New executive director of Cape Cod Times Needy Fund brings heart to community

Susan Johnson will never forget “the value of gratitude” instilled by her parents as they enacted “small acts of kindness” throughout Yarmouth Port — lifelong lessons she believes will help guide her as the new executive director of the Cape Cod Times Needy Fund.

“There was always this importance of neighbors helping neighbors that my parents showed me and my three sisters as we were growing up,” Johnson said. “This gave us the ability to identify needs and take action to try to meet them.”

Johnson is a former executive director at organizations including Cape Cod Village, Harwich Ecumenical Council for the Homeless and the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Cape Cod. She also recently served as co-director and director of operations at Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis.

The Needy Fund is a human services agency that provides assistance to those in need by financing immediate, short-term emergencies such as food, rent, medical costs and other basic expenses. The fund's annual Summer Appeal and Holiday Campaign in 2021 raised $1.62 million, the largest amount ever.

It was her experience in charitable organizations, along with a “professional and organized personality,” that impressed Peter Meyer, president and publisher of the Cape Cod Times and president of the Needy Fund.

“She has enthusiastically showed her dedication to the mission of the Needy Fund and her desire to help people on Cape Cod,” he said. “She’s also done so much in the nonprofit space with fundraising, operational leadership, strategic planning, and she has some government relations experience.”

After leaving behind a corporate career in Chicago, Johnson stepped into the nonprofit world as co-founder of Katelynn’s Closet in South Yarmouth, an organization that provides clothes to needy children and was named for Katelynn Bearse, a 9-year-old who died while awaiting a heart transplant. As Johnson, also a wife and mother, described the importance of helping community members like Bearse, her voice trembled.

“I think as you mature and as you get to see the world, you look at it through a different lens,” she said. “We are here for a very short time and whatever we can do to help others is so important.”

At the Harwich Ecumenical Council for the Homeless, Johnson was often touched by community members in need and remembers an older person, in particular, who was living in affordable housing and subsisted on a fixed income. When her Social Security check was unexpectedly reduced by $7 per month, she was unable to make her rent.

“Of course, we would take care of it, but to see how distraught she was, was heartbreaking. We had a situation where someone could lose their home over $7 — that’s two cups of coffee,” she said. “It opened my eyes to the fact that one car repair, one medical bill can make so much of a difference in a person’s life. And in this case, it was the difference between someone losing their home.”

Johnson succeeds Betsey Sethares, who retired this month as executive director of the Needy Fund after a 25-year career at the charitable organization.

Founded in 1936, the Needy Fund has grown and changed significantly since it began providing Thanksgiving dinners to needy Cape families. It became a nonprofit in 1983.

Largely due to Sethares’ leadership, the Needy Fund now serves about 4,000 struggling clients each year.

In 2016, Sethares helped establish the Major Crisis Relief Fund, an arm of the Needy Fund that provides humanitarian aid to local individuals and families through natural disasters like blizzards, hurricanes and health crises like COVID-19.

Along with a “strong, supportive staff,” Meyer said Johnson has a “solid foundation” to begin her time at the Needy Fund.

“We're in a really good spot, and we are lucky to have Susan in place to facilitate major decisions moving forward,” he said. “She’s exactly the right person to bring to the board, community and donors all together, moving forward.”

For Gisele Gauthier, a former colleague of Johnson's, it’s her “terrific leadership skills” that helped guide both Cape Cod Village and Harwich Ecumenical Council for the Homeless when they worked together.

“She was able to lay down groundwork that the organizations needed. She was able to put together the day-to-day operations and kind of created pathways,” Gauthier said. “Along with competent boards, she helped keep both organizations in line with their missions.”

Johnson also “contributed directly to clients,” Gauthier said, and genuinely cared for those who needed help.

“One of the things that makes her special — that makes her unique — is that she's a very good listener. In pretty short order, she’s able to assess what a person needs — helps assess how to best help solve their problem,” she said. “That’s just one of her many strengths.”

When Mary Pat Messmer, a Needy Fund board member and head of the Needy Fund executive director search committee, initially interviewed Johnson for the position, she realized Johnson had “all the qualities that could enhance the Needy Fund.”

“Not only does she have a great history working in the nonprofit world, she has a kind of solid demeanor,” Messmer said. “Search committee members unanimously felt she was the right fit to bring us to a new level.”

Although the board is not looking to change the mission, Messmer, who is a social worker and former chief executive officer of Cape Cod Child Development Program Inc., said Johnson has “great potential to grow the organization and strategize and prioritize advocacy.”

“I think Susan can really be a voice to all of the different needs of our community, so that the community understands what’s happening with our families and individuals in need,” she said. “She’s done a lot of building from nothing — she has experience bringing organizations to life. The nonprofit world is a different kind of world to work in and she understands it.”

As Johnson accepts her new position at what she calls a “well-established and well-loved organization,” she said her “heart is all in.”

“I can think of no greater honor than serving my community by assisting our neighbors, many of whom face financial hardships throughout the year due to high housing costs and related economic instability issues," Johnson said.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Susan Johnson named new executive director of Needy Fund