Photo: Tristan Williams
Charlottesville’s Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry provides free groceries to an average of 12,000 people every month. “Our goal for each visiting household is to provide a week’s worth of food, based on household size, that accommodates dietary restrictions and cultural preferences,” says Jane Colony Mills, the nonprofit’s executive director. C-VILLE recently caught up with Colony Mills, who’s headed Loaves & Fishes since 2017, and she weighed in on everything from why she loves her job, to the best advice she’s received and her dearly departed cat, Timmy.
Pronouns: She/her/hers
Hometown: Charlottesville
Job: Executive Director at Charlottesville’s Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry
What excites you the most about what you do? Thirty-five percent of the food we give to pantry visitors otherwise would be thrown away by grocery retailers, yet it is still nutritious. Americans waste 35 to 40 percent of the food in our country, so rescuing food that can feed those who can’t afford to buy it is very important to me.
What are some of your biggest challenges? Providing food for a growing number of households and people seeking assistance, which is up 50 percent from two years ago, while donated food supplies have decreased. The continued high cost of groceries, coupled with higher costs of housing, utilities, and transportation in our community, and new qualifications for SNAP (food stamp) benefits, have forced people to come for assistance who have never visited a food distribution organization before, and we are buying more food (milk, eggs, produce, meat) than ever in the history of our organization.
How did your prior experiences prepare you to run a food bank? I’m very detail-oriented, have raised money for local organizations for much of my career, am comfortable speaking in public (even though I’m an introvert!), and I’m passionate about making sure that people have food.
What kind and how much food do your clients receive? We try to provide as much fresh food as we have available, with about 65 percent of what pantry visitors receive being milk, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables, bread, and meat.
What are you listening to right now? I love so many kinds of music, and listen to whatever brings me peace in the moment (Candide, John Prine, Harry Styles, Sublime), but most often I am listening to whatever music is playing in my head.
Best advice you ever got: In my first nonprofit fundraising job, at The Nature Conservancy, the director taught me that every nonprofit needs to be run like any other business.
Proudest accomplishment: My 28-year marriage to my husband Ian (who is also my best business management advisor) and our two beautiful, smart adult daughters.
Best part about living here: I loved being able to raise our kids in the same familiar, beautiful community I grew up in, with much of my immediate family nearby.
Worst part about living here: We used to joke when I was a kid that eventually Charlottesville and Washington, D.C., would grow so much that they would meet midway up/down 29. And that’s coming true.
Bodo’s order: I think my girls were both about 2 weeks old when I couldn’t stay away from my breakfast go-to bagel, olive cream cheese on a sesame bagel with tomato. My other order is tuna on everything with lettuce, tomato, and a pickle.
What’s your favorite comfort food? Tuna salad and chicken pot pie
If you could be reincarnated as a person or a thing, what would you be? A dolphin
Do you have any pets? Not right now, although we do have a very energetic granddog living with us and our daughter. While our kids were growing up, we had two dogs and three cats. Our last cat was by far my favorite—he was the neighborhood “greeter,” and simply the friendliest, sweetest animal I’ve ever known.
Favorite movie and/or show: “Law & Order,” “Abbott Elementary,” “Derry Girls” (wish there were more!), and “Fisk”
Favorite book: Demon Copperhead, The Sound and the Fury
Who’d play you in a movie? 1980s Kathleen Turner
Subject that causes you to rant? People who use the power of leadership solely to benefit themselves and others like them. Don’t get me started.
Best journey you ever went on: Driving my daughter across the country to an internship in Seattle has lots of fond memories. I don’t recommend stopping traffic to pick up a kitten or trying to pet buffalo in Yellowstone!
Favorite word: Grace
Hottest take: Leaders can be effective and fair, and balance a budget without harming others.
