A message from Nourishing Hope CEO, Kellie O’Connell
To the Nourishing Hope Community,
I have been offered a tremendous new leadership opportunity, and after thoughtful consideration, have made the difficult decision to step down as CEO of Nourishing Hope.
My last day will be Friday, February 7, 2025 and I will start as the new CEO of the Illinois Region of the American Red Cross February 24.
Leading Nourishing Hope for the past nine years has been one of the greatest honors and privileges of my life. Together, we’ve grown from a local food pantry into a $19M+ social impact powerhouse, changing the lives of tens of thousands of Chicagoans each year. I am so very proud of what we’ve accomplished together. Our amazing team, dedicated board members, compassionate volunteers, generous donors, and growing stable of partners have provided the foundation to scale up our food operations while also expanding well beyond food security to address our community’s social service and mental health needs.
When I think about our work together, it’s humbling to see how far we’ve come. From opening the Sheridan location in 2016 to pioneering Chicago’s first online food pantry, to our huge response during COVID-19 with the emergency food pantry at Wrigley Field, greatly expanded warehouse and distribution capacity, the rebrand to Nourishing Hope, and the opening of our new city-wide headquarters in 2022, we’ve consistently found innovative and dignified ways to meet the needs of our neighbors.
I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have guided this organization through such transformative growth. Thanks to each of you for your unwavering support throughout my time at Nourishing Hope. I join you in remaining a passionate advocate and proud supporter of Nourishing Hope’s mission and the vital work the organization does in Chicago.
Sincerely,
A message from Board President, Marc Brenner
To the Nourishing Hope Community,
In her nine years as CEO of Nourishing Hope, Kellie has led a significant transformation of our organization, including expanding our reach to neighbors in Chicago through 30+ community partnerships, growing from two to four distribution centers, leading through the global pandemic with its unprecedented need for emergency food programs, and rebranding the organization. Kellie has been an outstanding CEO and a passionate advocate for our clients. We are very grateful for her enormous contributions and wish her well in her new role.
As our Board of Directors now launches a search process for our next permanent CEO, Chief Program Officer Jennie Hull will step up as the Interim CEO. Jennie has worked side by side with Kellie for eight years and has been instrumental in expanding food and social services for people in need. A licensed clinical professional counselor, she initiated adding mental health counseling to the services we provide, and was instrumental in pioneering our online market, which enables people to order food online for pick-up. She, along with our deep bench of staff and a very active and passionate board, keeps us in great shape to take Nourishing Hope forward.
As always, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being with us on the important journey of eliminating hunger and providing critical social services to our neighbors in need. We can’t do it without your support and encouragement, and very much appreciate every dollar, every volunteer hour and every well-wish shared.
Warm regards,
