Leadership TriCounty Class Recap November

Leadership TriCounty started off their November class by visiting the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities, which serves as one of Pottstown’s main food pantries. The Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities is not only a food pantry with delivery options, but also serves as a distribution center to other pantries. Over forty families are serviced through this organization per day and are provided guidance on the nutritional values of the foods that are readily available to them. Jacqui Good, the Director of Development and Communications, and Anissa Jones, the Community Engagement Specialist/Volunteer Coordinator, have expanded upon their services by offering housing stability guidance and other related services such as healthcare, medicare, and lawyers for local community members.

Tammie Reimer, the acting director of Development Enterprises Corporation, (DEC) Pottstown provided the group with a virtual tour of their facility and a general overview of their organization. The DEC works with the county to identify and hire intellectually disabled individuals where they are then taught specific skills that can be translated to the outside workforce. The DEC typically has over 42 individuals at their facility each day who may be learning about material handling or janitorial services, while also working on reading, writing, and relationship building.

A panel of local non-profit leaders later met with the class to discuss the inner workings of their organizations and how they serve our community. The panel shared about the types and sizes of boards they are each a part of, how those drive the organization’s vision and mission, and how their volunteers play an integral part in tying everything together. Clear communication and recognizing each individuals’ value and contribution to the organization has allowed these organizations opportunities for growth. The panel agreed that connection leads to value, which in turn increases volunteer retention. The representatives from the YWCA TriCounty Area, TriCounty Active Adult Center, Strive Initiative, Greater Pottstown Tennis & Learning, and TriCounty Community Network each provided the Leadership TriCounty class of 2023 an amazing, intimate look into the wonderful things they are doing in our community and what exactly it takes to undergo such a tremendous amount of work.