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| Charity Focus: Nutritional Help | ||||||
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Mission
To increase food pantry customers' use of government benefits and services by training food pantry volunteers to screen customers and make referrals to those benefits and services.
Programs
In 2007, the Food Pantry Screening/Referral Project plans to:
• Identify 12 food pantries to participate in the Project;
• Work intensely with volunteers on-site for approximately 6 months, providing continuing consultation afterwards
• At each site, recruit & train 2-3 steady volunteers, (who are to be paid a $10 stipend for one 1½- hour pantry session each week.);
• Train the volunteers by hands-on training sessions, and on-site instruction by staff of agencies such as FoodChange, Urban Justice Center, Children’s Defense Fund, HRA and Community Service Society. A volunteer recently came up with the idea of role plays, with difficult customer problems being solved as a group. It would be interesting to pay “customers” a stipend for this real-world training.
• Take monthly “Training Excursions” to NYC case management agencies, local legislative offices, and government benefit offices. Reimbursement for transportation and snacks (together with stipend) will make the excursions feasible for the volunteers. (We have held staff/volunteer meetings with the Fresh Air Fund, HRA food stamp outreach administrators, and the NY City Council’s Policy and Investigations Division.)
• With volunteer input, build a “Resource Loose-leaf” for each pantry, with multiple one-page color-coded “information sheets” on each resource to which we refer customers. (Attached are a few samples.)
• Identify 12 food pantries to participate in the Project;
• Work intensely with volunteers on-site for approximately 6 months, providing continuing consultation afterwards
• At each site, recruit & train 2-3 steady volunteers, (who are to be paid a $10 stipend for one 1½- hour pantry session each week.);
• Train the volunteers by hands-on training sessions, and on-site instruction by staff of agencies such as FoodChange, Urban Justice Center, Children’s Defense Fund, HRA and Community Service Society. A volunteer recently came up with the idea of role plays, with difficult customer problems being solved as a group. It would be interesting to pay “customers” a stipend for this real-world training.
• Take monthly “Training Excursions” to NYC case management agencies, local legislative offices, and government benefit offices. Reimbursement for transportation and snacks (together with stipend) will make the excursions feasible for the volunteers. (We have held staff/volunteer meetings with the Fresh Air Fund, HRA food stamp outreach administrators, and the NY City Council’s Policy and Investigations Division.)
• With volunteer input, build a “Resource Loose-leaf” for each pantry, with multiple one-page color-coded “information sheets” on each resource to which we refer customers. (Attached are a few samples.)
Goals
The programmatic goal of the Food Pantry Screening/Referral Project is to create a screening/referral model useable by NYC’s food pantries. The objective is to have 12 pantries in place by the end of a year of full operation, 2-3 volunteers working and undergoing training at each, a complete “Resource Loose-leaf” (the binder will contain simplified instruction sheets for each benefit for which a client is likely to be referred) for each pantry, and sustained funding available for the Project staff to consult with existing sites and train volunteers at new ones. The human services goal of the Project is to refer food pantry customers to appropriate agencies for food and financial security, employment, child care, health insurance and housing. Besides having more resources, clients will also gain self esteem from using the information to navigate the social service system. To objectify this goal, we have devised a survey for the customers for whom we provided services to see if (1) they went, and (2) they accessed the benefit. We have administered it to customers who have returned in person to the same pantry. (with funding, we will phone and mail it to others.)
Several success stories so far:
1. Mr. A. was living on SSI with only $10/month in food stamps. We advised him to fax his SSI award letter, rent bill, Con Edison bill and a volunteer-written cover letter to the head of the “Change Dept.” in the office that specializes in food stamps for SSI recipients. His food stamp amount was then re-computed to $130/month.
2. Mr. B, with discontinued Medicaid, went to the main Medicaid office with our volunteer-written referral letter requesting that they reinstate it. They did.
3. To Ms. G, whose son had mistakenly been cut off his father’s Social Security Survivor’s benefits at age 16, we gave the correct Social Security hotline number. She phoned, got the correct form for his school to fill out, sent it in; Social Security payments resumed.
Several success stories so far:
1. Mr. A. was living on SSI with only $10/month in food stamps. We advised him to fax his SSI award letter, rent bill, Con Edison bill and a volunteer-written cover letter to the head of the “Change Dept.” in the office that specializes in food stamps for SSI recipients. His food stamp amount was then re-computed to $130/month.
2. Mr. B, with discontinued Medicaid, went to the main Medicaid office with our volunteer-written referral letter requesting that they reinstate it. They did.
3. To Ms. G, whose son had mistakenly been cut off his father’s Social Security Survivor’s benefits at age 16, we gave the correct Social Security hotline number. She phoned, got the correct form for his school to fill out, sent it in; Social Security payments resumed.
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