Photos From the Farm

Tyler and I recently had the opportunity to attend the Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association Summer Tour and Field Day with our colleague Erin Wright. Erin sources food for the Ohio Agricultural Clearance Program, which provides surplus agricultural products from Ohio farms to local foodbanks. The event was hosted at Hirsch Fruit Farm of Chillicothe and Rhoads Farm Inc. of Circleville. It was great to be able to roll up our sleeves and spend a day on the farm, meeting some of the farmers who work with our foodbanks to make sure healthy fresh food doesn’t go to waste.

Here’s just a few photos of the day:

Just a Few Clicks Away

Earlier this tax season, Tyler and I attended a busy and well-organized tax clinic hosted by Lancaster Fairfield Community Action. As appointments came and went our team made a conscious effort to keep the benefits side of The Ohio Benefit Bank™ in mind. Each client was met with a short explanation of the many uses of The Ohio Benefit Bank (OBB™) in addition to taxes.

Why were we thinking about benefits at a tax clinic? Because many OBB tax clients are also eligible for one or more of the work support programs. But that doesn’t mean they are taking advantage of those programs. If we can let OBB tax clients know the other uses of the online service maybe we can help to de-stigmatize the work support programs. By introducing the many uses of the OBB you’re encouraging your clients to think about their needs throughout the tax appointment. After inputting all of the information necessary to complete their tax return, their work support application is just a few clicks away.

Our clients could potentially walk away from a tax appointment with a refund on the way and reduced stress towards meeting their most basic needs. 

It’s All In The Cart

Lutheran Social Services Champion Avenue Food Pantry shopping cart.

While shopping for groceries, we often take for granted the choices we are able to make. By choosing their own food, clients at Lutheran Social Services and other choice food pantries are sure they are receiving food that they and their families need, enjoy, and will use. Choice pantries also benefit from reduced food waste, reduced preparation time, and the ability to identify needed inventory.

Seniors and Technology

While attending an event called Bethlehem on Broad, hosted by Broad St. United Methodist Church, I was reminded of some conflicting findings our team has recently come across as we began researching and identifying effective outreach strategies: Are seniors using technology? According to one gentleman, who was one of over 1,300 participants registered to receive a food-box full of what would become Christmas dinner, seniors are in fact using technology.

Having had some trouble with the printer we were using, I asked the gentleman if he had an email address I could use to send him another, more legible, copy of his application.  This one question lead to an entire conversation about how he used technology in his life; his email habits, the new printer he had just purchased, and how he found information about available services.

According to Anita Herbert and Leon Ginsberg, authors of Human Services for Older Adults: Concepts and Skills, mass media is an ineffective way of soliciting older adults (pg. 83).  Mass media could include anything from newspapers to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Instead, the article suggests face-to-face outreach methods, such as door-to-door canvassing.

Being a self-diagnosed technology geek myself, I tend to disagree.  I see older folks using various forms of technology on a regular basis: smart phones, computers, social networking sites, blogs, and so on.  I believe these new methods of accessing information will only continue to grow in popularity with our aging community.

As our team dives further and further into our research we will begin to draw conclusions on this topic, but I am very curious to hear some of your thoughts on seniors and technology.  Are they using it? Does your organization or company use technology-based outreach strategies to target seniors? Have you had a specific experience that might provide some insight to our team? Please let me know – dhansen@ohiofoodbanks.org. 

‘Wrapped in Love’: A Reason to Smile

Mother Teresa once said, “We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.” A smile could be simply defined as a pleased, kind, or amused facial expression, but couldn’t it be defined as much more than that? After attending ‘Wrapped in Love,’ a Christmas party for nearly 300 homeless women hosted by Potter’s House Church of God, Mother Teresa’s words have never been so clear.  Potter’s House took extra planning time to ensure their participants left with their needs met and a smile on their face.

Arriving at the event, guests were greeted by smiling volunteers who pinned corsages to their shirts as they walked the red carpet, ending at the sanctuary doors. Again and again as I watched groups of women flood the entrance, I saw faces turn from grey to gold. And it didn’t stop there!

The sanctuary was decorated top-to-bottom as a white winter wonderland: white table clothes and chairs, huge colorful center pieces, and fancy place settings with more forks than you could count. To top it off, the women were given raffle tickets for an event-long gift raffle. Smiles were everywhere: smiles of gratitude, self-worth, and hope.

I know we can’t always quite ‘roll out the red carpet,’ but it’s nice to be reminded of all the good  a little extra time and attention to a client can do, ensuring that clients leave with a smile on their face.