Changes

There is a time for all things and now is a time of change in our ministry family. It is both a happy time because we are welcoming Jeff Hall as our Little Store operations manager and Riley Smith as our Saturday counter clerk, and a sad time because we are saying goodbye to Marielis Manzueta, who has been our LittleStore clerk for the past year. Jeff Hall Jeff was volunteering for us at the Saint Paul Outreach – Food Pantry on Saturday mornings for a little over one year while he was working part time at the Worcester Art Museum and Quinsigamond Community College. Jeff’s primary interest is publishing and while he is trying to break into that field, he thought he would try his hand at management. When he approached us concerning the Little Store manager’s position we were somewhat hesitant, but after interviewing him we knew we had a match. Jeff joined us May 18, 2018 and jumped right into the fray. He is learning the ropes as they say, as well as all of the volunteers that help out every week. As an aside, we also have Jeff working on the publishing of StreetLights. The August edition will be his first and we have plans for him to help us out with some additional publishing projects. So when you stop in say hello to Jeff!!       Marielis Manzueta Marielis joined us as the Little Store counter clerk just over one year ago. Our then store manager Harry Duchesne said to me, “I think I found the right person for the job on the counter.” “How do you know?” I asked. “Well,” he said, “I just got off the phone with one of her references and when I told her that we were going to hire Marielis she exclaimed, ‘Oh no, I knew I was going to lose her!’ Why asked Harry, because she is such a great worker and very dependable and always smiling, but we had to lay her off for the summer and I was hoping I could hire her back in the fall.’” Marielis lived up to her reputation as a hard worker, very dependable, always smiling and even more. She learned her job quickly and was always ready to pitch in whenever she was needed. Her customer handling skills are superb and since she left on June 8, 2018, all we hear whenever someone comes into the store is, “Where is Marielis?” We really enjoyed getting to know her while she worked here, especially her insights into the Spanish community. Riley Smith Please welcome Riley. He is our Saturday counter clerk. He started in May and is working on his undergraduate degree in Political Science at Clark University. Riley has settled into our routine very quickly and has conquered the myriad of rules for the counter clerk quickly. We are grateful to have him on our normally busy Saturdays, where he works very diligently and helps everyone who comes through the doors. He brings an enthusiasm to every personal contact he has at the counter. We are hoping he will be with us for awhile.