As the executive director of Chapel Hill-Carrboro Meals on Wheels (MOW), Stacey Yusko spends much of her time serving meals to the people who need it the most along some 12 routes in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Each day, she and a group of volunteers buy, sort and deliver meals to people who are homeless, homebound or disabled. Some are also experiencing health problems or just had surgery and can’t cook their own meals. They get daily visits during which the volunteers, who usually go in pairs, deliver a hot meal and other amenities. These visits often amount to a social visit and a safety check that is as important as the food being delivered.

An Increasing Demand for Service

About 150 volunteers make it possible for MOW to keep its promise not to turn away anybody who is eligible and needs a meal. But the demand for the services has increased at a rate that was making it difficult for MOW to live up to its promise. Determined to keep the promise, Yusko and her board of directors enlisted ESC and its consultants to help them plan a board retreat that would help them address these issues.

What resulted from the engagement with ESC was “not so much revamping the organization as much as it was inventing new structures to help us accommodate the demand for services,” Yusko said. “We couldn’t accomplish any of our goals if we weren’t all united in a vision of where we wanted to go and how to get there.”

The Board Retreat Process

As part of the process, ESC consultants first worked with Yusko to design a survey for the board members that was compiled and analyzed. The results were then shared with the board at the retreat that was facilitated by the consultants. The focus of the retreat was on helping the board members gain a better understanding of where improvements were needed and the range of possible courses of actions they could take.

One possible course of action is now a reality. “We now have a new committee structure that is more robust with clear responsibilities and a charge to go out and recruit new people to serve on our other committees so we can effectively and efficiently spread the work among many,” said Yusko.

“The consultants were absolutely a pleasure to work with. They were knowledgeable, seasoned veterans,” said Yusko. “They made suggestions, deftly steered us back on topic, but they never intruded.”