The former executive director of Good Samaritans of Garland, Pam Swendig, received a fond farewell at her retirement party Thursday Jan. 18, at Main Street Café.
Swendig’s family, as well as Good Sam staff, volunteers and friends were on-hand to honor her 10 years of accomplishments at Good Sam. Teria Bradford, former co-worker of Swendig, planned the party and talked about the many successes of the former executive director. Bradford, along with other speakers, recognized Swendig’s positive traits and expressed admiration for her dedication to service. Several became emotional as they spoke about their love and respect for Swendig, as well as how much she would be missed.
Swendig spent 10 years in the role of executive director at Good Sam and her list of accomplishments is impressive. Bradford talked about many of Swendig’s successes, and a few examples are described below.
She found new ways to serve a fast-growing number of food insecure individuals and families. In addition, Swendig changed some of the processes to accommodate the larger number of guests and to streamline the method of getting food to them to shorten their wait time.
Swendig always stressed the importance of treating guests with the kindness and respect they deserve. She has a true servant’s heart and was constantly thinking about ways to improve the guests’ experience.
She transformed Good Sam’s location into a warm and welcoming area for the guests by adding touches such as new paint, adding picnic tables and planting colorful flowers in the yard. In addition, she reworked the vision and core values of the nonprofit to better describe the service they provide.
New partnerships were established by Swendig which made it possible for the nonprofit to help more people. Additionally, new fundraising ideas were implemented to raise needed money.
These are only a few of Swendig’s achievements during her tenure at Good Sam.
Sara Kenefake has assumed the role of executive director at Good Sam, and there is no doubt that she will carry on the tradition of kindness and service to others that the nonprofit is known for. Kenefake took over Jan. 1, 2024.
Thank you to Tammy Norvell at Main Street Café for hosting the party and preparing the tasty food. And, thanks to all the guests who were there to celebrate with Pam!
About:
In 2023, Good Sam:
- Served 4,555 households, 3,373 were new households.
- Served 14,732 individuals – 4,748 were children; 8,062 were adults; 1,920 were seniors; 1,995 were new clients
- Provided 177,478 meals, served 150 unhoused, provided 520 food bags.