Community Leader of the Year: Julie Chase-Morefield

Julie Chase-Morefield, the president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio, leads her team to success even through the scary moments.

Eleven years ago, Chase-Morefield led the nonprofit to build a new building for operations, which was met with uncertainty. Other leaders in the organization weren’t sure if it was a good idea, or if it would tank. Chase-Morefield continued to lead with confidence. 

Today, Second Harvest Food Bank is still operating in that building, where it distributed 14 million pounds of food to more than 236,000 people during COVID-19 when the community needed it most. 

“If we hadn’t done that at the time and believed in what we were doing, we couldn’t have done that,” says Chase-Morefield. “I was so proud of the work that we did and believing in the vision.”

Second Harvest is a nonprofit that works with over 130 partners to distribute food to those facing hunger. Each branch of Second Harvest aims to “grow hope,” as its members say, in its respective region by ensuring those in need have access to nutritious food. 

Since high school, Chase-Morefield wanted to work for a nonprofit. At 25 years old, she grew tired of her work as a grant writer and began applying for  jobs at various nonprofits to fulfill that high school dream. 

Now, she gets to serve her hometown, bringing food security and stability to those in need.

“Everybody deserves the food that they need to thrive,” she says. “Nothing else is possible if you’re not getting the food that you need. You can’t work, go to school, learn; it’s the basis of everything.”

Food banking is personal for Chase-Morefield. She did not find out until adulthood that her mother grew up in poverty, often skipping meals. 

“There are families like the one my mom grew up in,” she says. “Life circumstances get in the way, but even though there may be difficulties, everyone deserves the right to eat.”

That conviction also makes her cautious — and, now and then, makes her override the caution.

“I can tend to be very pragmatic and conservative in the work we do in order to be sustainable, and that can make you risk-averse,” she says. “But, looking back, I would tell myself it’s OK to do the scary thing. Don’t shy away from it.”

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