home delivery

HOME DELIVERY PROGRAM

Program OverviewPurpose

The Lakeview Pantry Home Delivery Program was started in 1989 and has been running continuously since that time.

The program has been designed to meet the needs of clients who are eligible for pantry services, but are unable to come in due to advanced age and/or physical disability or illness.

Program OverviewProgram Details

The Home Delivery Program has approximately 240 clients enrolled in the program and operates 3 Saturdays per month serving, on average, 180-200 clients.

Clients are eligible for 1 delivery per month.

Clients report that they are provided with enough food to last 1 to 2 weeks which supplements the food clients obtain from other sources or purchase independently.

Program OverviewSpecial Diets

Clients receive 2 large bags of groceries containing: dry goods, fresh produce, dairy, eggs, meat, and bread.

Due to a number of client reported health issues, the Home Delivery program offers 3 different dietary options:• Regular Diet: No restrictions• Diabetic Diet*: Restricted in sugar/starches• Heart Healthy Diet*: Restricted in sugar/starches,

sodium, cholesterol, and saturated fat

* A registered dietician approves the menus each week

Program OverviewStaffing and Volunteers

The Home Delivery Program is administered by the Community Outreach Coordinator who is aided by the Outreach Assistant (a Jesuit Volunteer).

The Community Outreach Coordinator dedicates about 10 hours a week to program management with some responsibilities delegated to the Outreach Assistant.

Primary Responsibilities:Placing food order through GCFD, menu planning, set-up & delivery volunteer management, program development

Program OverviewStaffing and Volunteers

Volunteers are a vital component in the successful implementation of the Home Delivery Program and their involvement can be divided into 3 main shifts:• Friday Set-Up: around 5 volunteers to assist with

setting up the supplies and food for the following day’s shift• Saturday Set-Up: around 15 volunteers to assist with

packing the delivery bags • Saturday Delivery: using their own vehicles, around

10-15 volunteers (to keep delivery sizes manageable) to make the deliveries

Client Intake OperationsClient Inquiries

If a client inquires about the Home Delivery Program, whether in person or over the phone, staff will discuss the following:• The pantry has 2 programs: walk-in (including proxy pick

ups) and home delivery. • Staff will explain the benefits of the walk-in program (i.e.

more choice, weekly bread and produce, and no waiting list)

• The home delivery program is specifically for those who are disabled and do not have anyone who can serve as a proxy

Client Intake OperationsClient Inquiries

If the client, after being presented with the options available, is interested in the Home Delivery Program, staff will inquire about the nature of the client’s disability

If deemed appropriate for the program, the staff member will provide a brief overview of how the program works

The client will be provided with a client information packet and be informed that when the program is able to accept new clients they will be contacted to officially apply

Client Intake OperationsClient Information Packet

Contains the Home Delivery Interest Information Sheet, which provides details about the program, the eligibility requirements, and the application process

Clients are asked to complete the enclosed Home Delivery Interest Form and return it to the pantry to placed on the waiting list.

A Program Referral is included which is to be filled out by a service provider to document the client’s disability

Provides client with a Proxy Form to authorize another individual to come pick up food on their behalf

Client Intake OperationsApplication Process

Completed interest forms are placed in the waitlist folder noting the date that they were received

When availability arises in the program, clients will be contacted in the order that interest forms were received with some exceptions given to priority candidates

A staff member contacts the prospective client and, if still interested, an in-home visit is scheduled to complete the application process in person

Client Intake OperationsIn-Home Assessment

Provides the opportunity for direct contact with client and allows for an open dialogue on the details of the program and the client’s involvement

Basic information such as household size, dietary restrictions, income, rent, SNAP benefits, and medical coverage is recorded on the Client Information Sheet

Additional information pertaining to the client’s support network (i.e. Family/friends, caseworker, etc) and other organizations that they arecurrently receiving services fromis also recorded


Clients are asked if there are any other issues that they may need assistance with and, if so, are referred to Lakeview Pantry’s Bootstraps Program and Manager of Client Services who can make further referrals if necessary

If the client is deemed a good match for the home delivery program, they are provided with an Active Client Information sheet and a Home Delivery Calendar, which detail the logistics of the program (when deliveries are available, how to place an order for delivery, etc)


The staff uses this opportunity to clarify any client uncertainties regarding the program logistics

The client is informed of the next delivery date and told that they are to call and order a delivery for that date – this serves as a trial run to make sure that the client does, in fact, understand the when/how of the program

Distribution Operations

General Responsibilities

The distribution operations from the pantry perspective can be divided into seven main responsibilities:

1. Home Delivery Voicemail2. Greater Chicago Food Depository Order3. “Food Gap” Purchase4. Menu Planning5. Driver/Delivery Routes6. Friday Preparation7. Saturday Set-Up & Delivery


Home Delivery Voicemail

On a Home Delivery week, clients are greeted with a message that informs them of the next delivery date and directs them to leave their name, address and apartment number, phone number, and the number of individuals in the household

The voicemail is checked Monday – Wednesday and individuals are added to the delivery list for that Saturday in Salesforce, the database Lakeview Pantry uses.


Greater Chicago Food Depository Order

Lakeview Pantry receives its deliveries from the GCFD on Thursday mornings, so orders must be placed by Tuesday morning.

Depending on the Home Delivery weekend, orders are made for enough food for either 65 or 80 individuals

Ordering is based on providing each client with around 34-36 items using the following as a guideline:• Dry Goods: 22-24• Fridge: 3-4• Frozen: 3-4• Fresh: 4-5

(7-8 for Heart Healthy)


“Food Gap” Purchase

Often, some of the items you order from the GCFD are out of stock, and purchases must be made to fill the gap.

For LVP, this means turning to local wholesalers such as Restaurant Depot and Dearborn Wholesalers.

The most common purchases are fresh produce, eggs, and milk.


Menu Planning

Following the GCFD order confirmation, the menus for the 3 different diet orders can be put together.

These menus provide the client with a list of each item they have received in their delivery as well as portion recommendations

Completed menus are emailed to a volunteer who is a registered Dietician who approves them and makes note of any changes that should be made regarding the diabetic or heart healthy offerings


Driver/Delivery Routes

After all clients who are receiving a Saturday delivery are entered into Salesforce, a Saturday Home Delivery Report is run and exported into Excel

From this list, delivery locations are entered into a Google Map which allows for a visual aid in determining the delivery routes for drivers

Using the Saturday report and the Google map, deliveries are divided into routes for how many ever volunteer drivers there are that Saturday


Driver/Delivery Routes

We aim to have at least 10 volunteer drives each Saturday, as we hope to give each drive no more than 8 deliveries • 8 deliveries is 16 bags and that’s about the limit to

comfortably fit into a volunteer’s vehicle

The driver list contains a break down of the number of bags of each diet the volunteer should have and provides the driver with the name, address, and phone number of each client


Friday Preparation

Volunteers make up the bags for Home Delivery – the regular bags are brown, the diabetic are white, and the heart healthy bags are red. • Since each client receives two bags, half are marked with

a R, D, or CVolunteers go through the bread and place aside enough whole grain bread for the deliveries

Following Friday’s distribution, staff checks in the pantry coordinator to see which produceitems home Delivery can use onSaturday (LVP “leftovers”) and theseitems are labeled for the Saturdayset up crew.


Friday Preparation

Volunteers bring the bags up from the basement and set them up in the lobby. All the “marked” bags are placed on one side and all the “unmarked” bags on the other.

Volunteers bring to the front all the Home Delivery food from the back storage area* and place on the counters. *

Hung on the main freezer in the back is a set-up list that details for the set-up crew the number of deliveries and all the refrigerated, frozen, and fresh items that are to bepacked and placed into the deliverybags on Saturday morning


Saturday Set-Up & Delivery

Set-up begins at 9am and volunteers are asked to sign in. Any new volunteers are given a quick overview of the necessary tasks and paired with a “veteran” volunteer.

Often, a veteran is given the task to help manage the set-up in the back of the pantry (the refrigerated and frozen bags)* while the staff member remains in the front to assist with set-up

In the front, volunteers bag all of the dry goods on the counters into all the different color bags.Once this is completed, the backvolunteers will bring forward thebread, milk, and cold bags.


Saturday Set-Up & Delivery

Once all bags are packed, they are sorted into groups according to the driver lists. * • For example, Driver 1 may need 3 marked and unmarked

brown bags, 2 marked and unmarked white bags, and 1 marked and unmarked red bag.

• Numbered flags are used to identify the driver number

Drivers come in around 10:15-10:30 and choose the route they would like to take. Staff notes which list each driver takes in case any problems arise.

Home Delivery Program

Issues

Currently, demand for the Home Delivery Program is much greater than Lakeview Pantry’s ability to provide it. There are several main factors behind this:• Storage space for Home Delivery food (both dry and cold

items)• Budget limitations• Limited number of volunteers with vehicles who are able to

make deliveries

Questions?

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