“Combating Food Insecurity in Central Virginia” will be the subject of the September 8 meeting of the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club.
Dan Maher, president and chief executive officer of the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank, and Nicki Buell, director of the Lions Wilderness Food Pantry in Locust Grove, will speak about the role of their organizations in addressing the needs of our food insecure neighbors. They will also discuss the impact of COVID-19 on their programs and offer suggestions for ways citizens can help.
The meeting will begin with a meet-and-greet session at 1 p.m. in Classroom 2 of the Lake of the Woods Community Center at Sweetbriar Park. The program will begin at 1:30 p.m.
Maher, who grew up in Hampton, Virginia, attended The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, where he earned a B.B.A. degree in business management. He continued his education at St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, obtaining a master of divinity degree.
Subsequently, he spent almost 15 years in a variety of roles in ministerial and religious settings in northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., before returning to Virginia to work three years as director of education at The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News. His non-profit organization career path then led him to the Beaumont, Texas, area, where he served as vice president for development and communications with Catholic Charities of Southeast Texas for four years, followed by nearly eight years as chief executive officer of the Southeast Texas Food Bank within the Feeding America network.
Maher’s recent move within the Feeding America network has returned him to Virginia. He began serving the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank in January of this year.
Buell has has been an active volunteer with the Lions Wilderness Food Pantry since 2017. For the past four years she has been responsible for setting up the “link to feed” program as well as preparing and submitting all monthly federal reports.