Task 8 Findings
Brianna Clark
Old Dominion University
Results
From the time I walked into SERVE Inc. it was extremely welcoming and a very calm environment atmosphere. Clients would walk up to the counter and sign in and wait to be called by the lady at the front desk. Clients did not speak to other clients. The employees seem to be very polite and helpful to clients and ensuring that they had all of the necessary information. The answered questions professionally and if they didn’t know they found someone who did. When going into the pantry clients handed them a slip and a volunteer went back and got their food and came back with their food and assisted them to the car and putting everything in their car. The pantry was set up where everything had a place and organized by date and size. The volunteers and staff were very sweet.
When interviewing employees, they were very open and curious to the questions I had for them. I found that most of the employees chose to work for SERVE because they love giving back and making a change in others’ lives. They said that the things that make them feel good at what they do is the smile on people’s face and the thank you and hugs they receive from them. I found it interesting that the employees stated that they think SERVE can improve on their technology services and improve on how extensive their services are.
In interviewing the clients, I could tell they were a little weary of me at first but when I explained why I was their they were open to a few questions. Most of the clients found out about this program through the local social services office. When asking what they wish to gain from the program they all stated food and how grateful they were for the employees and volunteers. When asking if there were things, they could change about SERVE majority stated that they wish that there was better quality of foods like produce and meats. They stated they understand it is obviously more expensive but wish there was healthier options.
Conclusions
In conclusion SERVE is very well organized and seems to be very professional and warming atmosphere. The pantry is organized and kept in tip top shape by the volunteers. The employees seem to really enjoy their job and the workplace but understand some changes could be made to make a better working environment. The clients seem to really appreciate all that the company has to offer and everything they do for them and their families. But it seems as if there is very little advertising being done to get the agencies name out there for potential clients/volunteers as well. That they rely remotely on social services and word of mouth of clients for all of their services. It seems that everyone can agree that the quality of the food is not the best because of the fact that they only accept nonperishable foods, which are indeed not the healthiest. They all understand that they try to stretch every dollar to get as much food as possible to feed as many people as they can, but the clients wish they had some variety and fresh foods.
Implications
Finding out that there is more than one person that believes that the program could extremely benefit form offering healthier options, shows that it could be very successful. Healthier food options could help in lowering the risk of illness in individuals. To see that most if not all of the clients explained how there was more of a variety and perishable foods. Goes to show that they would really enjoy this. This would also help to get their name out there that this specific food bank offers fresh foods to their clients. When someone hear that they are like wow those are great people they truly care about their clients. Also, if there was little to no advertising and finding out that all of the clients knew about SERVE from the local social services means that they must not be very well known or have a big list of sponsors/ donors. This influence is very negative because it seems like this is a very strong well put together agency but lacks the advertising of their services to become successful. It is apparent that they rely solely from the local social services to get all their clients and word of mouth from the clients. If they increased their advertising this could benefit them tremendously.
Recommendations
I think that the SERVE should implement more advertising, this would open up their doors to more opportunities. Getting their name out there would be a great way to get more sponsors that would be able to donate more products. Also, could be another way to get more clients. Having more donators would also make it easier to provide healthier options because they would be receiving more money in donations. More money means more ways to provide to the clients and healthier options in their monthly packages. Another recommendation would be to update some of the software that the employee’s and volunteers are using. They all stated that an updated system would help them to assist the clients efficiently. Also, an easier system to explain to individuals of all ages.
Goals and Objectives
A goal for SERVE Inc. would be to implement and advertising strategy to get the agencies name out there. Some actions steps that they would take would start out with making flyers, agency business cards, t shirts, pencils, banners, stickers, pins etc. Doing this with the intention of going to different community events in the area to network with other basically get the name out there. Let them know what the agency is, what they stand for, their goals and aspirations. I think this first objective is essential in reaching the goal because you are trying to get people to remember the agency and want to be a part of the mission. By doing this first objective you will be giving away the things you made in a way that will also get people to remember. The next objective is to then hold a big fundraiser or community event yourself where volunteers come and donate their time to help you collect items for a food drive. Before doing this would hand out flyers, post on social media, and maybe even out up signs different places. This will help you in advertising your fundraising event. Not only will you be getting canned goods and supporting your agency with food for your clients you will be also advertising your services and volunteers’ positions that you have. Lastly, I believe that nowadays social media is extremely big, things travel fast, and it controls a lot of our lives. Having your agency on all social media and staying up to date on current things can really benefit your agency. Following these steps and tips could help SERVE Inc. reach the goal of expanding their advertising strategy.
Research
In Simmet, A (2017) the journal stated in affluent countries food insecure households use food pantries to keep their family fed. This is true in America as well we have a lot of people who rely on food pantries to feed their families. In the article they do a study showing how the food they found in the pantries called vitamins and minerals that are found in healthier nutritious foods. This is also true for the pantry that I observed in SERVE. Food pantries have such a huge impact on the diets of others but shows how they do not support a healthier lifestyle.
In the journal article King, R (2016) they stated that while healthy food being distributed is an important goal for most hunger relief agencies it is not always the easiest to meet. The money resources are very limited and most of the food is donated or the budget is not set high enough to get the best nutritional quality for food. Most agencies are trying to get as much food as possible with the money they have so they are using go for whatever is the cheapest. In the agency SERVE Inc. I feel like that is the case as well. Which is not necessarily bad but if you are trying to improve the quality of the food you offer your clients then you would want to try to implement strategies to do so.
In the journal article Wetherill, M (2019) in the United States nutrition-focused food bank is defined as organizational and programmatic efforts to address nutrition-related health disparities amount charitable food clients. They conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews to elicit information about nutrition-focused food banking practices and processes being employed by the United States food banks. They found through the study that food banks are implementing a variety of multilevel approaches to improve healthy food access among users of charitable food system. This could be the care for SERVE if they attempted to implement healthier food options into their pantry.
References
Simmet, A., Depa, J., Tinnemann, P., & Stroebele-Benschop, N. (2017). The Nutritional Quality
of Food Provided from Food Pantries: A Systematic Review of Existing
Literature. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 117(4), 577-588.
King, R., Warren, C., Cureton, C., Hoolihan, C., Grannon, K., & Nanney, M. (2016). How
Healthy Is Hunger Relief Food? American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 98(2), 533-548.
Wetherill, M., White, K., & Seligman, H. (2019). Nutrition-Focused Food Banking in the United
States: A Qualitative Study of Healthy Food Distribution Initiatives. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 119(10), 1653-1665.