Hub Leader Role

We don’t use the word “essential” lightly. Our ability to deliver loaves and energy cookies twice a month is dependent on a cheerleader coordinator within the community. This hub leader serves as an anchor for the volunteer bakers in a specific geographic area and in support of a specific food bank partner or partners.

A robust set of tools has been built to make the cheerleading easy to execute or to delegate to helpful volunteers.

On average the volunteer time needed to be a hub leader is 10 hours or so a month. Most of that is passive time, receiving the donations twice a month. But active time is what helps us build community and improve our impact to our food bank partners.

Here is a short list of the essential tasks to be a hub leader:

• Communication – twice a month email communication using the CL email tool. Provide meaningful updates and/or requests to your hub members. Topics include…
  • New Program Logistics – (Holiday Cookie, New Formulas, Supply Delivery…)
  • Major member milestones – (anniversaries, volunteer time, achievements)
  • Request help from hub members – ask for assistance getting the donation to the food bank
  • Reinforce the value of the donation to the food bank – updates from the partnered food bank.
• Manage Bread & Cookie Donation – ensure that the loaves and cookies get to the food bank. (This doesn’t mean taking them yourself, it is an easy task to request help from others.)
• Understand the monthly local delivery or shipment process for supplies. If you manage a local shipment that involves a couple of hours each month.
• Coordinate an annual food bank tour – individually or in concert with other hubs that support the same food bank. This is also a great “task” for an enthusiastic hub member.

What follows are the essential agreements to be a CL hub leader:

• Your Photo or Avatar will be part of your profile – this livens up the CL Community and creates a familiar face for hub members to find.
• The existing partnered food bank will be the exclusive beneficiary – you cannot solicit new partners independently, but working with Community Loaves HQ, new partnerships may be pursued as needed.
• Use the hub leader management tools exclusively for all CL functions.
• Ask bakers to use the support resources directly vs. serving as a liaison for logistics inquiries. Creates unnecessary complexity – FAQ’s. (orders@communityloaves.org, info@communityloaves.org )
• Stay in contact and elevate any concerns or recommendations directly to me – your ideas big or small, help us continue to build a stronger program – katherine@communityloaves.org 
• Any and all press inquiries need to be directed to Community Loaves. From there we will  respond as a team.
• All branding and communication elements are the property of Community Loaves and usage needs to be approved by the mothership.
• Creation of any tools – including handouts, flyers, cards, etc.. to support the Community Loaves effort need to be approved by Katherine Kehrli and the communications team. 

The hub leadership was never intended to be a lifetime role. We recognize the time will come when you will be ready or will need to pass the proverbial baguette. The following process will help to guide this effort and create a smooth transition and continuity for our Breader Together efforts.

FYI – It is helpful to transition hubs at specific times of the calendar year when other activities for our non-profit are slower. If you can plan for an August or December transition, that is ideal. Life events don’t always happen at an ideal time, but if we have the luxury of time, August or December are best.

Here are the steps:

• Notify Katherine that you’re looking to find new leadership for the hub.
• Together, you’ll talk through any logical successor candidates, perhaps existing delegates and/or super helpful hub members.
• You’ll agree on a desired timeline and a communication plan to the hub to solicit interest.
• Any interested candidates will need to attend a hub training session. You and Katherine will encourage folks to attend this hub leader training.
• Although only one person can be a hub leader, the opportunity to train multiple people at once helps create a knowledgeable leadership team that can support one another.
• In the unlikely event that nobody emerges able/willing to take on these responsibilities, the hub will be closed, and hub members will be reassigned to the next closest hub.

Please notify Katherine (katherine@communityloaves.org) if you would like to begin the hub transition process.