"Hands on Hartford recently celebrated their newly remodeled client choice MANNA Community Pantry. Barbara Shaw, Janet Bermudez and everyone involved in renovating the new space did a wonderful job.
"As I made my rounds talking to staff members of Hands on Hartford, I could sense the excitement surrounding the pantry. I was thoroughly impressed not only with the new pantry space but also their mission to provide other resources for their clients."
Client choice is considered a best practice for pantries and they are set up, as you can see in the photo, like a grocery store, allowing people to choose which food items they can best use, rather than giving the client a pre-packed bag of food. As Janet gave us a tour, she showed us the menu cards, which show how much of each kind of food is allowed based on family size. So the menu may say "1 box of cereal" and that family gets to pick the kind of cereal they are most likely to use in their household.
Client choice pantries give the volunteers more time to interact with the clients and allow the agency, Hands on Hartford, to focus more on serving the family holistically, rather than just distributing food.
A win-win for everyone and I congratulate Hands on Hartford for successfully making this change!
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| Hands on Hartford staffer Janet gave a tour of the pantry to Brewster Perkins and me. |
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