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New Soup Kitchen director remains in place

Board hears discussion of Four Souls’ work, mostly positive, in meeting Monday

Leadership at the Feed My Sheep Community Soup Kitchen appeared to be in question Monday as the organization’s board held a public forum to gather testimony regarding the direction of the kitchen's operations including the job performance of its new director Evelyn Four Souls, whose possible firing was on the agenda.

The board took no action and Four Souls still is the director.

The press was allowed to cover the public comment section of the meeting then the board closed the meeting for their discussion and to hear one set of testimony.

Volunteers, who made up the majority of those at the public forum, overwhelmingly defended Four Souls, who was hired in mid-December.

Four Souls said the changes she’s made in how the kitchen operates has caused some tension among volunteers.

Based on testimony at Monday’s meetings, these tensions appear to have spilled over in an incident last week involving heated arguments between current and former staff and volunteers.

Four Souls said she has used the kitchen before and was critical of the food standards and hospitality, and since her hiring in December she’s sought to make things better by cleaning food storage spaces, getting rid of food that is unfit to serve and setting up a better system of keeping track of food and its age.

Attendees at the forum, mostly current volunteers, largely defended Four Souls, saying she is doing everything she can to make things better, that she works hard and is great with those that use the kitchen.

Betty Billmayer was among these volunteers and said she understands Four Souls’ concerns about food storage and thinks her heart is absolutely in the right place.

Another volunteer that spoke on her behalf was Jackie Gopher, who said the soup kitchen has been better-attended since her taking over and she works hard to make it the best that it can be.

These sentiments were echoed by others at the meeting including board member and volunteer Sarah McKinney, also a member of Havre City Council, who said Four Souls’ performance in the past three months has been imperfect, but the flaws seem to be a result of being new to the job and, overall, she has been great.

Another who spoke in favor of Four Souls was First Lutheran Church Pastor and Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association Secretary Megan Hoewisch, who said Four Souls has been building connections with local churches and she, as well as Pastor Sue King, are excited to strengthen the connections Four Souls is trying to build.

Four Souls was not without critics at the meeting, two attendees, while not outright condemning her performance, did strongly criticize her handling of last week’s conflict and said volunteers should not have been expected to deal with that situation.

One also criticized her for spending too much time at the desk and not enough time working with the volunteers.

Four Souls’ most vehement critic was former Feed My Sheep Acting Director Doris Hanson, who was much more explicit in her condemnation of the current director.

“Evelyn is not doing her job,” Hanson said.

She said she “gets reports” that Four Souls spends too much time on her phone, takes longer-than-appropriate breaks and talks with the kitchens users when she should be working with volunteers.

McKinney questioned why volunteers were consulting with Hanson given that she is no longer an employee, volunteer or board member.

Hanson said she sought to become a volunteer last week and testimony from multiple people at the forum seemed to indicate that this was an element of the conflict last week.

One person with testimony said they were uncomfortable talking with the press present and submitted their thoughts after the meeting was closed.

Four Souls said another common criticism she’s heard is that she is working the volunteers too hard, and while she understands and doesn’t want to work people harder than neccessary, particularly the older volunteers, she does see a tremendous need in the area and wants to serve as many people as possible.

Board members said the meeting ended without a decision made on the matter of Four Souls’ continued employment and no meeting was set for further discussion.

 

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