In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Goodell, CEO of the
“We were getting just horrible phone calls from our seniors, from people with disabilities, people who were COVID-positive and couldn’t leave their homes to get food,” Goodell said. “We were distributing food here at the site and other sites from about
So, earlier this year, when the food delivery service
It’s just the result that
Corporate donations of “non-cash” — which includes a company's own products, services and technology — grew to 22% of all community investments in 2020, according to the
Corporations "know that they have unique ways to leverage some of their value,” said
During 2020, food banks distributed 6 billion meals in America. In 2021, they are serving about 55% more people than they did in 2020 before the pandemic, according to
“Food banks have really had to rise to the occasion with innovating and definitely changing the way that they’re engaging with their clients and the way that they’re distributing food,” said
Project DASH had emerged in 2017 from an idea that originated with employees, who proposed it as a way to pick up excess food from restaurants and distribute it to community organizations.
When COVID-19 hit, Graunke said,
“Just like that,” Yurko said, “the world changes for us.”
Previously, Northern Illinois Food Bank’s My Pantry Express program was unavailable to its homebound clients because someone had to go to a collection point to pick up the food. But with DoorDash’s technology, homebound clients can go to the My Pantry Express website and choose from the available food — including macaroni and cheese, cereals, potatoes and apples, on a recent day — just as shoppers do on Amazon Fresh or a local supermarket site and then schedule a time for delivery.
“There’s so much dignity in not just being able to say yes to what I want, but also to say no to what I don’t want,” Yurko said. “I can’t tell you how many neighbors say, ‘I don’t want anything I can’t use. There’s somebody else who needs it.’ "
At this point,
“The only cost that we incur is the cost of running the program, which is what we do anyway,” Yurko said
That support is also making an impact nationally.
Iskeisha Stuckey, executive coordinator for the
“I was getting a lot of phone calls from people saying, ‘I need food today. I’m hungry today,’ ” Stuckey said. “Nobody should have to wait a week just to get food delivery.”
Stuckey was heartened by her ability to use the system to help an older woman who had called the food bank after returning home from spinal surgery. She was unable to go to the store and didn't know how to use the Internet to order groceries to her home. Stuckey checked the woman's address and found she was eligible for the food bank's program.
“I was like, ‘We can get you delivery in about an hour'," Stuckey said. “She was really excited. And she got her delivery.”
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