Executive Director
Jenifer Loon’s journey to become PROP’s Executive Director was a slow progression. Before then, she was an Eden Prairie state representative for 10 years, first learning about PROP when she attended an open house for the organization. In the later years of her legislative career, she was approached by her acquaintances about joining the PROP board. She said yes, joining in 2015 and eventually becoming chair of the board. After being on the board for seven years, in 2022, previous Executive Director Janet Palmer had announced her retirement. Jenifer applied to the position knowing she wanted to make a career shift and meet a new milestone. “Running a nonprofit with a mission I was truly passionate about, I thought, ‘this is an opportunity I can’t pass up,’” Jenifer shared. “And it was local in Eden Prairie — which I’m also passionate about, our community.” As Executive Director, Jenifer oversees every aspect of the workplace. She creates budgets, monitors PROP programs, and hires her direct staff. Generally, she marshals the overall vision for PROP — where PROP is now, where the organization is headed, and strategically planning for the future. The biggest part of that planning is figuring out how to help as many people as possible. “We’ve had a huge growth in the number of people coming to PROP for food support, so in these two and a half years I’ve been very involved in developing ways that we can serve more people,” Jenifer explained. This is even more important after the COVID-19 pandemic as government support programs have fizzled out, creating a delayed impact of more people seeking assistance from organizations like PROP. Because of this, Jenifer has been pushing to add more clients to each timeslot in the Food Mart. “We set it up in 15 minute increments. At first we were at five people per slot, and now we’re up to seven or eight per slot. We also added an additional shift on Mondays,” Jenifer explained. PROP has also implemented their Curbside Express program, which has allowed PROP to serve more clients by giving them pre-packed boxes of food. Jenifer emphasizes that these changes could not have been possible without her team. “Everything we do at PROP is a team effort. Without the team, it wouldn’t happen,” Jenifer said. She is the “encourager” of the team, always pushing PROP to do more for the community. “In the two and a half years that I’ve been here, we have — in rough numbers — increased by about 40% in the number of food visits and people we’re helping,” Jenifer shared, highlighting PROP’s tremendous rate of growth and Jenifer’s commitment to the community. Jenifer doesn’t plan on letting PROP’s growth slow. The PROP team has already begun honing their processes to be as efficient as possible, planning ahead for when the organization inevitably needs to move to a larger location. But before that move happens, Jenifer is excited to see all the ways the team continues to innovate in the space they currently have. “This is the new generation of leaders for PROP. They have fresh ideas and have rallied to work well together,” Jenifer expressed. “I hope that continues to be the case and that this dynamic team continues to innovate to serve people in better ways.”