There are any number of reasons Georgina Griffith-Yates is the new executive director of the Rappahannock Food Pantry, but let’s start with her dogs.
As she tells it, two of the five rescue dogs she shares with her spouse, Ash Yates, are runners. As in, if they’re off leash, there’s a good chance they’ll roam.
One day, as Griffith-Yates was out retrieving Poplar, a Great Pyrenees and Red, a Great Pyrenees Australian-shepherd mix, she was approached by a neighbor she didn’t know. She and Yates had recently moved to their Flint Hill property. The neighbor mentioned that it wasn’t the first time the dogs had dropped by. Griffith-Yates apologized.
Then they started to talk. Turned out the neighbor was Penny Kardis, president of the food pantry’s board. Also turned out that Griffith-Yates, 33, had run an urban agriculture nonprofit in Salt Lake City. Soon Kardis was suggesting that her new neighbor interview for the executive director position at the pantry.
“The rest is history,” said Griffith-Yates. “My dogs got me the job.”
Georgina Griffith-Yates at the Rappahannock Food Pantry. (Photo/Luke Christopher)
Building on the passion
When they moved here last fall, she and Yates reconnected with the latter’s family legacy — the Yates have lived in Rappahannock for six generations. Ash’s father, Jim Yates III, owned River Jordan Farm in Huntly and Flint Hill. He sold off parts of it over the years, and Ash and Georgina bought the last 48 acres in Flint Hill.
Living on a farm is a new experience for Griffith-Yates, a self-described “California surfer girl.” But she said it’s always something that’s appealed to her. And, as executive director of the Wasatch Community Gardens in Salt Lake City for the past four years, she learned a lot about the benefits and challenges of growing organic produce locally.
That said, she said she plans to do a lot of listening in her new role. ”The more I dig into the food pantry, the more I’m researching and learning. I’m always wary of people who come in, especially from the outside, and after 10 days, they’re saying, ‘Let’s do this and this and this.’ “
Board president Kardis thinks Griffith-Yates will play a big role in shaping the pantry’s future. “In order to meet the food security needs of our community,” she said, “it will take a lot more creative planning than relying on Department of Agriculture funding. Georgina has the background to get us to the next level.”
Griffith-Yates pointed out that many nonprofits start out as passion projects, which can carry them through the difficult early years. But if the passion fades, so often does the nonprofit. She said she’s been impressed with how the board and the volunteers at the food pantry are still passionate about its role in the community.
“My challenge and my excitement is being able to take these beautiful ingredients they’ve gathered here and put them into a finished recipe so you can open up the book and flip to the right recipe and be like ‘All our ingredients are together here,’” she said. “We can execute on them. We’ll have our best practices.”
“So we can say, ‘This is how we can scale without burning out staff. This is how we can bring in more volunteers.’ I’m really looking forward to digging into those kinds of things. Because the heart is already there.”
Georgina Griffith-Yates, left, and her spouse Ash Yates, taking a walk on their Flint Hill farm with two of their five rescue dogs, Red, a Great Pyrenees and Australian-shepherd mix and Poplar, a Great Pyrenees. (Photo/Luke Christopher)
Working with local farms
Griffith-Yates said she’s also excited about working with local farms in the region. She acknowledged that the stereotypical image of food banks is cans of food sitting on shelves. But one big lesson from COVID is that supply chains of products from outside the region can break down.
“It’s very encouraging to know that there’s a community to build on here,” she said. “It’s really heartening to know that we don’t have to be 100% reliant on systems that aren’t local.”
Kardis agreed. “Georgina’s background in farming and urban gardening translates perfectly here in Rappahannock. We can certainly make an impact with our local farmers and source more local produce in our pantry for our families and help the community at the same time.”
Griffith-Yates thinks that building on the connections with local farmers will become a bigger part of her job.
“We’ve seen what happens when something like COVID hits and the grocery stores are empty. That’s when local farmers are turned to. It’s neighbors. It’s each other.”
Georgina Griffith-Yates will be formally introduced at the food pantry’s annual fundraiser and garden party on Saturday, June 7 from 6-9 p.m. at The Barn at Newby’s Crossroads in Castleton. Tickets are currently sold out, but you can find out more about ways to help the pantry at rappahannockpantry.org
