Board of Directors
Sue Shea
President
Sue is a retired Human Resources Executive. She is also a wife, mother, and grandmother. In addition to serving on the Board, she also works with clients in the food pantry.
Patty Christopher
Past President
Patty has been a volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul for the past 8 years. She has a passion for working with underserved populations and has done so for most of her life. She has also served on the St. Vincent de Paul board for 7 years and as President for the past 5 years.
Kim Jalbert
Treasurer
Kim is a Real Estate Broker and an Executive Director for a small family foundation. She has two grown children and a 10-week-old granddaughter. Kim has lived in Central Oregon her whole life, spending the first 40 years in Madras and the last 22 years here in Bend. At St Vincent, she works the reception desk and is also a board member.
Verna Okell
Secretary
Verna is a retired US Bank VP. Her area of responsibility was nationwide ATM and Point of Sale technology development. She and her husband enjoy travel and a variety of outdoor activities. Verna has served as Secretary on the St. Vincent de Paul board of directors and as an on-call receptionist for several years and enjoys serving the needs of the community.
David Herum
Board Member
David is a hardworking volunteer who works weekly in the pantry. David’s kind attitude makes all the difference with our clients that come in to receive food boxes. He serves on the board and picks up bread for the pantry on Wednesday mornings from Safeway North.
Amy Spernak
Board Member
Amy moved to Bend in 2009 when her husband retired in order to live near their family. She has been a dedicated SVdP Wednesday volunteer since 2011 and joined the board in 2014.
Vickie Chisolm
Board Member
Vickie is a retired RN and like many nurses has worked in a wide variety of fields through the years. After retirement, she started volunteering at St Vincent de Paul in Redmond in their food bank, interviewing and doing home deliveries. During covid she bowed out of most of her volunteer work and became a member of the board with SVdP Bend in May of 2023.
David Brock
Board Member
David is a board member and pantry volunteer. He is also a Kansas, Missouri, and Idaho ranch and farm kid. In college he studied Social Work and Community Service. He has also spent the last 40 years as clergy member and administrator for his Christian denomination in the U.S.A., Canada, Africa, Latin America, and the South Pacific.
Candy Whitney
Board Member
Candy has been a volunteer in the pantry for 6 years. Her work there brings great personal fulfillment. She is a retired RN from Eugene, mother of two and grandmother of two. In addition to her pantry work, she also volunteers at the Tower, the Humane Society Thrift Shop, and works at Hayden Homes Amphitheater in the summers.
Karen Bates
Board Member
Karen and her husband moved to the Portland area in 1978 to start a restaurant business. While there, she became involved with the Ronald McDonald House at OHSU and later served six years as Board Chairman for RMHC. In 1995, they moved to Bend with plans to retire, but Bob opened a fly shop, and Karen began volunteering with First Presbyterian Church. She later chaired the Hunger & Homeless Task Force, deepening her work with the underserved. Karen volunteered for many years at Family Kitchen and served six years on the REACH Board. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, traveling, and cheering for the Ducks—unless they’re playing the Longhorns!
