Member Programming
Food Resource ProgramMAHN’s primary food pantry member service is its Food Resource Program. It distributes food donated by retail grocers, food producers, and organizations in possession of occasional surpluses.
Program features include:
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Peer Learning CirclesWe believe that knowledge is the path to excellent consumer service and host informational meetings to support continued member learning. These gatherings of food pantry leadership and staff provide:
Opportunity to learn about best practices from peers and experts in the field A communal thinking space where service providers are encouraged to share ideas, discuss challenges, and build relationships Pathways to meet community partners offering services that enhance food pantry programs |
Coalition MeetingsMAHN’s membership is divided into 5 coalition regions. Each convenes regularly for peer to peer idea exchange and discussion around operational challenges. Meetings create opportunity to build relationships and look at poverty from a higher, community level perspective.
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Innovation through Prototypes
MontCo Anti-Hunger Network (MAHN) is excited to begin an innovative prototype program. As guided by the collaborative strategic framework provided in the Build Back Better (BBB) Strategic Vision, MAHN believes in “Just & Human Centered Design” which is committed to guest informed & empowering practices, shifting the focus of our work from charity to justice, destigmatizing the food safety net system, and elevating the dignity of all guests. A prototype is an early, preliminary version or model of a product, system, or design that is created to test and validate various aspects of its functionality, features, and usability. With these prototype projects, MAHN’s network can learn collaboratively about promising practices that ensure equitable access to food that serves more people
and each person better. This funding was generously provided through Montgomery County’s Pandemic Recovery Funds.
Each prototype works to find solutions to one or more of the challenges listed below:
and each person better. This funding was generously provided through Montgomery County’s Pandemic Recovery Funds.
Each prototype works to find solutions to one or more of the challenges listed below:
- Establish Mechanisms for Ongoing Guest Feedback : Involve individuals experiencing food insecurity in the decision making processes and shift the power back to the individual.
- Reduce Language/Cultural Barriers through Shared Approaches and Services: Enhancing access to translation and interpretation services to ensure needs are being met at all entry points.
- Deliver Food Orders to Organizations that Convene People in Need of Food Assistance: Timely delivery of food directly to places of community engagement as an effective way to break down barriers to food access.
- Guest Centered Nutritional Education: Increase accessibility of nutritious foods through informed client choice and nutritional education to promote healthier food choices.
- Build A Better Network of Outreach and Communication: Develop platform(s) for sharing information about county services and resources available to people.
- Create A Welcoming Culture: Help uphold the dignity and respect of individuals that come to your organization. Help remove barriers, physical and psychological, that may prevent people from seeking assistance in the first place.
Congratulations to our first cohort of innovators!
Ardmore Food PantryThe Center
The Center at Ardmore Food Pantry will be a place where pantry guests can get information connecting them to services and resources in the community in a friendly and relaxed environment. The Center hopes to help alleviate stress for guests and continue to build trust with everyone that walks through the door. Ardmore Food Pantry’s The Center will be successful when guests feel a greater sense of connectedness instead of loneliness, increase accessibility to local resources, stress is reduced, and continue to build a community. ICNANutrition Education
We hope to spark interest with the guests to look at the nutritional value and evaluate the foods they are consuming to nourish themselves and their families. Many of our guests have migrated from Mexico and Guatemala where their local food system looks much different than ours. We would like our guests to deepen their knowledge and understanding of common cooking ingredients (oils, flours, etc.) and how to choose healthier options. We want guests to understand our food system in their language, how it can impact their health, as well as have knowledge about better, healthier choices. Narberth Community Food BankBuild a Better Network of Outreach and Communication
At the end of the prototype project, Narberth Community Food Bank aims to have unified programs and approaches to receiving guest feedback that could be scalable and approachable for other smaller nonprofits and food pantries through various mediums. They will be able to present the data they receive to make more informed decisions and continue to reach those who have been unreachable through translation services. Pottstown Area Food CouncilTesting Methods of Providing Cooking Demonstrations and Fresh Produce to Improve Consumption
Trellis for Tomorrow and other Pottstown Area Food Collaborative Partners will collaborate to test three different variations of a combined cooking demonstration coupled with the provision of subsidized/heavily discounted or free produce at community locations in Pottstown. |
Bean Bag Food ProgramShare, Learn, Succeed – Working Together to Create Healthy, Successful Live
Bean Bag Food Program will provide guests with experiences to learn about health, education, finances, and other skills which aid in living healthy and successful lives during their monthly family grocery giveaway and breakfast events. Martha's Choice MarketplaceMartha’s Action Squad (MAS) aims to continue building long term trust with guests, provide real time communication, high quality translation, utilizing various approaches (other than surveys) to solicit guest feedback through increased texting capacity, and facilitates an ongoing, authentically community led and equitable program development strategy.
Neighbors Helping Neighbors on the Main LineGrowing with Neighbors: NHN Garden and Community Cookbook
Through Neighbors Helping Neighbors on the Main Line's prototype project, Growing with Neighbors: NHN Garden and Community Cookbook, our team will continue efforts to change the stigma that equates low income to low nutrition. Through the creation of a neighborhood garden and community cookbook, along with stakeholder conversations and surveys, we will monitor our success in bridging the gap between various cultural and economic divides; thereby creating a more inclusive, healthy community of neighbors. Norristown Hospitality CenterEmpowerment through Mobile Outreach & Social Services
The balance between providing basic needs services and social services to the unhoused of Montgomery County, specifically the Norristown area, needs further exploration. By the end of the prototype project, the team aims to gain an understanding of the current access and availability of basic needs services coupled with the current access and availability of social services for this vulnerable population. The basic needs distribution and needs assessment will help to determine if pairing basic needs street outreach with mobile social services will be effective in our county. The hope is to see the success and provide weekly social service pop-ups in Norristown, where most people convene. |