Staff Team

First row to last, left to right: Meredith Korn, Maria Karlya, Kevin Mcdermott, Breanna Lisotto, Bre Levesque, Emily Loomis, Elsa Collins, Julie Walsh, Joy Curtis, Melissa Driver, Dan Szumla, Chris Dodds, Michelle Hansberry, Heather Nicholson, Chad Gillenwater, Kristen Kane, Krista Larson, Ken Hoch, Mark Brinser, and J. Lynn Conrady.

Teams and Goals:

Finance Team - To organize all our financial information on Quickbooks and then use Quickbooks to begin generating useful cost analyses, expense reports, and budgets

Information Management Team - To set up a database and develop our website so that we may provide easy access to necessary information for our donors, the public, and DE members

Logistics Team - To document all the steps involved for sending a trip team so that the process runs smoothly for the people responsible for trip planning

Public Relations Team - To increase awareness of DE inside and outside the Messiah College community, to contribute to organizational unity through internal newsletters, and to aid in development

Staff in 2004

The staff team has undergone tremendous growth, tripling in size in the past few months. With this growth, the staff team finally has the numbers needed to produce greater results. However, with growth comes new challenges for the team to hurdle.

Learning how to manage the sudden influx of volunteers has become the staff team’s primary challenge. Because one person can no longer manage an 18-person team, the team is now divided into four groups: logistics, finance, information management, and public relations. Each group has its own group leader, and each leader must report the group’s progress to the staff manager, strengthening the communication between the groups. The staff adapts every day to such changes, meeting these challenges efficiently and effectively.

Exponential growth gives the DE staff team a chance for expansion in both project parameters and trip teams. This expansion will press DE into its next phase as an organization with clearer structures, better communication, and more informed leaders making better decisions.