In her book “Reinventing Foodbanks and Pantries – New Tools To End Hunger” Katie S Martin discusses the culture of a foodbank ( pantry in US vocabulary ):
“The emphasis of many pantries is on efficiency. The focus is on finding the quickest and easiest way to get food to the most people who need it. However, efficiency is not always the same as effectiveness, and it can detract from equity. What we may gain in speed can be lost in the quality of service. Small indignities can add up to make the experience of visiting the pantry humiliating. When people take the step to go to a food pantry to receive charitable food, we want to avoid injuring their self-esteem and self-respect.
There is already a lot of negative stigma attached to going to a food pantry. This stigma is the reason why many people choose not to visit food pantries even when they do not have enough to eat. It may also contribute to the higher rates of depression among people experiencing food insecurity compared with those who are food secure. Visiting a food pantry is often humbling and embarrassing. It doesn’t have to be this way.
It is important to recognize that people who are living in poverty and who are food insecure may have experienced trauma and are more likely to struggle with depression and anxiety. Being poor is isolating and stressful; it can be hard to seek help at a food pantry.
The ways in which our food pantries are designed and operated can either add stress, anxiety, and stigma or they can uplift, encourage, and empower.
We can create food pantries that are welcoming, dignified, and empowering. You can think of this as the culture of a food pantry.”
When serving food, detail to presentation is important as it contributes to the dignity with which we serve our guests. Giving in the manner we would like to receive ourselves is a very important cornerstone of the culture of our kitchen.
The little details matter. For example today I visited a food bank that was serving pastries lumped together in an open cardboard crate with everyone rummaging through it for what they want, another food drive I know serves them from a large plastic waste bag – again all lumped together. Both are run by dedicated, well-meaning volunteers who are doing their best to meet the need in their communities.
But for us, this indignity is unacceptable. We wouldn’t like to be served pastries from a crate where everyone has put their hands in, so why humiliate our guests like that when a little extra care to detail could so easily uplift their experience?
We place our pastries in platters with clear lids so our guests can choose what they want, and we have pastry tongs and food bags to serve them with. It’s important to us that our guests are treated with the same dignity, and hygiene standards, that a paying customer would receive in say Greggs bakery.
As part of this attention to detail, this week we introduced table cloths. Our white tables were covered in unsightly brown coffee spill stains which wouldn’t come off no matter how much we scrubbed, the stains seemed to be absorbed into the table surface. Traditional red checked gingham pattern table cloth complements our red gazebo. We wanted to make the experience as welcoming as possible for our guests, and several of them commented on how nice it looked.
This week we also dumped the ugly queueing arrow signs. Our regulars now know there is an ordering to the food stalls – they collect their carrier bag from the right most first stall and they work their way around choosing what items they want to place in their bag at each stall, and at the end is the hot & cold drinks stand where, having finished their ‘shopping’ they can relax and chat with us over a hot cup of tea with biscuits and pastries. New comers take the lead from our regulars, so there is no need to keep those arrow signs which we were never happy with. Order is good, but it’s best if it comes from our guests rather than being imposed on them from above, by signs.
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