Judy Spires fell in love with feeding people on the first day of her first job in high school – as a cashier at an Acme supermarket. Fast forward from that Halloween night, and Judy had become President of Acme Markets, one of the first female executives in the food industry. When she told her parents after college that she intended to make a career in grocery store management, they supported her vision.
Treating people with love and dignity was a pillar of Judy’s life long before that. Judy’s mom would pile her three youngest children (including Judy) in the family car, when it was available, to visit people in their Parish who needed a helping hand. Some of her earliest memories are of bringing a special treat to a home-bound neighbor or to a working family who had experienced financial hardship. Judy learned right then that, as she puts it, “caring for others with respect is not a rule or a job, it is part of life.”
The food service industry was meaningful to Judy for three reasons: it provided her community with food; it gave them jobs, and it allowed her to continue to help people experiencing food insecurity. Beginning in high school, through college, and into her career, Judy participated in food drives and served with organizations that fed neighbors in need. Supermarkets have always been allies in the work of food banking, offering trucks, gleaning, and valuable funds and knowledge. So naturally, when Judy came to New Jersey to serve as CEO of Kings Supermarkets, she immediately found an opportunity to meet Kathleen DiChiara and learn more about CFBNJ.
After one of Kathleen’s famous golf cart warehouse tours, she jumped at the opportunity to join the CFBNJ Board, eventually becoming Board Chair. As Judy says, “once you find out that 260,000 children in New Jersey are food insecure, you are changed. It is just unacceptable. It becomes part of your personal mission to do whatever you can do to help.”
Judy and Kathleen had an instant connection. Both were strong, unstoppable women. Both had found a way to make their dreams come true. Judy loved the joy that Kathleen brought to her work and the way she could make people believe in her vision. She also loved watching Kathleen out on the warehouse floor and seeing how deeply she knew and cared for each and every employee.
Another pivotal moment came at one of the first Board gatherings, where CFBNJ’s Chef Daryl told his story. She says that words that he spoke about his journey as an ex-offender “were implanted in my heart.” Kathleen famously had a commitment to giving what she often called a “second chance” to folks whose struggles with poverty had turned them to crime. Judy related to Daryl’s story, the hard choices that come with poverty, and the ways that productive work can help people turn their lives around.
As Judy says, “I know we can end food insecurity in our state – despite the challenges of bringing all the pieces together to do so.” In her vision of the future, “CFBNJ will create the ultimate model that will be copied throughout the country. We are our brother’s keeper and together, we will create a future in which food insecurity will be totally eliminated.”