Lynn soup kitchen replaces director

LYNN – My Brother’s Table has replaced Executive Director Ilia Stacy with an interim director pending a permanent replacement.Mary Magner, a staff member at the community soup kitchen on Willow Street, has been named acting executive director.Magner declined to elaborate on what prompted the change, saying only that it was a personnel issue.Stacy’s departure roughly coincided with the completion of a final draft of the organization’s 5-year contract renewal with the city.”After months of negotiations, both the mayor and Table’s board of directors reached agreement on a lease, which preserves the core of our mission to feed those in need and helps improve the community as a whole,” Magner said. “We just received the final copy of the lease and we are reviewing in detail. And in the months ahead we will be working with the city to implement any specific operational changes that are required by the new lease. We’re glad that we have a home for the foreseeable future.”Negotiations between the soup kitchen’s directors and city officials were sometimes contentious, with Mayor Edward Clancy Jr. pushing for restrictions in the lease to ensure that the clients served by My Brother’s Table are fed but do not detrimentally impact the neighborhood.