Outgoing Director of Community and Family Services for the Belleville Salvation Army Abby Mills (left) with the incoming Director Connie Goodsell.
She has been a calming, warm and welcoming presence at the very busy downtown Belleville Family and Services headquarters and she will be missed by hundreds of people.
Abby Mills, the Director of Community and Family Services for almost 6 years, will work her last day this Friday, June 28.
She will be transferring to a similar position with the Army in Napanee.
The person replacing her will be well known to staff, volunteers and clients. She is the current Operations Manager of Community and Family Services Connie Goodsell and has worked in Belleville for the past 6 years.
Mills tells Quinte News that she has had a wonderful time serving in Belleville and will miss countless people. “Make no mistake, the decision to leave the Ministry here in Belleville was a very difficult one and I had to ponder moving to Napanee for quite a while before accepting the transfer. However, I can leave feeling confident that Connie (Goodsell) knows the people and what we do here. She will do a great job!”
When asked how things had changed for the Salvation Army in Belleville over the past 6 years Mills said “the demand for our food bank and our meal services has increased each year. But the good news is that the community is a very generous one and has never failed to support us and in turn support the less well-off in the community.”
For example, the Army served about 20,000 lunches and suppers back in 2013. Last year, in 2018, around 34,000 meals were served. The food bank is also much busier.
Meanwhile, the new Director of Community and Family Services will begin offering a new program called “Pathway to Hope”. Under the program a few clients will be selected to receive personal services from Army staff and volunteers in hopes of helping them to become more independent and therefore less dependent on the the services the Army provides.
Connie Goodsell says “we’ll offer these people what they need to live better lives, things such as counselling, budgeting, and connections to work and/or school. We’re already gearing up and recruiting specialized volunteers to get the program up and running. I’m excited about it.”
Abby Mills with kitchen volunteer Barb Fallow. (Photo: John Spitters/ Quinte News)
