With one in four US residents in poverty, the need for food assistance keeps growing. The question of how we best get more food to more people is one we, at WAFER, often think about.
Client choice pantries, those in which clients “shop,” as in a grocery store, are gaining momentum. They not only allow more dignity for both clients and volunteers, but also tend to use less food. Even better are those panties that allow clients to come whenever they need food, rather than on a regimented monthly schedule. This idea has considerable merit.
When pantry visits are limited to once a month, clients schedule a time to come, whether they need food or not. When food on a specified list is offered, most agree to take all that is presented. However, having an open pantry would encourage people to come to the pantry only when they needed food, and to take as much as they needed for the week.
The drawback, of course, is that people will visit the pantry every week, taking cartloads of food each time. However, I anticipate this is the exception, rather than the standard modus operandi. How much better one would feel about visiting a pantry if all choices were left to the individual.
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