staff
Leah Melnick
Sr. Director of Field Operations
With generations of roots in Atlanta, Leah Melnick is proud to be the Senior Director of Client Services for Giving Kitchen. Her passion for volunteerism surfaced at a young age, as Leah has found herself drawn to opportunities for community outreach and engagement. Leah followed this passion while pursuing a degree in International Affairs and Spanish from Georgia Tech. After graduating in 2006, Leah put her degree to use first in the AmeriCorps program at HandsOn Network and eventually as the International Project Manager for the HandsOn Network.
Like many of us, Leah took her first server position as a means of supporting herself through college and when the economy fell in 2008, she happily returned to the food service industry as a server at Fox Bros Bar-B-Q. Her organizational, leadership, and management skills made a strong impression and Leah was quickly promoted from server to manager then to Assistant General Manager, a position she held for just under five years.
It was during her employment as AGM of Fox Bros Bar-B-Q that Leah was first introduced to Giving Kitchen. When her friend and Fox Bros Executive Chef, Charlotte Nelson, was diagnosed with stage-4 breast cancer in late 2012, Leah rallied with her team to put together a fundraiser dubbed “Charlotte’s Web” designed to help raise essential funds for Charlotte’s family who were accruing extensive medical and personal expenses. It was at Charlotte’s Web that Leah first met Ryan and Jen Hidinger.
The Hidingers heard about Charlotte’s battle and wanted to help in a meaningful way. Leah was so taken with their generosity to donate a portion of their personal funds from the first Team Hidi event that she was eager to find a way to give back, so began volunteering for Giving Kitchen in its infancy. Leah was an influential and active volunteer for GK for over a year before joining the team as an official staff member. As a long-time food service employee with valuable non-profit experience with several organizations, Leah was the obvious candidate for the Development Manager position. Today, Leah oversees the financial assistance and stability network programs, national client-serving partnerships, client events such as Pop-Up Doc and Mind Matters, and is an advocate for food service workers needing GK crisis assistance. Leah is proficient in Spanish and assists with diversity efforts and partnerships with the Latinx population in Atlanta.
Outside of work, you can usually find Leah volunteering through nature-driven nonprofits, running and hiking in the great outdoors, tasting the amazing variety of food and beverage throughout Atlanta, or out dancing and listening to music at concerts with her partner Christopher Rivera de Rosales.