Our Team
The team at PISA are a very dedicated and passionate group of people. The team consist of the Executive Officer, Finance officer, Volunteer coordinator, Project coordinator, two receptionist, three cooks, and 130 dedicated volunteers.
EXECUTIVE OFFICER
The Executive officer Kelley Russo, works towards achieving legislative requirements, meeting common care standards, food safety standards and developing ways for the service to grow. The Executive officer also works towards increasing funding so Pisa can reach more people in need in the community.
FINANCE OFFICER
The Finance Officer, Heather Kilsby, provided's sound financial processing, invoicing and reporting to ensure that our funding is spent according to the Service agreement. Heather holds qualifications as a fellow of accounting and is very experienced in non-for-profits. Heather is a very dedicated team member and her skills and knowledge are much appreciated.
VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR
The Volunteer Coordinator, Antonietta Palmato, is very skilled at providing support to our Volunteers. The Volunteer coordinators job is to recruit and retain volunteers to assist Pisa to deliver a reliable and safe service to our clients. The Volunteer coordinator also offers an ear and sound advice to our very dedicated Volunteers as well as offering up to date training and information. She is a very supportive and a much loved member of the team.
PROJECT COORDINATOR
The Project coordinator is a recently developed position. Although Sandra Iasiello has been a member of team for three years, she has been studying towards developing skills to step into the Project coordinators role. The Project coordinator will coordinate and provide support to the second kitchen being developed at 144 Henley Beach roads Torrensville. Sandra has many years experience in aged care and has a wonderful and loving approach to the support of our clientele. She has a great sense of humour and is much love in the team and by the clients and Volunteers.
RECEPTIONIST
The receptionists, Stella Colombini and Roberto Girolamo provide support to the rest of the staff, clients and volunteers. They answer the phones, register new clients, and do the assessments needed to ascertain the client's needs, along with many more tasks.Stella Colombini has worked for Pisa for three years and is a very efficient and effective worker. She is a "think out of the square thinker" who comes up with ways to make thinks work more efficiently so that Pisa runs smoothly. She is always happy and the team thinks she is great.
Roberto is a recent addition to the team starting in October 2011. Roberto has many skills in many areas. He has recently returned from a two year stay in Italy teaching English amongst other things. He is extremely passionate about the Italian community and speaks the most perfect Italian. The volunteers love talking to him to see what has changed in Italy these days. We are very lucky to have Roberto join our team and already, we feel like he has been with us forever.
COOKS
The three cooks are highly trained and very dedicated to providing the very best meals possible to our clients. With regular feedback from our clients, the Pisa cooks and staff use the feedback information to develop menus that suit our client's needs.
Matthew D'Antonio is a skilled cook that loves to try new recipes and works very hard.
Bruce Dong is currently moving towards becoming an Australian citizen and is training in cookery. He brings similar cultural aspects to his approach within aged care as in the Chinese culture, they are dedicated to looking after the elderly as do the Italians. Bruce is a very hard working and happy worker.
Silvana Cimmino has recently joined the team and will be the senior cook at the Torrensville kitchen. Silvana has worked in aged care for many years and has a wonderful and gentle personality. She loves to cook and will be creating fantastic meals for our clients. She will also be cooking Italian biscuits and cakes for sale. We are so please she has joined our team and we look forward to the years ahead with her in our kitchen.