Changes, Changes, Changes

Robert Karp, Executive Director

I know the main things on your minds are seeds, earth, foals, weather, field days, fresh locally grown food, and, perhaps, for some of you…vacations. Nonetheless, we felt it was important to let you know about some upcoming staffing changes at PFI so they don’t catch you by surprise. Here’s the scoop:

For the last three years Nan Bonfils has managed a wide variety of tasks in her “half time” position, including communications, membership services and annual meeting coordination. As you all know, Nan has accomplished these tasks with enormous passion and wisdom and skill. Combined with the demands of Full Circle Farm, however, not to mention her work at the United Community School District in Boone, it’s all gotten to be a little much. So we have decided to do some restructuring here at PFI that will allow Nan to continue with PFI, but with a more focused and less time consuming set of responsibilities.

Starting in July, Nan’s focus will become communications and community outreach, through newsletters, brochures, press releases, and special events. In addition, Nan will be moving off campus and carrying out her responsibilities from her home and from the PFI off-campus office in downtown Ames.

In the meantime, PFI will be hiring a new hourly person to work on campus to handle member renewals and mailings, database management and basic phone inquiries. In addition, we will also be looking for a new person to coordinate the annual meeting – with a good deal of help from Nan and myself! Please let me know if you or someone you know may be interested in either of these positions.

As I said, changes, changes, changes.

Perhaps the biggest change all this implies for PFI members, is that Nan will no longer be your point of first contact on the telephone. And as our hourly person on campus will be working fewer hours than Nan did, it may mean that you reach an answering machine more often than before. We greatly apologize for this inconvenience, which we plan to remedy as soon as possible. In the meantime, please remember that all the PFI staff people can be reached at their direct lines (listed above) and we are more than happy to take your calls and answer your questions. When in doubt about who to call, call me, at 515-233-3622.

There may be a little bit of office chaos over the summer while we make these changes and we appreciate your patience. PFI has a fabulous staff and we want them to be happy, focused and motivated. These change are designed to accomplish that.