Trenton Area Soup Kitchen Names New Executive Director

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Campbell

Joyce Campbell has been selected to lead the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. She will replace Dennis Micai, who is retiring Aug. 1.

Campbell currently serves as the associate executive director for external affairs at Catholic Charities in Trenton. She was named executive director of the soup kitchen because of her more than 30 years of nonprofit experience collaborating with nonprofits and community and government organizations to advocate for resources for the area’s most vulnerable, officials said.

“After reviewing approximately 90 applicants, we decided on Joyce because of her commitment to our area, broad experience, history of collaboration, and knowledge of nonprofits and government at all levels,” said TASK Board Chairman James Parker.

Campbell has dedicated her career to working with people living in poverty. She has experience in community-based social services and nonprofit leadership and management. Over the last 20 years of Campbell’s tenure at Catholic Charities, she rose through the department of emergency services to become the service area director, then was named director of community and government Relations before she was named to her current position.

She is the vice president of the board of the Anti-Poverty Network of New Jersey and a member of the board of trustees of NAMI Mercer, the local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.  She has also served on numerous boards and advisory groups at the local, state and national levels. Campbell earned her bachelor’s degree from Clark University and a master’s in social work from Rutgers University.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to lead such a well-respected organization,” Campbell said. “TASK not only nurtures the body, but clearly the human spirit, as well, and I will endeavor to build upon the legacy so finely crafted by previous executive directors.”

Outgoing TASK Executive Director Dennis Micai will welcome Campbell on board on June 20. “I have known Joyce for many years and am familiar with her outstanding record of achievement,” Micai said of his successor.

One of Campbell’s first challenges will be overseeing the soup kitchen’s building expansion. TASK has received a $450,000 challenge grant for the project, and hopes to break ground in the fall.

“We cast an extremely broad recruiting net and received applications from many exemplary candidates,” said TASK Vice Chairman Sajid Syed. “Joyce stood out based on her extensive background, outstanding reputation and proven track record of developing partnerships that collaboratively address pressing community problems.”

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Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.