Board of Directors

At the heart of any successful not-for-profit organization is an invested, engaged Board of Directors and Executive Director. Our Board of Directors serve as an ambassador and advocate of Milly’s Pantry and carry out the management and fiduciary responsibilities of this organization. Each Board Director volunteers their time and talent and are committed to being a knowledgeable member and a full participant in activities that bring awareness to our mission of supporting Yates County children by addressing issues of food insecurity and academic readiness and to address poverty by empowering Yates County children and their families.

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Meet our Team!

A great big thank you to Tom Close, whose recently fulfilled his term. We will miss you and your humor but most of all, your dedication and support as a Milly’s Pantry teammate! Best to you in all you do!

Board member since 2017 – 2022

Tom, now retired, worked for the Eastman Kodak Co. for 37 years as an engineer and later as a patent attorney. In 1978 he and his wife Susan purchased a property on East Bluff Drive in the Town of Jerusalem, where they currently reside. After retirement from Kodak Tom attended the violin making school at the University of New Hampshire. He conducted a violin making and stringed instrument repair business from his home for several years and now volunteers to repair musical instruments donated to the Once Again Shoppe in Penn Yan. He was on the Board of Directors of the Keuka Food Pantry. When their operations were taken over by Pro Action in 2017 he happily accepted a position on the Board of Milly’s Pantry.

Jan Barrett

Board President 2022-present, Board Member since 2021

Jan was raised in East Irondequoit along with her loving and caring parents who valued education, hard work and empathy toward others. Upon graduating from H. S. Jan spent a year abroad living with a family in Wurzburg, Germany. After more than 40 years, Jan still keeps touch with the family. Jan graduated from Hartwick College with a BA Degree from Nazareth College with a Masters in Teaching and from SUNY Brockport with a Degree in Administration. Jan taught for 17 years in the Rochester City School District and 13 years as an elementary school principal in Webster. Jan and her husband are now happily retired and enjoy living in beautiful Keuka Lake. Jan is a CCE Master Gardener and also works as a YC Election Inspector. Serving children has always been a focus of Jan’s life and she is delighted to be able to share her talents she possesses in furthering that goal with the wonderful people at Milly’s.

Carleen Wilson

Vice President 2013-present, Board President 2022, member since 2012

Carleen Wilson is a retired junior high/high school math teacher who taught in the Dundee Central School District for 34 years. After retiring she worked part time for a few years at the New York State Education Department. Carleen has two adult sons. She volunteers at Milly’s Market & Café, most often as a baker, and with Our Brothers Keeper making quilts for the Yates County Christmas Program. Her winters are spent in sunny Florida and the remainder of the year here in the lovely Penn Yan area. Carleen loves to travel with friends and to see her sons. She enjoys flower gardening, reading, and sewing. Carleen has been a Milly’s Pantry Board member for several years and the Vice President for a few of those years.

Susan Wolff

Board Secretary 2021-present, Board President 2012-2020, member since 2009

Susan grew up in Colorado, attended universities in California and Indiana, and moved to Yates County in 1980. She spent her professional career in software design/development, first at a small company in Rochester and then at WolffPack Inc., a firm specializing in financial aid management software, which she founded in 1989 and retired from in 2012. Even before retiring, Susan was drawn to Milly’s Pantry by the work being done by Becky Holder (Milly Bloomquist’s daughter), and Carolyn and George Schaeffer to support vulnerable local children. She joined the organization early in its life as a sort of jack-of-all-trades at Milly’s Market & Café, helping to establish business practices, supervise volunteers, and open the kitchen, and then as the Business Manager and chief cook. She was elected to the first formal Board of Directors in 2009 and has served, at one time or another, in all of the Board officers’ positions. Originally elected President of the Board in 2012, Susan remains an active part of managing the kitchen, market, and other fundraising activities at Milly’s Market & Café, the building owned by Milly’s Pantry on Main Street in Penn Yan.

Donna Spector

Board Treasurer 2021-present

Donna is a native Rochesterian having grown up in Irondequoit. Except for nine years spent in Rochester, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit) in the 1990s, she has always lived in the Rochester area including her college years ,being a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology. She is a CPA having worked for accounting firms early in her career and has been in sole practice for over 30 years. Her first memories of Keuka Lake are coming with her family to bring her grandmother to visit her sister who lived on Liberty Street. Donna and her husband, Bruce purchased a home on Keuka Lake eight years ago. Since they both work from home, they can divide their time about equally between that house and a townhouse in Brighton. They have three daughters. One lives in London and has two children, one in Luxembourg, and one lives in the D.C. area. She has volunteered with various nonprofit organizations over the last 25 years and been on the board of several including as treasurer.

Dennis Barrett

Board member since 2021

Dennis was born and raised in Webster, NY as part of a family of 8. At the time, Webster was a small, rural community. After graduation from Hight School, Dennis received his BA Degree from St. John Fisher College. Dennis then attended Columbia Law School and graduated Cum Laude in 1967. Dennis joined the Peace Corp and spent the next several years in Guatemala working with farmer cooperatives. Upon his return to the U.S., Dennis practiced in legal services and ultimately as a partner in a firm that formed in Syracuse to represent public school districts throughout Central and Western New York. Dennis and his wife, Jan, moved to the Keuka Lake area about 10 years ago after retiring and found Milly’s. They both have been eager to lend their support ever since.

Kevin Oliver