Tim Hockett, executive director of Olympic Community Action Programs, will leave at the end of this month.
After leaving the agency that provides human services across the North Olympic Peninsula, Hockett is planning a brief vacation and then intends to spend some time writing, he and George Randels, OlyCap chairman and the deputy mayor of Port Townsend, said in a prepared statement today.
“I have had the privilege of leading a group of incredibly dedicated people,” Hockett said.
“The staff, volunteers and board at OlyCAP are among the best people I’ve ever known,” he added.
“Not being around them every day will be the hardest transition.”
Hockett, who has worked for OlyCAP since 1989, has been credited with many accomplishments over his career, most notably his effective communication of the plight of struggling families, Randels said.
“I could list any number of Tim’s achievements during his long tenure at OlyCAP,” Randels said.
Randels said that Hockett’s involvement as a writer for the Peninsula Daily News Peninsula Home Fund has resulted in raising an aggregate of nearly $2,000,000 to assist low-income families in emergencies.
“Tim is an engaging speaker and has carried OlyCAP’s message to service clubs, volunteer organizations, churches and local chambers of commerce,” Randels said.
“The combination of his passion to help others and his wonderful sense of humor makes him very effective.”
Randels said that Hockett’s “branding of the name “OlyCAP” [an acronym for Olympic Community Action Programs], coupled with his leadership at local, state and national levels, has brought more support to OlyCAP and better service to the community.”
OlyCAP’s day-to-day leadership team will continue in place, Randels said, while the board addresses how best to move forward.
With the continued impact of the recession, OlyCAP has faced ongoing funding cuts of federal and state funding for human services programs over the last few years.
OlyCAP has been faced with reducing programming and staff while still trying to meet the needs of more than 11,000 people in Jefferson and Clallam counties who receive support, training and assistance through OlyCAP, the statement said.
OlyCAP operates a number of programs to help people in need on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Among the programs are Head Start, Meals on Wheels, the food bank distribution warehouse, home weatherization, energy assistance, community centers, the Senior Nutrition Meal Program, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, re-employment support, the Port Townsend emergency shelter and supported housing.
The agency also developed and opened the OlyCAP Oral Health Center which was open from 2006 through February of this year.
Hockett was hired in August of 1989 to run OlyCAP’s senior nutrition program, and was later promoted to division director, overseeing a cluster of programs.
After a promotion to deputy director in 2001, Hockett served in that capacity for five years under the previous executive director, Dan Wollam.
In late 2005, upon Wollam’s departure, Hockett was named executive director by the OlyCAP board.
“Tim leaves a wonderful legacy of pulling the community together to meet critical needs; he will really be missed,” said OlyCAP board member, Robert Spinks of Sequim.
Hockett received numerous commendations and awards in behalf of his work for this community.
“Any good that I have accomplished has been a team effort,” Hockett said.
“In our OlyCAP world, if you don’t have a caring heart, you just don’t fit.”
