Paul Barnes' Farewell

Last week the staff at the food bank held a final send-off party for Paul Barnes. Although he officially retired January 1, 2004, he had stayed in place as Executive Director Emeritus in a consulting role, supporting my transition into the food banking industry. Paul had spent the last 11 years reshaping St Mary's into one of the finest most respected food banks in the country. His style and approach enabled the food bank to develop its employees in order to continue meeting the growing need of the hungry in our community. I really appreciate the mentoring time I have had with Paul over the last 14 months and wish he and Barbara all the best. They have lots of travel plans in the near future which I'm sure will keep them very busy.