Meet Amy, Food Outreach Board President!

Amy Hoch Hogenson first heard about Food Outreach from her law partner and former Food Outreach board member, Susan Block. A family law attorney at Paule, Camazine and Blumenthal, PC, Amy was excited for the opportunity to join the board of Food Outreach.

“Food Outreach is such a unique organization. It is different than other organizations that I had been involved with in the past. And it felt like it had such a direct impact on people within the community—within a lot of different communities. It felt like it was something that I could be a part of—something different and unique that served a very unique purpose. I really liked the programming, the organization, and the community outreach within my hometown of St. Louis.”

As a member of the Food Outreach board, Amy found that she was able to directly contribute to the organization and help shape the nature and direction of the organization. She found herself getting more involved and having a stronger role in the board going from committee chair to vice president to her current position as president. “It’s always incredible to see the real-world impact of Food Outreach, and how as a board member I can have a positive impact on the organization and how that in turn impacts the real world.”

 As the president of the Food Outreach Board of Directors, Amy is excited to help the organization grow and expand. “I look forward to seeing the organization expand—in the areas of the communities that we serve—and how we can better serve our clients and their specific medical needs. When I started working with Food Outreach, the clients we served had HIV or cancer and there was a lot of hesitation about opening up our services to other diagnoses. And that probably was true when they expanded to cancer in years prior. But it seems like the door is wide open to understanding that we need to get into different areas that make sense and fit our organization’s mission. The expansion for what the medical needs of our clients looks like is very exciting to me. And frankly, the expansion of Food Outreach overall—where we’re going and what that’s going to look like in the next five years—from just a physical presence to a presence within the community, expanding within the different connections to hospitals, to businesses, to community members. It’s exciting to be a part of growth.”

While her job and position on Food Outreach’s board keep Amy busy, she is also the mother to two teenagers. Her family likes to play tennis and pickleball. They also love the beach! “I feel like it’s Food Outreach, be a lawyer, be a mom, sleep, and that’s about all.”

As to Food Outreach, for Amy it’s the enthusiasm of the people working at the organization and especially on the board. “It’s this board—this board is incredible because they do show up and they do care. Everybody is so dedicated to our mission and understands the importance of this organization. Everybody we’ve added to the board has no problem showing up, and they want to show up, and they’re excited to show up, and they’re excited to take on stuff. There’s just so much positive energy here.”