The Charitable Food Chain and Middle Class Values
I met up with a worker at a social service agency that directly serves residents to learn more about the challenges and operations of a food pantry, one that is served by Harvesters food bank. As a worker at a food bank I don't often get to interact with food pantry workers to understand the day-to-day difficulties of people seeking food assistance.
I was a bit late for the meeting and called my acquaintance to notify him of my arrival. At the entrance I announced my visit to the front desk coordinator.
About 20 people waited on chairs in the front lobby with me, some having checked in for a food pantry visit, others for employment consultation. The mostly white residents waited with a family member, perhaps a spouse or a child. One woman waiting in a wheel chair with a Chiefs coat -- it was cold this morning -- nervously shook her hand. A younger woman with a baby in a car-seat walked in after a man got up to hold the door open for her.
My acquaintance gave me a quick tour, showing me the food pantry and employment services within the center.
He was concerned about the perpetuation of those seeking food assistance, indicating that some of the people did not have the “middle class values” of hard work and occupation, in other words a stable income source. Without judging those people he suggested it was difficult to discern the people that won’t or don’t seek stable careers and work options from those that do. He noted that you wouldn’t be able to identify people that were struggling if you were walking down the grocery store aisle.
This notion may be misunderstood by food bank workers like myself, who only meet with food donors dropping off food and food pantry workers coming by to pick up food orders. He gave another example where he explained how participants of Harvesters’ 8-week long nutrition classes are likely not learning the material. He backed this up by suggesting that many nutrition class participants don’t have regular formal education experience that allows them to fully gain from the classes, nor do they have the 16 hours of time to invest despite the incentive of a bag of groceries, a $30 value, provided at the conclusion of each class.
My food pantry acquaintance indicated that more likely “teachable moments” are when residents are picking up food at a pantry and can be provided with instructions or recipes to match the food of the day.
He suggested the large and frequent food drops (“mobile food pantry” in food bank parlance) at urban and rural locations would be good opportunities to provide nutrition information.
He also suggested the enabling factor of the large mass distribution of food -- sometimes a full truckload with 20 pallets -- by indicating that people that don’t have regular jobs may have 4 hours of time to wait for the food.
Many larger food pantries purchase half of their food from low cost stores such as Aldi’s and Dollar General-type stores. Not only are food pantries more money to source food from a variety of stores and donation sources, but they also spend staff and volunteer time to coordinate the sourcing of this food. Food pantry’s could attract more financial donors by demonstrating their ability to serve more people through lower cost of the food.
By knowing the food pantry’s inventory pattern they could pre-order the food to ensure a regular level for food items. This helps keep food pantries stocked adequately throughout the year but also helps them purchase certain types of food, such as butter, that may be used more at certain times of the year.
My notion of the volume and significance of the challenges of low-income people seeking food assistance was updated a bit today by a social service representative who shared the difficulties of low-income workers seeking temporary and emergency services.
I was a bit late for the meeting and called my acquaintance to notify him of my arrival. At the entrance I announced my visit to the front desk coordinator.
About 20 people waited on chairs in the front lobby with me, some having checked in for a food pantry visit, others for employment consultation. The mostly white residents waited with a family member, perhaps a spouse or a child. One woman waiting in a wheel chair with a Chiefs coat -- it was cold this morning -- nervously shook her hand. A younger woman with a baby in a car-seat walked in after a man got up to hold the door open for her.
My acquaintance gave me a quick tour, showing me the food pantry and employment services within the center.
Middle Class Values and Seeking Food Assistance
The food pantry is a clean area with a large cooler/freezer that contains bread and other food items. A woman seeking food assistance sits at a desk providing information to a pantry worker. The agency gathers detailed information, including Social Security numbers, from potential pantry visitors. He mentioned that sometimes people gather free services from a variety of area agencies, including free bus passes, clothes and food. He indicated it’s at most 10% of the people he thought were gaming the charitable organizations, which is the reason for the background verification.He was concerned about the perpetuation of those seeking food assistance, indicating that some of the people did not have the “middle class values” of hard work and occupation, in other words a stable income source. Without judging those people he suggested it was difficult to discern the people that won’t or don’t seek stable careers and work options from those that do. He noted that you wouldn’t be able to identify people that were struggling if you were walking down the grocery store aisle.
This notion may be misunderstood by food bank workers like myself, who only meet with food donors dropping off food and food pantry workers coming by to pick up food orders. He gave another example where he explained how participants of Harvesters’ 8-week long nutrition classes are likely not learning the material. He backed this up by suggesting that many nutrition class participants don’t have regular formal education experience that allows them to fully gain from the classes, nor do they have the 16 hours of time to invest despite the incentive of a bag of groceries, a $30 value, provided at the conclusion of each class.
My food pantry acquaintance indicated that more likely “teachable moments” are when residents are picking up food at a pantry and can be provided with instructions or recipes to match the food of the day.
He suggested the large and frequent food drops (“mobile food pantry” in food bank parlance) at urban and rural locations would be good opportunities to provide nutrition information.
He also suggested the enabling factor of the large mass distribution of food -- sometimes a full truckload with 20 pallets -- by indicating that people that don’t have regular jobs may have 4 hours of time to wait for the food.
Improving the Charitable Food Chain
His record of work in logistics and food business led Pat to think about how the partnership between the food pantry and food bank could be improved, namely by allowing the food bank to see the food pantry’s inventory. The food bank, serving as a food wholesaler, would improve the efficiency of food pantries, plus lower the cost of purchasing food.Many larger food pantries purchase half of their food from low cost stores such as Aldi’s and Dollar General-type stores. Not only are food pantries more money to source food from a variety of stores and donation sources, but they also spend staff and volunteer time to coordinate the sourcing of this food. Food pantry’s could attract more financial donors by demonstrating their ability to serve more people through lower cost of the food.
By knowing the food pantry’s inventory pattern they could pre-order the food to ensure a regular level for food items. This helps keep food pantries stocked adequately throughout the year but also helps them purchase certain types of food, such as butter, that may be used more at certain times of the year.
My notion of the volume and significance of the challenges of low-income people seeking food assistance was updated a bit today by a social service representative who shared the difficulties of low-income workers seeking temporary and emergency services.
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