Day: December 10, 2020

Board of Directors Spotlight: Lisa Williams

Lisa Williams is the President of Black Nurses Rock in Tyler. She is new the East Texas Food Bank Board of Directors and joined this summer.

Lisa recently graduated from Leadership Tyler and did a tour of ETFB in her class. She told us she was amazed at the operations and learned so much about how ETFB works to make sure every East Texan has access to the nutritious food and services they need. Lisa said, “I’m just a proud member of the East Texas Food Bank Board and I love it!”

Outside of her community work, Lisa loves to travel and read leadership and motivational books. Her favorite movie is Rocky because “he never gave up and that’s important!”

Employee Spotlight: Lauren Barnes

Lauren Barnes joined the East Texas Food Bank in October 2019 as the Communications and Marketing Director. Lauren is responsible for all marketing, communications and advocacy activities across ETFB’s 26 county service area.

Lauren has a passion for using her skills to have a positive impact on the community and has dedicated her career to working with nonprofits. Her previous positions include working with adolescent mental health and substance abuse, early childhood development and education and academic after-school and summer programs.

When she’s not at work, Lauren is usually spending quality time with her fiancee, Cate, daughter, Madeline, and their three rescue pets. The pandemic has provided extra time for camping, board games and outdoor movies.

Board of Directors Spotlight: Jay Brooks

Jay Brooks is the Smith County Fire Marshal/Emergency Management Coordinator and joined the Board of Directors in July of 2020. Jay said he was inspired to join the board after working with ETFB during its COVID-19 emergency response.

“I was impressed with the operation and the number of people that are positively impacted by ETFB. Even during a pandemic, ETFB was able to pull together the necessary resources to aid a substantial increase in families who needed assistance due to the mandated shutdown. Food is a necessity of life and I wanted to do my part to help fulfill this mission,” Jay told us.

Outside of serving the community, Jay enjoys fishing, woodworking and computer programming. Fun fact: Jay is on his second career and worked in technology before.