By Chiara Coddington
Laura Sodano Beausoleil originally didn’t know what a food bank was. The first time she heard the words was at a Bruce Springsteen concert from Bruce himself, who was on stage talking about the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. After the show, Laura went back home and opened her phone book to find the FoodBank and call them to volunteer.
After some time as a steadfast volunteer, she decided to make a career change from her corporate job in advertising and public relations to join the CFBNJ team full-time. She held several positions over the years, first as an Operations Assistant before moving over to the Volunteer Department. Then, Kathleen offered her a new role as Hunger Action Coordinator. Laura went out to schools and talked about hunger, coordinated food drives, contributed to key clubs, and participated in hunger summits.
“What I’m so happy about is that the job I had before I retired is still continued to this day,” Laura said. “I’m happy that the food bank has continued in that tradition.”
Laura was involved with CFBNJ for more than 25 years. She saw many great changes during her time and has witnessed how food banks have grown and become much more necessary over the years.
“It’s not just putting cans into a bag; it’s dealing with donors and logistics and trucking and refrigeration and warehousing and inventory, and there’s a lot that goes into getting people the food that they need,” Laura shared. “I have learned so much from the FoodBank. Working there was a great career for me. It was a dream job.”
Laura remembers that Kathleen was hands-on and always wanted to see what was happening around the FoodBank. Kathleen wouldn’t just sit in her office all day, so Laura got to talk with her a lot. Laura always learned something new while she was with Kathleen.
“Kathleen’s passion for feeding people came down to all the staff and volunteers,” Laura explained. “It was so infectious. My favorite memories were seeing Kathleen’s ideas come to life and how she would make sure that all the staff always had what they needed.”
Another thing Laura admired was Kathleen’s work hiring people with backgrounds in the justice system to help them reenter society.
“When I think about Kathleen,” Laura says with a smile, “I think about her compassion and her effort to make everyone feel included.”
Laura hopes that, in the next 50 years of the FoodBank’s history, hunger will be alleviated more in communities. She hopes that the FoodBank will continue its life-changing programs.