Simple Needs GA

Board of Directors
Brenda Rhodes (President) founded Simple Needs GA in April 2010. Over the past 27 years since moving to this area, she has volunteered her time with a host of nonprofit organizations in Cobb County and Metro Atlanta, including MUST Ministries, Good Mews Animal Foundation, Special Olympics, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Hands on Atlanta, LiveSAFE Resources, and The Center for Family Resources. Brenda sings in the choir at First United Methodist Church of Marietta and is a member of the Georgia Symphony Orchestra Chorus.

In recognition of the thousands of hours she has spent volunteering, Brenda received the National Points of Light Award in both November 2007 and July 2010. She was the featured Hands on Network volunteer on MSNBC’s “Brewing Together” program in 2009. The prior year, she received both the Lifetime President’s Volunteer Service Award and the Gold President’s Volunteer Service Award. Brenda was Hands on Atlanta’s Premier Volunteer in 2004 and received her University’s Alumni Service Award in 1997.

Brenda is a member of the Golden K Kiwanis Club. She is a graduate of the 2016 class of Leadership Cobb and the winner of the 2016 W. Wyman Pilcher Jr. Memorial Grant for community service from the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association. She won the Cobb Collaborative’s Jack Vaughn Jr. Human Services Award, Volunteer Category, in November 2017.

She was featured on the cover of the East Cobber Magazine in December of 2017 and, in November 2018, won East Cobb Citizen of the Year from the East Cobb Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. In October 2020, the ABWA (American Business Women’s Association) presented Brenda with their 2020 Community Service Award. She has a full-time job at Genesys as an Agile Product Owner.

Beth Tabb Duff is a lifelong city of Marietta resident. She initially heard of Simple Needs GA in 2018 and was first interested in providing toys for local children for Christmas and birthdays. Since then she has also enjoyed shopping for basic household items for families coming out of homelessness throughout the year. Her favorite programs are still My Birthday Matters and Spirit of Christmas and she loves providing toys and books for children in these programs. (Especially books!)

Beth attended Presbyterian College for two years and then transferred to Georgia State University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Accounting. She obtained her CPA license in 1989 and in 1991 began her own small private practice, currently named Elizabeth Tabb Duff, CPA PC. She also works part time at a local CPA firm, Allen & Bright PC, reviewing tax returns and assisting with complex tax accounts. She enjoys helping small businesses and individuals save taxes and resolve tax issues.

Over the years Beth has volunteered with her children’s schools and PTA’s, as well as volunteered with 7 Bridges to Recovery, Toys for Tots and Must Ministries and provided pro bono bookkeeping services to a local organization for families of those in recovery. She loves spending time with her grown children and also enjoys reading, traveling and relaxing at the family lake house.

Andy Marino (Treasurer) was introduced to volunteering at Simple Needs GA by his wife, Patti. Once Andy qualified to drive the box truck, he was hooked. “I love the camaraderie of the volunteer corps at SNGA and consider it a blessing in my life to help serve our clients,” Andy said. The Boston native met Patti in metro Atlanta and moved here with her after they married in 1996. He has enjoyed a 35-plus year career as an investment advisor at firms such as U.S. Trust, UBS, and Arthur Andersen.

Stacy “Mac” McIlwain has been a dedicated volunteer with Simple Needs GA since 2016. On a typical weekday, Mac can be found calling new clients to get their lists of needed small items or working with parents and guardians to personalize their birthday gifts for their children. Originally from Southern Illinois, Mac moved to Marietta in August 2015 after retiring as a Special Education teacher. She learned about Simple Needs GA from a Marietta neighborhood website.

At her first visit to the warehouse, she learned that SNGA provided birthday gifts to children up through the age of 18, that the birthdays included brand-new books, and also that SNGA distributed feminine hygiene items to clients. Those were all things she had done through her club sponsorships while teaching. Her initial volunteering for SNGA involved going out on monthly furniture runs with members of the First United Methodist Church. Mac also took on the task of calling new clients to find out about their needs for small household items and became an all-around delivery person.

“I look back over the years and can’t help but notice the growth of Simple Needs GA. There was a time when we only needed to spend two Saturdays a month at the warehouse to keep up with birthdays and pulling small items for clients. Now it is not unusual for Brenda to call volunteers to work throughout the week to help keep up with the demand.”

Jeff McCoy is a regular volunteer with Simple Needs GA where he can be found driving the box truck and moving furniture with his SNGA friends. His wife, Ginger, is a regular volunteer as well. They connected with SNGA through their church where they coordinate community volunteering. Jeff has had a long career in corporate and commercial banking and is an Executive Director on J.P. Morgan Chase’s Atlanta commercial banking team. He also co-leads the bank’s volunteer opportunities for 1,100 Atlanta employees. Jeff serves on the Leadership Council of Junior Achievement of Georgia.

Danielle Rose (Secretary) is an Atlanta native. She grew up in Marietta and still resides in Cobb County. She graduated from Marietta High School and went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance from Kennesaw State University. She has spent most of her career in Human Resources, focusing on employee benefit programs. She has worked for SunTrust Banks, IHG, and Exide Technologies, and is currently an Asst. Vice President with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta.

She is active in the community involvement program at the Bank, and over the years has volunteered with numerous organizations including Habitat for Humanity, Open Hand, the Foundation for Hospital Art, Midtown Assistance Center, and Mostly Mutts. She began volunteering with Simple Needs GA in September 2015, working with the organization’s furniture program. She also continues to volunteer on a regular basis with Mostly Mutts and the American Red Cross.