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Vanessa Love was caught by complete surprise when a new employment opportunity appeared in her inbox earlier this year. She opened an email from Eagle’s Wings gauging her interest in potentially becoming their next Executive Director. 

Eagle’s Wings is a non-profit food pantry that serves hundreds of households in Beaufort County every year.

The email and the subsequent job interview, hiring and training she considers to be “gifts from God.” Love is a firm believer that what is meant for you will happen in “God’s timing.” 

Love will be cemented as Eagle’s Wings next Executive Director on July 1. She has spent the last month being trained by former director, Ann-Marie Montague who is retiring after ten years. 

“I think that Ann-Marie is a phenomenal woman. She is a pillar in this community. She has done so much here for Eagle’s Wings with the clients as well as the staff over the last decade,” Love said. “It has been an honor to fly underneath her wings and have her show me the ropes.” 

During Love’s training, she was “shocked” to see hundreds of volunteers who generously donate their time and energy each week handing out or delivering food to clients. Eagle’s Wings employs three to four people and relies on volunteers. 

“Pretty much, the organization runs with 98% of volunteers. There’s only about three to four people here that are paid. So that really stuck out to me, and made me realize how big the community effort is here at Eagle’s Wings and how important it is,” Love said. 

Love has 15 years of experience in corporate leadership in addition to being a former financial center manager at a bank in Greenville. This past December she graduated from North Carolina Wesleyan University with a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership with a minor in Business Psychology. She is a veteran who served eight years with the U.S. Army as a psychological operations sergeant stationed at Fort Liberty in Fayetteville, North Carolina. 

“I’ve always had a passion to be of service to people and to utilize my leadership skills and my team building skills. I’ve always had compassion and empathy for people going through particular situations that are not easy to get through, because I myself have gone through some adversity growing up,” she said. 

Her vision for the future of Eagle’s Wings includes expanding, establishing a more consistent presence in the Aurora community, continuing to build community partnerships, to streamline the application process for prospective clients and begin to build a social media presence in the hopes of attracting younger volunteers. 

After leaving the military, Love moved to Washington ten years ago, to be close to family in Beaufort County. She has a teenage son and is a “foodie.” Her favorite restaurant is The Bank Bistro. 

If given a free Saturday with no schedule or tasks that need to be completed, Love said she would spend the day by the water.