A month after the passing of Valley Churches United Missions’ founder and longtime Executive Director Annette Marcum, the organization’s staff, volunteers, and board of directors are hard at work to continue her legacy.
“We’re carrying on day by day,” said Operations Director Linda Lovelace. “We’re still in the baby steps of what to do next.”
Absent Marcum, it’s business as usual at the organization’s Ben Lomond headquarters — the Food Pantry is operating, food deliveries are being made to seniors, and services are available to those in the community suffering through hardships.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Boulder Creek resident Andy Immel was named to a three-year term as chair of the organization’s board of directors earlier this month.
Immel, who has been involved in the organization for more than a decade, said that the 13-member board will strive to lead VCUM in a way that’s consistent to Marcum’s vision.
“We have an organization that is very successful,” he said. “We have to keep it geared in the direction it’s always been because that’s what has made it successful.”
Immel said that one of the board’s first orders of business is to begin a search for a new executive director that would assume Marcum’s role as VCUM’s leader and public face.
Lovelace said that finding someone that could come close to filling Marcum’s shoes would be a tall order.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever been faced with searching for a replacement (executive director),” she said. “Annette was a genius with people and a promoter of Valley Churches extraordinaire.”
Immel said that the board would take its time making the selection, to ensure that the right candidate is selected, and added that the board would not make any sudden changes to the organization.
Immel, whose background is in sales and marketing, said that he would eventually like see VCUM begin to explore ways to expand its presence online to reach out to a broader section of the community, particularly young people, as a way of attracting new volunteers and the donations that keep the organization’s million-dollar annual budget going.
“The main focus we have is to carry on the work, but at the same time uplift it and carry it forward,” he said.
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