Meet a PORCH Board Member: Lenore Jones-Peretto

A Lake Hogan Farms resident since 1997, Lenore Jones-Peretto has been a supporter of PORCH since it launched more than a decade ago. 

“I love that it makes it easy for people in the neighborhood to help others. … I think it’s getting back to what used to be. Neighbors helping neighbors. I think it’s nice for people … to feel like their neighbors have their back,” she says. 

A native of Connecticut who moved to North Carolina from Washington, D.C., Lenore is among the newest members of PORCH Chapel Hill-Carrboro’s board of directors and is currently serving as vice chair. As an attorney who focuses on the field of agricultural biotech – working for large agricultural corporations that produce products to make farmers’ lives easier and more productive – she is a huge asset to our governance committee, which is currently working on improving the bylaws so that they better reflect what the board is doing and what it aims to do. The committee is also improving the director recruitment process, creating a pipeline for continued growth that better reflects all parts of the community. 

“Lenore has hit the ground running on our governance committee,” says PORCH co-founder Susan Romaine. “As PORCH continues to transition from a working to a governing board of directors, she has been key in updating and revising our bylaws, mission statement, record-keeping system, and many other aspects of our administrative infrastructure. She brings the detailed eye of an attorney with an equity lens to her work – and a deep passion to our hunger relief cause. Lenore is the perfect person at the perfect time as PORCH evolves to meet the growing needs in our community.”

Lenore, who has degrees from Harvard, Yale, and NYU, is also a new member of the Town of Carrboro Transportation Advisory Board. She says that since her three sons are grown, “it seems to be now the season in which I can give back to the community more.” 

Lenore points out that it is very easy in our suburban communities to think that hunger is not an issue near us. She wants to bring awareness to the fact that, for many, suffering has just begun, particularly if they have long-haul Covid or can’t work because they have to care for someone with long-haul Covid. “All of this is causing major disruptions,” she says. “[PORCH] is a cause where you will see immediately your effect – if you do just one distribution or one sorting,” she says. “We all need to see our action in the world. … Because it’s so community based, you know that in helping someone now, if you need the help, PORCH will be there.” 

Note: If you would like to learn more about opportunities to join PORCH’s Board of Directors or its committees, email info@porchcommunities.org.