Kathleen DiChiara
Member of the Board of Trustees
As president and CEO of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, Kathleen DiChiara oversees 108 staff members, more than 12,000 volunteers, two warehouses, and a small fleet of trucks. But it wasn't always like that. In 1975, she had a staff of one — herself. That's when she first began providing food for the needy from the back of her station wagon. Three years later, she began the Emergency Food Program for the Archdiocese of Newark, and two years after that, she founded FoodBank.
In 1982, Kathleen formed a nonprofit corporation called the Community FoodBank of New Jersey that began operation with a staff of five in a former slaughterhouse in Newark. That year, Community FoodBank distributed 75,000 pounds of food to 80 charities. Today it provides 20 million pounds of food and groceries annually to more than 1,500 charities. In addition, a commercial kitchen, a job training facility, a food rescue program, Kids CafÈs, a children's clothing distribution center, a cardboard sorting program, and a thrift shop all operate from FoodBank's 280,000-square-foot warehouse. A community garden, emergency pantry, and food rescue program operate from a 28,000-square-foot branch.
Kathleen has received numerous awards, both local and national, including those from three presidents, the governor of New Jersey, and the Pope. She has a B.S. in Education from the State University of New York at Oneonta and six honorary doctorates from colleges and universities in New Jersey.