Oya Oliver Receives Governor's Proclamation

On Monday, September 14th, Oya Oliver, former President & CEO received a Governor's Proclamation in thanks for her service to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Eddie Oliver, Executive Director of the Federation of Virginia Food Banks presented the certificate to Oya at her home. The proclamation read:

Certificate of Recognition

By virtue of the authority vested by the Constitution of Virginia in the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, there is hereby officially recognized:

Oya N. Oliver

WHEREAS, Oya N. Oliver has served the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank with distinction since 2004, first as a member of the Board of Directors and then as President & CEO; and

WHEREAS, the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank is the core hunger-relief organization for Planning District 16 and a backbone nonprofit, serving food-insecure children, families, and seniors; and WHEREAS, Mrs. Oliver brought her caring and tremendous expertise to truly transform the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank’s financial infrastructure, policies, and procedures from its rudimentary state in a church basement to its current functioning to feed over 31,500 people in 2019; and WHEREAS, Mrs. Oliver oversaw the evolution of the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank from providing emergency food resources through a small handful of local pantries to supporting over 250 hunger relief programs and distributing 3.9 million pounds of food to our hungry neighbors in 2019; and WHEREAS, Mrs. Oliver expanded programming to include programs for children and seniors and a Mobile Pantry to serve those in low food access areas; and WHEREAS, all would agree that Mrs. Oliver has been a true, driving force in the evolution of the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank’s advancement, with her extensive knowledge, and commitment to the vision of a hunger-free community;

NOW, THEREFORE, I Ralph S. Northam, do hereby recognize Oya N. Oliver for her leadership and commitment to improving the lives of Virginians through hunger relief in the Commonwealth of VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of all our citizens.