Reaching Out Reflection

On Wednesday we visited reaching-out community services, which included a food pantry and other services. The food pantry was located in Brooklyn, by various other stores nearby. As we walked in, I noticed a small lobby area with a  reception desk area. We asked for Tom, who was our contact for the pantry. We were escorted to farther back to a small food pantry. Tom shook everyone's hands and told us a little bit about the location. He had worked at the pantry for about 25 years and mentioned that it providing food for 16 codes around the area. Also it was open 9-5pm Monday through Friday. I was very surprised that the organization  served that many areas around it. That was a significant amount of people, not just people close by. It really opened my eyes to how many people were experiencing hunger. From this it seemed that shelter was a bigger operation then most, because it also was open 8 hours day, 5 days a week. I became interested in how the pantry could help out so many people? I thought that it might not be very effective, due to how many families it was serving. I remember thinking about how toxic charity mentioned that food pantries may not give much choice and just create more dependence. it would be pretty hard to give every family a choice considering how many came in.

Next Tom told us how about how the shelter operated. They used an online system where clients would select online what food they wanted. The system would record the basic information about the family to determine how much food they received and customize the options to their needs. For example, if a person had a cat, cat food would appear. If they didn't, then cat food would not even appear as a option. After the order was made, the staff of the pantry, would prepare it in back and then bring it out toward the client. Each client was required to show an id, to avoid any stealing. This system was very unique, as the costumer didn't physically pick each item. This saved so much time, as the pantry had little space and deciding between two things could hold the line up. It also prevented stealing as each client didn't have access to food storage area. Also inventory could be calculated by the computer and then by hand to get a much more accurate count. This system clearly made the food pantry more efficient. But from previous experiences and discussions in this class, I had learned that every organization trying help poverty has its drawbacks. The system worked well but was clearly expensive, not every organization could afford this, especially new organizations. Old churched might be outdated and not be able to implement such a system. Also people could ask their friends to get extra food for them and even borrow their identification. This food received by each family only supported them short term.

Tom then sent us upstairs to meet with Adrian and help organize excess toys left over. The organization also hosted outreach programs that provided children with toys during the holidays. Despite being past the holidays, people had still decided to donate toys, which created this clutter. We organized these toys in bins and bought them to the basement. The area was packed with items, so put the toys on the floor. Adrian also mentioned that most of the shelves were half empty or filled with junk. This showed another drawback, as the organization operated in a small space that was crowded by its inventory. I assumed that trying to finding a bigger building that could accommodate better to the organization's needs would be hard to come by in Brooklyn. Also this space would be very costly and probably could not be afforded by pantry. I did wonder if the organization decided to add the computer system instead of buying a new location. Other  organizations might have choose to operate in a new location instead of  the system. This shows how different organizations might want to stop poverty but have very different ideas and agendas.

  Next we went back to the food pantry to help prepare orders. We were taught how to gather the food for each order by Dan, who had recently retired. Despite being very blunt, it seemed that he must be fairly dedicated to the pantry as he was volunteering and retired. A receptionist or an automated message would say next order, then a receipt would spew out of a machine. Each item appeared in order, on the paper, in the order they were located in the pantry. After the order was complete we would go to the lobby and call out the order number. Then we would id the person and hand them their food. We punched out a few orders and had to leave, because of how far away this part of Brooklyn was from the church and the Brooklyn bridge. It was also mentioned that today was a slow day and that it was very hard to predict how the day would go. Tom said he could make a pretty good guess but he  were often shown to be wrong. I wondered what a busy day would look like, when a truck delivered and many clients lined up for food. There was no loading dock so this would cause a lot of traffic through the front door. Also this could require many more workers, which would be hard to fit in the small space.

Overall I thought the organization did do a good job of using a modern system to efficiently run the pantry. I did wonder how many times a person could come and pick up food a month. They mentioned some did come in twice a month, which would cause the family to become dependent on the  pantry. Also what actual effects did the pantry have its clients. Toxic charities mentioned that some neighborhoods adopted food bank systems that the people experiencing poverty operated themselves. I wonder if this pantry could start creating a system like that or would they lack the resources to do this? The area also might be way to big, but they could start adopting this in small areas one at a time. This even might take too many resources. Another route they might go long term, would be to adapt some housing and or job programs. This also would be very costly, but could be a option in the future. This might not be the most realistic option, due to the high costs of living in New York. The organization might also be taking smaller steps to address these needs, that I wasn't aware off. They did provide some financial assistance and case meetings. Reaching out could include some more services in the future but its computer system did make it stand out from other food pantries. I would also be interested to see how the the organization had grown through out the years and what changes it had made.