Philabundance

Section I: Organization Information

Agency Mission: Philabundance works to end hunger and malnutrition in the Delaware Valley by acquiring food and distributing it through organizations serving people in need.

Name/Title of Contact: Emily Teel, Senior Manager of Food Donations

Address: 3616 S Galloway St

Phone Number: 215-339-0900, x-441

Website: http://www.philabundance.org/

Email: lkuehl@philabundance.org

Total number of agency staff members: 93

Agency Budget: $9.22M

Section II: Community Need

Please state in measurable and quantifiable terms the specific community need that the Philly Fellow will address, including the number of people in the community directly affected by the problem.

Philabundance is the Feeding America food bank serving ten counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including Philadelphia. We distribute between 17 and 20 million pounds of donated and purchased food annually and that we serve about 65,000 individuals each week. Our strategic plan, authored prior to the current economic recession, estimates that there are up to 900,000 people within our ten county service area still struggling with food insecurity.

In this troubled economy, Feeding America food banks and hunger relief organizations such as Philabundance have seen between a 30 and 40 percent increase in the number of people seeking assistance as a result of some degree of food insecurity. Among these individuals are families at or above 200 percent of the federal poverty level. This means that a family of four making $44,000 annually may still be struggling to have a consistent supply of food, especially nutritious food. This increased need coincides with a decrease in donations of food from key donors in the food industry. From fiscal year 2007 until 2009 there was a 97% drop in donations from our primary donor of assorted dry grocery items as the result of a change in ownership. This change for a single donor accounts for over a million pound drop in donations which must be made up elsewhere so as to not affect distributions within the community.

Describe how your agency addresses this need, and how the new capacity created by this fellow will help alleviate the problem.

Since it’s founding in 1984, the core mission of Philabundance has been to intercept food that would otherwise go to waste and redirect it to those in need across the Delaware Valley. In the spirit of this original mission, Philabundance has re-launched a food rescue program, Grocers Against Hunger, to acquire perishable foods such as meat, dairy, baked goods and produce from area grocery stores. The goal of this program, and many like it across the country, is to collect and distribute food that would otherwise be entering the waste stream and divert it into the hunger relief system.

At this point, there are more grocery banners and locations interested in donating food through the Grocers Against Hunger program than Philabundance currently has the capacity to service. Though we’re in the process of fundraising for physical expenses associated with program expansion adding a Philly Fellow in the role of Grocers Against Hunger Associate will allow us to build relationships within the program. These relationships, both with partners at the corporate banners and at the individual stores themselves, are the biggest determinants of success for this program. The Grocers Against Hunger Associate will be instrumental in establishing a solid foundation for the program and. a consistent source of food to support our innovative distribution models: Member Agency Distribution, Emergency Food Boxes, the Community Food Center, and our produce distribution program, Fresh For All.

Describe the level of community involvement in the fellow’s project.

The Grocers Against Hunger Philly Fellow can expect to interface daily with grocery store management and receiving staff, and Philabundance staff from in every department of the organization. As we build the program, it will be important for him or her to maintain open lines of communication to troubleshoot transportation, warehousing and logistics questions.

Section III: Job Description

Please outline in list form the fellow's duties and responsibilities.

- Add new stores to the Grocers Against Hunger Program (GAH).
- Meet initially with grocery store management.
- Answer questions on donation guidelines.
- Work with Transportation to communicate routing schedule to stores.
- Solicit participation in GAH from new grocery banners as needed.
- Check-in regularly with participating stores.
- Maintain donor database with current store and banner contact information.
- Communicate program benchmarks back to Food Acquisition team.
- Share best practices with other Feeding America food banks as needed.
- Develop annual GAH projections and budgets.
- Author GAH procedures

Please outline in list form the skills/qualifications a fellow should have to succeed in the position.

- Friendly and approachable demeanor.
- Interest in hunger relief.
- Ability to interface and communicate with diverse communities.
- Comfort working independently and as part of a team.
- Efficiency and the ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously.
- Experience with Microsoft Word & Excel.

Please describe your agency's plan to orient and train the fellow.

The Grocers Against Hunger Philly Fellow will be joining three existing staff members as part of the Food Acquisition team in the Programs and Operations department. As will all new staff s/he will undergo our Philabundance training rotation to ensure that he or she has a comprehensive understanding of the organization on the whole.

Section IV: Project Plan

Please describe the proposed project goal(s) you expect the fellow to achieve. These should relate to your community need and reflect the long-term impact of the fellow’s project.

The GAH program currently picks up weekly at 27 grocery stores within Philabundance’s service area. With the addition of a full time Philly Fellow working on this program, we hope to add another 10 to 30 stores within the Fellowship year and possible more depending on the availability of transportation and warehousing resources. Ideally, our relationships with these new stores would be organizational relationships that could remain strong with proper reinforcement. The work of our Philly Fellow will be instrumental to setting the tone and quality of the relationship between Philabundance and each store.

Section V: The Nitty Gritty

Will fellow be working at the same address listed above?

No. Alternate worksite:

302 W Berks St Philadelphia PA 19122

Please describe the fellow's work environment.

Fellow will have a shared office.
Fellow will have their own desk.
Fellow will have their own computer.

Please list the name and title of the fellow's immediate supervisor.

Emily Teel, Senior Manager of Food Donations

Please approximate the percentage of time fellow will work:

Independently: 70%
As a team member in a group setting: 100%
As a team leader in a group setting: 30%

Travel:

Will the fellow be expected to travel as part of the position?

Yes

If so, how often and where?

The Grocers Against Hunger Associate will have a set of stores at which s/he will be responsible for maintaining relationships with store and regional management. Ideally, s/he will meet with store management three times before the program roll-out and check-in with store staff at least every other month once the program us under way. All of these stores will fall within Philabundance's ten county service area and a company vehicle will be available for these visits.

Will the fellow need the following to carry out the position?

A driver’s license: Yes
Their own car: No

Section VI: Supervision/Resources

Please briefly describe plans for supervision of fellow:

The Grocers Against Hunger Philly Fellow will be working under the supervision of the Senior Manager of Food Donations, who is currently managing the Grocers Against Hunger program. Until he or she has a comprehensive understanding of Philabundance and a sense of mastery over GAH program logistics, they will work in tandem on the program by visiting stores and attending meetings together. Once the GAH Fellow has obtained a sense of mastery over the program, he or she will take on full responsibility for the roll-out of a set of new stores. The GAH Fellow will participate in weekly meetings with Food Acquisition staff and Operations staff.

What methods, information, or data will you use to evaluate the fellow’s success in their position and your agency’s success in meeting your community need?

The primary quantitative metrics will be the total number of new stores participating in the GAH program, as well as total pounds of food per pick-up and collected overall through the program. Qualitative success will include considerations of the ease of program operations and the quality of relationships with store management and grocery banners.