Local Food Bank Awarded $3M in Federal Funding for COVID-19 Relief Turns to FarWell for Program Optimization

Food Bank Program Challenge

The grant contained a stipulation that as much of the food as possible was to be sourced from county food producers like produce farmers, dairy producers, and meat producers, who were experiencing crises of their own as the pandemic environment made it extremely difficult to find markets and manage logistics for their products. 

Understanding their urgent need for help in managing the people and processes involved in effectively using this grant to further their mission of feeding local families, the Food Bank’s CEO called FarWell, an outcome-based advisory firm supporting organizations in solving complex challenges with unprecedented speed and agility.

The CEO realized if done right, the implemented model could sustain increased access and delivery of food supplies well beyond the pandemic and for not just the one county, but for their entire 16-county service area. From her work with a local non-profit FarWell had helped to create, which provides food deliveries from local food sources, she knew FarWell’s flexible approach to project leadership, process refinement and system optimization could help her organization plan, design and implement this critical initiative.

Within days of being selected, FarWell deployed a team of its Advisors to do a deep dive into the Food Bank’s current processes, so as to understand how best to improve essential food procurement and collaboration efforts to further the organization’s mission and maximize the use of the grant funding. 

Right-Fit™ FarWell Food Bank Solution 

FarWell devised a Right-Fit solution to address the program’s operational needs (procurement, logistics, receiving, assembly, storage, distribution) that would get the freshest food as fast as possible to those who needed it, along with handling the record-keeping and results-reporting requirements stipulated by the grant. Additionally, they began to build a network of local food producers and other organizations interested in helping support the program in some way.

Although FarWell had foundational knowledge of the food donation environment due to its relationship with the local non-profit they helped create, the team could by no means be considered an expert in this industry.

As the project kicked-off, the team applied its problem-solving agility as it continued learning about the industry while assessing potential risks and challenges. Operating on its flexible framework model, the team identified the resources, tools, and opportunities most prime for innovation and change.

The Food Bank would now need to venture into specialized purchasing. They would have to build relationships with new farmers with incongruous vendors and products at a challenging time to purchase. Meanwhile, donations were down from existing donors.

The first initiative of the team was to engage with food suppliers across the County and State. This included existing food bank relationships and sourcing new providers for partner agencies and their constituents. For the Food Bank to fulfill the CARES Act grant requirements, the team would be required to work closely with suppliers to understand their supply of food, logistics and storage options, and price.

The process as a whole would need to include vendor set-up, establishing procurement and delivery timelines, and coordinating new box assembly across multiple locations. The result of this work would create a new opportunity to provide high-quality, locally sourced dairy, meat and produce to which agencies would typically not have access. To accomplish its goal, the team reached out to food producers, placing orders and familiarizing themselves with local vendors and volunteers.

Parallel to procurement and assembly, the team also created documentation to meticulously manage the logistics and financials.

Volunteers were recruited and those that had available space provided remote receiving and assembly locations. Other organizations contributed by providing additional boxes to support the effort. Ingenuity and experience drove the team to look beyond traditional outlets to uncover innovative solutions to support the effort.

Path Forward for the Food Bank Program 

From building new partnerships and improving collaboration to streamlining production and increasing distribution, FarWell established new business process operations and managed change across all teams to create a more efficient and sustainable model to benefit the Food Bank now and into the future. The team is enthusiastic about the opportunity to further its support to the Food bBank, vendors, and volunteers responsible for this important work.

In response to its involvement on the initiative FarWell Co-founder and CEO Jason Potter said, “We are honored to have been invited to support the Food bBank as they work with unwavering focus to provide nutritious meals to every community member in need. We are proud of the effort put forth by our team to help strengthen the connectivity between all partners while uncovering new ways to work together so less people are needlessly impacted by hunger.”

The Food Bank CEO summarized her thoughts on the project and why the partnership with FarWell was important as follows:

“When you’re presented with an incredible opportunity to make a huge difference in your community, but to do so will require you to go well beyond your existing capacity in a high-stress time with very little notice, you need to have a team of seasoned experts at your side. We were fortunate to have FarWell at ours.

Their team of advisors were able to get up to speed on the project in an accelerated timeframe and were making significant progress on the project from the very beginning. Thanks to them, we were able to meet all the required milestones and deliver critical support to our community.”

– Food Bank CEO

Download the Full Case Study to Learn More about the Food Bank Program’s Transformation