A request from Canada...

Recently, one of the team here at Foodshare got this e-mail message:

“Greetings from beautiful Muskoka Ontario Canada! (about 2 hours north of Toronto)  

“My name is Kathy. I am the Community Ministries Coordinator for The Salvation Army, in my home town of Bracebridge. (pop 17,000).  I am in charge of our Food Bank. I recently found on Foodshare’s website a Food Pantry Best Practices Evaluation Score Sheet.   

“What a fabulous resource!  It has raised 1 question for me though.  Would you be able to send me a copy or a couple of sample copies of what you referred to as the Statement of Need/Income Form. I am very interested to see what information is gathered on the Statement of Need/Income Form.

“My interest comes from the Respectful and Dignified Client Intake section. I think we could be doing better in this area.  I was particularly struck by the Non Traditional Hours section of the Score Sheet. I am going to move to change our Food Bank Hours to better serve our clients!  We have been open 3 afternoons a week - I am going to move us to 1 morning, 1 afternoon and 1 evening or Saturday morning!  

“I have been challenged to do some re-evaluation of what and how we do things. Just because The Salvation Army and our Food Bank have 'always done it this way'doesn't mean we are doing the best we can! I thank you for sending me a sample of the Form if you are able.”

Of course, we responded by sharing our form, which may or may not be helpful to her, since it is a form we developed in cooperation with the State of Connecticut Department of Social Services for administering The TemporaryEmergency Assistance Program (TEFAP). 

It was fun for us to know that someone from Canada was looking to our local best practices for food pantries to work on their own service delivery!  And it's always good to hear someone say that just because "we've always done it that way" doesn't mean we have to keep doing it that way!