Mitzvah Food Program Impact Report

Fiscal Year 2021 Impact Report

Mitzvah Food Program Northeast

Brightness During Times of Need In the midst of the pandemic and the economic fallout damaging American families every day, the Jewish community and our partner agencies experienced increased demand across the board. The Mitzvah Food Program and our partner agencies worked to address demands related to food insecurity related to increased client demand, food supply shortages, and infrastructure and staff needs due to the inability to rely on volunteer groups for work support.

Thanks to your generosity and support over the years, the Mitzvah Food Program: Northeast was able to provide for 624 new clients in Fiscal Year 2021 (September 1, 2020 - August 31, 2021).

Your partnership has been essential to our ongoing efforts to fight food insecurity, as the effects of the pandemic continue to impact our community. Thank you for helping bring dignity and hope to those who need it most, especially during these difficult times.

Mitzvah Food Program Results

BY THE NUMBERS Overall Program

Northeast Pantry at KleinLife

In FY21, the Mitzvah Food Program’s five pantry locations provided much needed support within our community during a time of immense need:

This pantry site is organized by a full-time Site Manager and full-time Volunteer Coordinator, and 69 volunteers (individuals and groups throughout the year). Throughout FY21, the Northeast pantry offered 4 days per week walk-through hours and bi-monthly delivery distributions as well as emergency provisions, to achieve the following results:

2,771 households or 6,530 clients served 1,060,742 pounds of food, including 57,953 pounds of protein 12 meals per month per household were distributed to clients Of the 85% of clients who responded to a client satisfaction survey, 86% indicated they were satisfied or highly satisfied with the food packages they received.

Close to 1,600 households served also receive SNAP benefits to supplement food needs.

Served 2,631 clients in 1,388 households in Northeast Philadelphia • These recipients utilized the SmartChoice ordering system either in the pantry or ordered from home when possible • Of the individuals served, 12% were children, 27% were adults, and 61% were older adults • 63% of households served were Jewish • 92% of households were at 150% of the poverty level or below Delivered bi-monthly distributions to 90 households Distributed approximately 421,321 pounds of food

Grand Total..................... 137,410 Acme.................................... 1,438 BJ.........................................9,849 Common Market................. 3,010 Giant....................................3,035 Philabundance................. 113,947 Quaker Valley....................... 6,131

Pounds of Donated Food to Northeast Pantry FY21

Additional Resources High Holiday Gift Card Food Drive and Thanksgiving Meals More than 300 households received gift cards from all pantry locations thanks to generous donations collected during the High Holiday Gift Card Drive by 21 synagogues, day schools and agencies. In total, over $13,000 of gift cards were distributed during Thanksgiving, helping members of the community enjoy delicious and healthy Thanksgiving meals with their families.

The Northeast Pantry at KleinLife in partnership with Old York Road Temple Beth Am gave out 90+ packages – including turkeys – to food insecure families.

Capital Improvements We recently repaved the walkway and upgraded a refrigerator. The new pathway creates a much safer walkway for clients and to transport palettes into the pantry. In addition, for several months two large refrigerators were broken, preventing us from accepting additional necessary products from Philabundance, such as eggs. Supply chain delays were significant with one repair taking longer than anticipated and a new refrigerator donated

by Philabundance. Lastly, in the upcoming months, we will be placing barcodes on all client identification cards to make registering client visits more automated.

Looking Ahead Volunteer Support

Nationwide Anti-Poverty Research

The volunteer pool is slowly returning to its normal pool of retirees as the area is going back into work and people are vaccinated. PPE is available and mandatory for all who work/ volunteer/utilize the pantries. Physical distancing recommendations are followed at all sites, masks are worn at all times when within less than six feet of someone not in their ‘family unit’.

Our Mitzvah Food Program will be part of The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) initiative to benchmark anti-poverty programs related to food security in Jewish communities across North America. JFNA has selected the Social Impact Genome to collect and analyze data from 10 programs funded or operated by various Federations. Each program will receive a snapshot of the benefits and weaknesses relative to the comparative programs. After the initial analysis is complete, participating Federations will work together to develop desired outcomes and results for similar programs, and share best practices within the North American network of Federations.

Expanding our Reach The Jewish Federation is planning a marketing campaign to attract new Jewish clients with a focus on Gen X and Gen Y members of the community, single parent families, and Jews of color. Through a series of Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn advertising, we intend to reach individuals with zip codes in the Northeast and other areas with high Orthodox communities. To counter the typical barriers for engagement at pantries, messaging is focused on highlighting the retail value of food received (i.e. over $50/person), the access to Kosher food options, and assuring the privacy and convenience offered.

NIH Study on Promoting Healthier Food Options Continues The NIH study was initially intended to follow 500 MFP clients over the course of a year to understand how their health changed through strategic interventions to encourage healthy food decisions.

Pre-pandemic, the program had 100 clients enrolled. As can be expected, the pandemic altered client engagement and the study was changed to a three month assessment of their health and their food choices through the SmartChoice ordering system. The researchers plan to finish the data collection phase by the end of 2022.

DoorDash We are considering working with Project DoorDash. They offer non-profits their delivery services - delivering up to 10 households within a 10-mile radius from pick up location – at no cost to us through the end of 2022 and they are working on ways to increase this free service to non-profits into 2023. Requests can be put in up to a day ahead of time to within an hour of needing it delivered. This would help two-fold – eliminate the MFP delivery waitlist altogether and be able to deliver routes that lose a volunteer drive at the last minute.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia mobilizes financial and volunteer resources to address the communities’ most critical priorities locally, in Israel and around the world.

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