Meet Liz Kroll

We were lucky to catch up with Liz Kroll recently and have shared our conversation below.

Liz, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I get my work ethic from a combination of my upbringing and personal values. I was raised to take pride in doing things well, no matter how big or small the task. My past experiences have played a huge role in my work ethic also. When I worked for the Kohler Company, I understood what it means to be proud of your workplace and to go above and beyond to meet expectations of the guest. I try to anticipate what others need. I don’t differentiate between working with the well off or the poor I want to ensure everyone leaves knowing someone cares about them. Over time, I’ve also come to see the value of consistency, reliability, and being someone others can count on.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

In 2012 I began helping at St. Luke United Methodist Church’s food pantry in Sheboygan. I had experience managing Kohler restaurants and knew that the community could do more to provide enough emergency food for her neighbors in need. With a core of undeniable dedication, compassion and experience, I was hired as the first employee of SCFB.

I began operating from my home and counted on the people around me to open their hearts, kitchen freezer spaces, and warehouse cooler doors.

In 2016, I upgraded my working space to the former 10,000 square-foot warehouse on the northside of Sheboygan. A typical morning fighting hungry neighbors involved connecting with food resources and gathering donated food. In the evenings, I hosted food-sorting pizza parties at the warehouse with my friends and continued working at home applying for grants to raise funds for SCFB.

Overcoming a Pandemic and doing more for our neighbors by 2018 we started to address childhood hunger by adding Food for Thought for Kids to its programming and soon after launched the Food+ for Neighbors to begin to understand the root causes of hunger. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, all of a sudden thousands more local families affected by the crisis were in need of food. SCFB responded quickly by temporarily opening Sheboygan Cares Food Pantry offsite as a safe and efficient drive-thru option. We also opened the Community Cafe; a luncheon meal served 6 days per week.

After meeting so many cool people at our Community Cafe I joined the Sheboygan County Warming Center as a board member and most recently accepted the job as Executive Director of the that organization. I have been here almost 3 weeks, and we are trying to ensure our homeless guests are well taken care of.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1. Have Grit.
2. Be Resourceful.
3. Be optimistic & be nice!! Have fun, encourage people, be a positive influence!

Grit – be a fighter but be able to bounce back after failing. Keep trying.
Resourceful – find a way! We can do it. It might look different, but we can get the job done. Listen to others that know more thank you do!
Optimism – jobs are hard, working with the people are hard. Try to make the most of each encounter. Lighten up and encourage people by writing the note, making the phone call. Embrace challenges as growth opportunities.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Yes! The community needs to get a common goal, and we all need to execute together. At the SC Warming Center, we need people to walk alongside us as volunteers, meal makers, addiction counselors, Transistional housing, credit counseling, mental health professionals. and many others.

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