Entries by Nathan Mayo

Approaches to Food Distribution: More Than a Hand-Out

Feeding the hungry is one of the oldest forms of charity and seems like it should be simple. However, as many know from years of practice, even when food is collected, stored, and distributed efficiently, it still may not reduce dependency or change lives.

The good news is that there are innovative approaches to solve the issues created by the standard hand-out model.

Where Did All the Poor People Go?

“We normally see 30 to 40 clients a day,” said the manager of a Joplin, Missouri food pantry. “Since the pandemic, we’ve seen a sharp decrease in number of clients, sometimes as few as four a day.” This is not what I expected to hear when I visited this food pantry to learn about their programs. But their experience is not an anomaly.