Reimagining Montgomery County’s Emergency Food System
This article, authored by Tamela Luce, was published in the September 2015 edition of the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal. Below is an excerpt from the article. Access the full article here.
Two years ago, when I first met with Stu Bush, the new Executive Director at The Open Link in the Upper Perkiomen area, I never thought that our conversation might lead to a redesign of emergency food in Montgomery County.
I had known Bush previously, but not well and his new position was reason enough for an informational site visit. The Open Link is a multi-service, community-based organization that includes a food pantry. Bush shared with me during our initial meeting that one of the operational questions he was wrestling with was how inefficient it was to acquire food for the pantry. These challenges included receiving food from multiples sources, differing rules on sharing with other organizations, varying reporting requirements – it wasn’t just confusing, it was illogical.
It is typical for food pantries to experience highs and lows in their inventory based on numerous factors.
We had enough food coming into Montgomery County. The challenge was to smooth out those highs and lows and get food to those who needed it. The problem was easy to articulate, but difficult to solve. Any proposed solution needed to take into consideration the unique resources and context of the emergency food system in the county.
Hunger In Montgomery County
Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest counties in the commonwealth, which unfortunately masks much of the poverty and hunger that exists in this suburban region. Eleven percent of Montgomery County residents – and 14% of our children – are food insecure (Center for Hunger-Free Communities, 2012), meaning they have “limited or uncertain access to adequate food” (USDA, 2014). Pantries saw a huge increase in need after the 2008 recession and those numbers have generally remained high, despite indicators of an improving local and regional economy.
Birth Of The MontCo Anti-Hunger Network
Over the course of the five month planning grant, Bush convened several leaders from pantries across the county who shared his frustration about food acquisition.
The collaboration worked to fully understand the problem and then brainstorm possible solutions. To this effort, a solution did not immediately present itself. The problem was just too knotty; however, participants were committed to improving the system and outlined a plan to gather more data and identify opportunities for further research. Philabundance, with their expertise, was chosen by their colleagues to be the lead applicant. Lacking a defined strategy, this was a risky grant. Nonetheless, the foundation knew the group was dedicated and there was real potential to transform the system. In May 2014, NPCHF awarded a grant to Philabundance and the MontCo Anti-Hunger Network (MAHN) was launched.
MAHN Year One
MAHN spent its first year solidifying its structure, gathering data on the pantry system, conducting research into more efficient donation and redistribution models and creating both regional and countywide networks of food pantries.
The group researched several options to alleviate the challenges of the current distribution model. One option considered was to build or buy a warehouse in the county. While having access to a large storage facility was tantalizing, this centralized approach was immediately dismissed as too costly, both initially and long-term.
The group then turned to a decentralized “hub” model.
Under a hub model, larger organizations – typically large food pantries – collect and redistribute food to smaller pantries in the area. The benefits of a hub model are that it often does not require additional storage space and can be established at a fraction of the cost of building and operating a warehouse. Hubs need to have adequate storage and refrigeration capacity. They also need a workforce capable of taking orders from other pantries, dividing the product(s) and packaging those orders and coordinating pickups or deliveries. Costs associated with hubs are mostly in staff time, but this model can be adapted to the resources of each hub and the needs of the partnering pantries.
An informal hub has operated in Montgomery County for several years. Manna on Main Street occasionally collects large food donations, stores them on-site and their staff contacts other Coalition members to take orders and coordinate pickups.
In order to make the hub model successful, however, pantries needed to be networked with one another. In addition to the Nutrition Coalition, pantries and soup kitchens in Norristown have been meeting for a number of years through the volunteer leadership of a faith group operating as Advocates Against Hunger. Aside from these two coalitions, there were large areas in the county where pantries in neighboring communities were not connected to one another. To rectify this, MAHN established two other regional coalitions of food pantries in the Pottstown/Upper Perkiomen and the eastern sections of the county. A fifth is beginning to emerge on the Main Line. With these regional coalitions, food pantries anywhere in Montgomery County now would be able to connect with others in their area, build relationships and share knowledge and resources.
MAHN Year Two
MAHN is now into its second year and hopes to pilot additional hubs throughout the county through which large scale donations can be redistributed.
Its first task, however, will be to study and document the model used at Manna. MAHN will need to fully understand Manna’s procedures, successes and challenges in collecting and redistributing food within its regional coalition. It will be necessary to create a process map from when Manna is initially contacted about a donation of food, to when the product is received by other pantries.
Armed with this in-depth understanding, MAHN intends to pilot up to three other hubs throughout the county, connecting each of them to an established regional pantry coalition. As the pilot hubs begin operations, MAHN will create a system-wide method to collect data from all of the hubs and develop a process for continual learning designed for the hubs to improve and evolve.
Conclusion
I never imagined that that initial meeting with Stu Bush would result in an evolution of food acquisition and distribution, but two years later, I am proud to say that much progress has been made. MAHN seeks to improve the distribution of food in the safety net system: improving the management of the inevitable highs and lows in inventory and working to ensure pantries have a steadier supply. NPCHF believes the hub model will improve the capacity of the safety net system to take full advantage of large scale donations. It may become a model for other counties or regions.
Ensuring that we have a strong emergency food safety net is critical for those most vulnerable to hunger. Transforming systems is not easy and cannot be done in a vacuum, but through collaborative efforts such as MAHN, NPCHF is working toward its vision that all Montgomery County residents have access to healthy, nutritious food.