Just the facts: With Development
As a non-profit organization, Lovin’ Spoonfuls relies on gifts to cover our operating costs. While many people play a part in supporting our fundraising efforts, our Development Team drives the bus. Meet the team who make it happen: Erin Keohane, Christine Becker, Joel Simonson, and Jules Stuber.
From planning and executing fundraising events throughout the year to cultivating relationships with donors to submitting grant applications, this team ensures Lovin’ Spoonfuls has the funds to rescue food from retailers and distribute it to our non-profit partners in communities across Massachusetts.
Here are three more things you should know about each member of our Development Team.
Erin Keohane – Senior Director of Development
1) As the Senior Director of Development for Lovin’ Spoonfuls, Erin oversees Lovin’ Spoonfuls’ fundraising, marketing, and communication efforts in partnership with the team. Each year, Development aims to support existing programs and see what and where there are opportunities to expand Lovin’ Spoonfuls’ reach and support more communities, which is remarkably challenging during COVID.
2) When Erin was able to do her first ride-along with Lovin’ Spoonfuls’ Food Rescue Coordinators, she instantly fell in love with our mission. She found it so personal, respectful, and incredibly rewarding. Since Erin joined the team nearly 2 years ago, she has learned much about food rescue, food justice, and the environmental impacts of food waste. She thinks it’s a joy to share what is now a personal passion of hers with the community – encouraging others to become advocates and supporters of this critical work.
3) Erin has been skydiving three times. The first of which was by far her favorite, taking place during sunset. The landing field needed cars with their lights on to help guide her and the instructor to the right place. She says it’s one of her all-time favorite life memories.
Christine Becker – Development Director, Corporate & Foundation Relations
1) As the Development Director, Corporate & Foundation Relations, Christine is Lovin’ Spoonfuls’ marketplace storyteller. Along with cultivating and stewarding the existing portfolio of dedicated philanthropic partnerships, Christine also shares the mission of Lovin’ Spoonfuls in the boardrooms and break rooms of Massachusetts’ companies.
2) Christine’s first ride-along made a significant impression on her understanding of wasted food. The amount of beautiful, nutrient-dense food that would have been wasted was astonishing. But to watch the delight and gratitude in the faces of our nonprofit partners receiving the rescued food was an unparalleled feeling. Taking care of our fellow human beings and our planet Earth is work that Christine finds extremely meaningful and impactful.
3) While growing up, Christine played the violin in her school orchestra but later dropped out to pursue chorus. Twenty-five years later, Christine joined the Community School of Music with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as a beginner violinist. One of her long-term dreams is to audition for a community orchestra, make the cut, and perform Vivaldi’s “Winter.”
Joel Simonson – Development Officer
1) As Development Officer, Joel focuses on individual donor stewardship and management, drawing from his experience as a Food Rescue Coordinator to share Lovin’ Spoonfuls’ mission with our community of supporters!
2) Outside of work, Joel and his girlfriend, Claire, try their best to minimize food waste in their home, such as shopping with a grocery list and sticking to that list, using food scraps to make stock, and freezing soups when they produce large quantities of it.
3) Growing up, Joel took tap dancing classes for six years and then dusted off his tap shoes to perform in the Young Frankenstein musical while at Clark University.
Jules Stuber – Development Coordinator
1) Jules is passionate about the power of food and its ability to bring us all together, even in the face of a worldwide pandemic. As Lovin’ Spoonfuls’ Development Coordinator, Jules goes into work each day excited to be part of an organization that works to foster an equitable, sustainable, and resilient food system here in Massachusetts.
2) While having lunch in the Lovin’ Spoonfuls office or eating with family and friends at home, Jules tries to reduce and limit food waste as frequently as possible. He loves to use leftovers and meal prep for the week when able, which usually means lots of stocks, soups, and sandwiches.
3) After work, Jules likes to spend his evenings cooking and eating with his girlfriend Emily and their dog Fisher. He loves to collect cookbooks and decided on a New Year’s resolution to cook two new recipes from a new book each week. He made shakshuka for the first time on week three, and now all other recipes are struggling to live up in comparison.