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Live United by Erin Haag

This whole week felt off to me. I couldn’t figure out why, but the rhythm of my life was moving differently. Was it the weather? The fact that I slipped on the ice and comically was skidding around, finding muscles I didn’t know I had? I had long conversations with trusted key persons. People walked through the door, offering their time and talents, and in one case, an opportunity to apply for funding from a foundation. I don’t know, but it felt off. Finally, on Thursday, we opened up the pantry. The “off” feeling increased significantly with some challenging situations. Through the hustle and bustle, I looked at Nikolle and Rosemary. The two pantries before that had felt pretty smooth and had a good rhythm, so it was jarring to have this feeling of chaos without an exact reason why. Someone said, “What, is it a full moon or something?” I laughed and Googled it. Yep, it’s a full moon. Listen, as much as I believe in the magic of the universe, I’m not overly superstitious. However, I’ve got over 20 years of working in education, health care and the public sector. The full moon throwing off the vibe of everyone is A. Real. Thing.

I suppose I should be grateful that it’s not next week when we make major operational changes to the Welcome Pantry. We’re serving approximately three times the number we planned when we opened. We’ve adjusted to these increased numbers and accommodated as much as possible. It’s just not sustainable to keep on doing it this way. This week, we began the communications about the changes that are taking place on Feb. 1. We know it’s going to make things easier for many, but we also know that for others, it might bring some barriers.

The first change is to the days we are open. We have realized that we don’t feel as good about our pantry offerings on Monday nights as we do on Thursday nights. It’s difficult to hold things over the weekend, ensuring that produce is fresh. So we decided to do Wednesdays and Thursdays instead.

The second change is to the hours. We heard from shoppers that they’d like to come earlier in the day. We also knew that we were reaching capacity before 4:30 p.m., which means that our shoppers who work during the day weren’t able to access our pantry. This defeated one of our core themes of having non-traditional hours for working families. Starting Feb. 1, we will be open on Wednesdays from 4 to 6 p.m.. We’re adding in a noon to 2 p.m. on Thursdays, and then we’ll break to restock and open again from 4 until 6 p.m. We are keeping the third Saturday of the month from 9 to 11 a.m.

The biggest change — and most difficult — is moving to an appointment-based system. While many people are excited by this, we know that it’s going to be challenging as well. We know that there are challenges for people in accessing the appointment system. For shoppers who may not have access to a computer, we have a dedicated voicemail line that will be active starting Monday. We’ll be seeking volunteers to help us return those phone calls to schedule the appointment. We also know that appointments might be booked out longer than we’d like. It’s not a perfect solution. There is no perfect solution. Please know that we’ve invested significant time in reviewing the data and having conversations with our shoppers and volunteers. We started working on this plan in November and sought advice from other well-run food pantries across the state.

I remind myself daily that we’ve been open less than a year. From that standpoint, I think we’re doing amazing. We have volunteer engagement, we have shoppers that are getting their needs met. We’ve been able to create a space in which the community is taking pride. We have dreams of how to make things better — and we have volunteers that are dreaming alongside us.

From the other standpoint — we know that the need is great. We know that some families are not accessing the pantry and are being turned away because we’re at capacity. As long as that happens — as long as there is an actual need, it’s going to feel like we failed in our hearts.

Part of moving to an appointment-based system is going to allow us to control that capacity a little bit better. It hurts, and it feels defeatist to say that we’re going to serve less people, but I also know that we’re just treading water right now. If we scale back just enough to have some breathing room, we’ll be able to plan to improve how we’re serving our community strategically.

Here’s a great example. This week, we had to turn away an offer of 900 pounds of chicken. We couldn’t commit to taking the entire load because we didn’t have enough space in our freezers for that. If we consistently were able to grow in food rescue, and have the storage for it, it would make a huge impact on our budget. If we were able to reduce our food budget, we’d have more funding available for staff time, equipment costs and renting additional space.

Strategically, we need to learn if our current capacity rate is sustainable. Grant writing is a huge part of it, but it’s not the only part. Grants can take months or even years to execute, and they’re not always ongoing. Ultimately, the community must embrace supporting the pantry at a financial level. Is that happening? To some extent, it is. It’s also too early to tell. Campaigns and fundraising can take years to grow, and it’s only been seven months.

The best thing in the world would be for me to be out of a job. If people didn’t need the pantry, didn’t need Winter Gear, didn’t need 2-1-1, I’d be totally OK with that. In the meantime, my team and I are leaning into it, strategically planning, while listening to what our community needs.

If you’d like to join us, or learn more about what I’ve written today, please visit our website at unitedwayfc.org or give us a call at 507-373-8670.

Erin Haag is the executive director of the United Way of Freeborn County.