New Brunswick’s Emergency Food System Pantry Profile Ana Bonilla Martinez, Daniela Ortega, Reshma Parikh, Katarina Piasevoli, and Abigail Thompson Ralph W. Voorhees Public Service Fellows 2015
Introduction • Collaborative project of the Ralph W. Voorhees Public Service Fellows and Feeding New Brunswick Network Objective is to learn about New Brunswick’s emergency food system and about: food availability, • storage, distribution, organizational structure, challenges, non-food services, and collaboration Students • interviewed 14/19 food pantries • • interviewed and toured MCFOODS and the Community Food Bank of New Jersey volunteered with 4 pantries • • reviewed the literature on emergency food systems researched government assistance programs that provide emergency food • • explored innovative food pantries in the US
U.S. Emergency Food System • The emergency food system is comprised of f ood pantries, soup kitchens , and food banks • There has been increased reliance on this system since the early 1980s o federal programs helped move excess food to food pantries o demand increased within communities ▪ non-working and working poor ▪ Great Recession • With the system’s expansion, people are rethinking how it works • What changes can improve food security? • In what ways can technology help? • How can the client experience be improved? • What contributes to food pantry use or lack of it? (Ohls & Saleem-Ismail, 2002; Martin et al., 2013).
Food Pantry Innovations Client Choice Technology ● Count number of people served Increases client autonomy ● ● Track food May reduce wasted food ● ● Prepare reports Point system encourages healthier choices ● ● Clients select foods from home or pantry Choice approaches include ● ● Recommend referral services ○ supermarket style ● Digital choice pantry: St. John Bread and Life ○ table Food Pantry in New York ○ inventory list ○ touchscreen sign in ○ window ○ point system ○ client choice ○ access to educational material i.e. cooking, social services
The Study and Research Findings Overview of New Brunswick’s emergency feeding system • Organizational structure • Where and how pantries get food • Types of foods pantries receive • Foods pantries typically distribute • Challenges • Non-food services • Ideas for the future •
New Brunswick ~57,000 residents • 50% identify as Hispanic/Latino • 56% speak a language other than English at home • ~40% are foreign born • Median household income is $39,901 • 34% of residents are below the poverty level • (Census, 2010)
New Brunswick’s Food Pantries • Religious institutions, non-profits service Large Pantry Small Pantry School Soup providers, schools, and the Housing Authority Pantry Kitchens host 19 food pantries Emanuel Bayard Street Greater Ebenezer Lutheran Presbyterian Brunswick Baptist • 6 “Large” food pantries Church Charter o TEFAP, SFPP and purchase Suydam Street Deliverance Paul Robeson Elijah’s Promise o CFBNJ, MCFOODS, food/cash donations Reformed Church Prayer Revival Temple 6 “Small” food pantries • Salvation Army NB Housing Roosevelt o MCFOODS & occasional donations Authority 5 School food pantries • Christ Church Tabernacle Baptist Lord Stirling o MCFOODS & occasional donations St. Vincent de St. Alban’s Church New Brunswick 2 Soup kitchens Paul Middle School • o Food pantry is not their primary focus Five Loaves PRAB o MCFOODS, CFBNJ and direct donations
Organizational Structure Coordinators, Volunteers, Clients, & Outreach
Pantry Operations Pantry staff pick-up, unload, sort, store, and distribute food • • Pantries with TEFAP and SFPP have additional work Coordinators • • At least 6 pantries have volunteer coordinators • At least 7 pantries have paid coordinators • NB Housing Authority, PRAB, School Based Services, and the New Brunswick Charter School Volunteers run and staff most pantries • • Run/help with core pantry activities, translation and food pickup or distribution/delivery Training volunteers • • On-the-job training • CFBNJ training Challenges • • Inconsistency with occasional and student volunteers • Clients as volunteers • Succession planning
Outreach • A few pantries use the internet to 4 websites include information for share information pantry use such as the date & times • Some clients do not have smart phones and rely on pre-paid Five Loaves Food Pantry describes its phones for communication services and hours on a bilingual page • Some pantries are interested in physical local signage
Who Uses Pantries Depends on pantry requirements, hours, and location • Client characteristics • o Working poor and those who are unemployed o Homeless o Households with and without children o Walk, use public transit, and drive to pantries • Many clients speak Spanish and some pantry volunteers do not o Bilingual adult volunteers o New Brunswick High School Students o Children of clients o Most staff who interact with clients speak Spanish (PRAB and School Based Pantries)
Who Does and Does Not Use Pantries Pantry usage records depend on food sources which • dictate how much information pantries collect and report to CFBNJ Some residents who are food insecure do not use • pantries
Where and How New Brunswick’s Pantries Get Food
Federal Food Programs The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) ● TEFAP (1981) is a federal commodity food program that provides 70 different kinds of food ● Recipients live in households with income below 185% of the federal poverty line and fill out a signature sheet each time they receive food ● The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service administers TEFAP; the NJ Department of Agriculture administers it in NJ with the help of 6 EFOs and LDAs that follow strict guidelines Community Supplemental Food Program ● Provides commodity boxed food for low-income adults 60 years or older (USDA, 2015) ● Products include nonfat dry/fluid milk, juice, farina, oats, cereal, rice, pasta, peanut butter, dried beans, canned meat/poultry/fish, canned fruits and vegetables ● The NJ Department of Health and Senior Services oversees the program Cabili, 2013
State Food Purchase Program (SFPP) ● SFPP (2007) provides funds for the purchase of healthy, nutritious foods for low-income NJ residents ● An average of 8.5 million pounds of food were purchased between 2009-2015 ● The New Jersey Department of Agriculture administers the program through contracts with 6 EFOs that distribute to local agencies ● New Brunswick receives SFPP products from the Community FoodBank of New Jersey ● Recipients show proof that they and each person in their household live in NJ
Food Banks Serving New Brunswick Pantries
Where Pantries Get Food 6 receive TEFAP, SFPP from CFBNJ • All receive food from MCFOODS • 7 purchase food from CFBNJ, Co-op • list, or big box stores 8 receive direct donations • • ood drives • Donations from businesses • Cash donations
Facilities and Food Storage Storage space affects • Pantry storage how much food o what kinds of food o 9 at least have 1 household refrigerator ▪ donation acceptance o 3 have only a household refrigerator ▪ whether pantries can expand o Large pantries have 3 or more ▪ Nearly all want more space now and for future • refrigeration units expansion Lack space for o dry food ▪ refrigeration or freezer ▪ School pantries are the most limited •
Types of Food Pantries Receive
Perishable and Non-Perishable Products Non-perishable Products Perishable Products (CFBNJ or MCFOODS) Canned Fruits/ Protein Grains Other Refrigerated Frozen Vegetables Vegetables Canned Pasta Sauce Fresh Vegetables Chicken & Turkey meat Fruit Canned Canned Jelly Fruit Red Meat & Pork fish pasta Applesauce Peanut Cereal Milk (shelf- Milk & Eggs Fish butter stable) Cranberry Jelly Soup Rice Yogurt & Cheese Frozen vegetables Beans Prepared foods Frozen Blueberries, Frozen Cherries
Challenges to Perishable Products • Some mismatches between the type of produce received and the type of produce people take • Some pantries offer taste tests to encourage people to try foods that are new to them • Some of the produce is very ripe • Pantries only take produce they can distribute quickly • Pantry hours may not coincide with CFBNJ/MCFOODS produce distribution days • Pantries discard some produce because it is overly ripe • Few pantries have enough freezer space to hold frozen products which they receive sporadically depending on their food supply sources
Food Distributed at a Typical Pick-up
Non-client Choice Many pantries follow nutritional guidelines and include a variety of products in the bags ● A few pantries adjust for dietary restrictions (health or religious) ● St. Vincent de Paul menus bags at the beginning of the month which is determined by food ● donations, federal and state food allotments, and purchases
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