Community Services Director To Retire

Published: March 16, 2015

By: Tyler Maffitt, WKVI

The long-time director of a local non-profit has decided to retire.

Joan Haugh has been with Community Services of Starke County for the past 40 years. She recently informed the organization’s board of directors that she will leave her duties at the end of July.

Haugh says she wants the agency to be prepared to carry on.

“It’s time for new ideas, new blood,” says Haugh. “You know, that type of thing to sustain the agency, and I want to quit before the good Lord makes me quit.”

Community Services of Starke County offers a range of services to elderly and low-income residents, including: transportation, vouchers, and maintenance help.

The organization’s board will now start the search for a replacement. Haugh says she’s confident her staff is well trained, meaning a focus on budgeting, accounting, and personnel management is likely to be a key focus for any replacement.

Upon her departure, Haugh says she doesn’t plan to be involved in Community Services of Starke County for the sake of the new director.

“In North Judson, I could probably deliver homebound meals because I’m not in the face of the new executive director,” says Haugh. “I want that person to feel free that they can go with their thoughts and ideas without me hovering over them.”

Hopeful that the programs continue, Haugh says none of the services they now provide existed in Starke County 40 years ago.

Given her years of experience, she says she’s learned that people need to put themselves in the other person’s shoes.