO’s Annual Performance Review Process which includes a self-evaluation, a review with the employee’s direct supervisor, and a compensation review with the Executive Director. As you can imagine, our team had a lot to “toot their own horns about” over the past year and everyone – myself included – has established goals to help us continue to grow in our respective roles.
It was the month that the newly formed Strategic Planning Committee, composed of 4 board members and 4 staff members – began meeting to finalize the organization’s strategic direction for 2026 – 2029.
July 1 marked the start of ECCO’s new fiscal year which includes the compilation of new impact numbers regarding the number of clients served and the services provided. As you can see from the numbers below representing July and August 2025, things were busy at ECCO this summer:
- 92% increase in new client assessments (100 compared to 52 in July and August 2024)
- 29% increase in reassessments (161 compared to 125 last July and August)
- 5% increase in the number of food orders (646 compared to 618 last summer)
- 15% increase in the number of households served at Kat’s Closet (383 vs 332 in July and August 2024)
September – We also hosted our first Annual Founders Day on September 9 to acknowledge the legacy of ECCO’s founder, Monsignor James A. Carter. This celebration occurred on the first anniversary of his death. We also hosted four Community Open House Tours each Friday as a part of our “Reunite all of our Services and Reintroduce ECCO” priority of the Strategic Plan. The tours were well-attended by current and potential ECCO supporters as well as past and future clients. We look forward to continuing to offer monthly tours to ensure the community is aware of all the resources ECCO has to offer.
All of this was going on while the staff and volunteers continued to acclimate to the new facility, ensure our new processes were working well, and get accustomed to the new software system, Get Connected. We greatly appreciate everyone’s patience despite your frustrations about the way in which the software was launched and the difficulty some of you have experienced in navigating the Portal, specifically when removing yourself from the schedule. Marion is working diligently to create training tools to familiarize everyone with the functions of this software. The Get Connected software system was implemented to support our growing volunteer base with scheduling, tracking hours, communication, and in order to maintain accurate volunteer information. Much like our transition to Charity Tracker eight and half years ago, there have been a few bumps in the road but we are confident that good things are in store.
Get Connected Support Page is now LIVE! This page includes…
- A browser-based demonstration on how to remove yourself from the schedule, complete your profile, and a dashboard overview for portal navigation
- Resources on “Terms to Know” and FAQs
- A curated list of articles from Get Connected’s Help Center
To be added: Screen recordings on shift removals from your phone
Because of volunteer feedback, we identified different user experiences across modalities and have refined our resources to better suit your needs. Please continue asking questions and thank you for helping us do good, even better!
Stephanie M. Kelley
Executive Director