Citizen of the Year: Frances Yates

Frances Yates is recognized as Oxford Citizen of the Year for her leadership in the Talawanda Oxford Pantry & Social Services (TOPSS) Champion Neighborhood Food Drive. TOPSS serves eligible households within the Talawanda School District with pantry services and emergency assistance.

Yates recruited volunteers to serve as neighborhood food champions. They were tasked with organizing a mini food drive among their immediate neighbors, rather than participating in a large city-wide undertaking. 

“Instead of asking residents to take on large areas or complicated commitments, she invited people to focus on their own streets and a few houses around them,” TOPSS Executive Director Sherry Martin explained in her nomination letter for Yates. “Once neighbors saw how easy it was to participate, more streets joined in.”

“By creating an area close to where the Champion resided,” TOPSS volunteer Bobbe Burke wrote out in her nomination letter, “it became possible to make a more personal appeal and spread the word about TOPSS.” 

Ultimately Yates was able to recruit 35 champions, who organized food drives on 75 different Oxford streets. Her nominees estimated that 5,100 food items were collected, and so many donations were received that they weren’t able to obtain a complete count.

Yates “single-handedly designed, coordinated and executed what has become one of the most impactful grassroots food collection efforts in our community,” according to Steve Large, one of her nominators. “Frances manages every aspect of this initiative: scheduling, route planning, advertising, fielding inquiries from neighbors and overseeing the collection and delivery of donations.”

Martin told the Oxford Free Press on Nov. 3 that TOPSS had been “busier than usual” as a result of families “bracing themselves” during uncertainty surrounding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program. 

TOPSS saw a 90% increase in the number of people receiving services in the last week of October, as well as a spike in financial and food donations and volunteers. On Nov. 3, she said food drop-offs had doubled from the usual two to three people who stop by daily, but the pantry was still running low.

“Frances created a dependable stream of donations during the exact months we needed them,” Martin reported. “(She) built a system, tested it, refined it, and kept it running. She never handed the burden back to the staff. She simply made sure it worked.”

“Frances is, without question, one of the most hardworking, generous, and determined volunteers I have ever had the privilege of knowing,” Large wrote. “She approaches her work with humility, reliability, and an unwavering commitment to service.” According to Martin, “her presence is steady, kind, and energizing.”

“Frances Yates represents what our community can be when someone chooses to act with purpose and heart,” Martin concluded in her nomination letter. “She saw a need. She designed a solution. She made it work. And she strengthened the community in the process.”