The Greater Boston Food Bank is not only our partner in the mission to end hunger here at home, but also offers opportunities to support our logistics. Every year, GBFB invites its member agencies to apply for assistance to meet the needs of its customers.
This year the Pantry was awarded a generous grant for one brand-new, 42-cubic-foot stainless steel freezer and a 21-cubic-foot refrigerator-freezer. These appliances replaced a 30+ year-old kitchen refrigerator!
So, how much frozen food fits into a 42-cubic-foot freezer? You might be surprised! For example, in January a local department store was renovating a freezer. The store needed to donate 1,100 pounds of healthy, delicious frozen food—fast. They asked the Pantry if it could take the shipment. With the increased cold storage capacity, we could accept all 1,100 pounds!
Richard Kelsay, our Pantry’s Property Manager and Committee Member, often has to balance our customer needs with our capacity. “The new refrigerator/freezers let us bring in what we need, and not have to watch our space. Because of these freezers, we helped out a generous donor and made our shoppers very happy.”
These increased storage areas also allowed the Pantry to accept donated restaurant meals, something we had not often been able to do before. As part of its opening celebration in November, Sweetgreen donated one prepared meal to the Pantry for every meal purchased on opening day. That resulted in a total of 620 fresh, delicious meals!
The Greater Boston Food Bank also provided a technology grant which the Pantry used to purchase a new iPad and a laptop.
Maria Smith, Committee Member and the Inventory and Distribution Coordinator for the Pantry, explains how this upgrade has made a huge difference in our operations. “Having an iPad and laptop for the Pantry's annual re-registration process saved both time and money as paper use for registration forms was zero. Previously, paper forms were entered into the Pantry's database by volunteers. We have over 300 shoppers, and reading and entering information for all of those folks, especially email addresses could be a challenge. This past year, shopper information input to the iPad and laptop were automatically updated into our Shopper database, giving us real-time data as to who has registered and who we needed to follow up with. We continue to use the iPad weekly for new shopper registrations.” These are better tools for the Pantry to help put food on their tables.
At the Pantry, we keep a precise track of all of the food donations and purchases, as well as what is given out to our neighbors in need. Volunteers participate in our annual food inventory count to match our detailed records from the year. With these devices, what used to be a very labor and paper-intensive procedure now saves many valuable volunteer hours and ensures accuracy in managing our services.
The Pantry wouldn’t have been able to make these improvements without the Greater Boston Food Bank’s generous grant program. We are grateful to have a partner like GBFB. Thank you for your continuous support in ending hunger in Mansfield!
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