Proposal
As a non-profit organization, the Food Bank provides food for low-income families and individuals (Caraher, 2015). Although this cannot eliminate hunger, providing food can help to manage the problem to some extent. Food Bank can efficiently avail provisions and distribution services by working together with charity groups and other organizations that serve rations. At times, the food stored in the food bank is not fresh. Also, some of it is reported to be moldy. As a result, employees have to throw away a lot of provisions before distribution. However, charities and organizations still receive some spoiled food. According to Schanbacher (2014), organizations like YMCA have to first throw out bad food beyond their mandate.
Consequently, the amount of donated food is reduced, impacting negatively on those in need. Also, bad food can harm consumers (Naylor, 2014). The illnesses include chills, nausea, diarrhea, and stomach cramps.
The proposal is a project to develop a plan to provide fresh food to low-income families and individuals. Specifically, the proposal will focus on three procedures. The three involve decreasing the amount of bad food received, improving storage conditions, and reducing losses associated with food distribution.
Rationale
Food Bank is an organization that provides food for the hungry (Chen, 2014). The provisions can be distributed directly or through other organizations, such as YMCA. Most low-income families and individuals rely on food rations to survive. Receiving spoilt or reduced rations will worsen their living conditions. The negative impacts will work against the organization’s goal of improving the lives of these persons. As such, the Food Bank will ensure that the food is fresh. The entity will also try to serve as many people as possible (Brown, 2014).
Research Plan
In the coming month, the research will focus on improving the quality of services provided by the Food Bank. The research has three stages:
Identifying the causes of freshness problems by gathering situation information and data on all procedures from donation to distribution. Food freshness data will be obtained from Food Bank officers’ reports and officials from other supporting organizations, such as YMCA and USAID.
- Researching to understand the process of food donation:
- The origin of food (for example, the kind of food donated and the donors).
- How decisions about which food to accept are made.
- Conduct research to understand the situation of the food storage flow:
- The methods used to store food.
- The freshness of food and waste situation.
- Data about time length before food distribution.
- Research to understand the food distribution situation:
- Condition of food delivery (for example, how long it takes to deliver food and its freshness when delivered).
- Food recipients (for example, whether or not they receive fresh food and at the right quantities).
List and analyze all the causes of food freshness problems from food donation to food distribution after gathering the information. Conduct research on ways to address the problem of food freshness.
- Best practices for the collection of food donations.
- Best practices from other organizations that provide food to low-income families and individuals.
- Ways to improve food delivery, including transportation.
Analyze all the information and identify the appropriate strategy to improve the quality of food rations and distribution. Finally, a report will be provided in a white paper regarding all the findings and recommendations about food freshness problems.
Resources and Budget
The primary resource to be used will be The Guidelines for Fresh Produce Food Safety. The resource was selected because it improves quality and consistency with regards to the development and implementation of fresh rations and safety programs.
The project will take three months and is expected to cost $200,000. Based on the work plan, the timeframe is not expected to affect the current workload.
Conclusion
The objective of the Food Bank is to help people deal with hunger by distributing food. To solve the hunger problem, food banks should provide fresh food to the beneficiaries. For low-income families and individuals, access to fresh food can decrease illnesses and save money, which improves their quality of life (Murcott, Belasco, & Jackson, 2013). For the Food Bank, fresh food will not only reduce wastage but also increase efficiency. All these benefits can lead to a better society.
References
Brown, M. (2014). Food security, food prices and climate variability. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Caraher, M. (2015). The European Union food distribution programme for the most deprived persons of the community, 1987-2013: From agricultural policy to social inclusion policy?. Health Policy, 119(7), 932-940.
Chen, Y. (2014). Trade, food security, and human rights: The rules for international trade in agricultural products and the evolving world food crisis. Farnham, Surrey, England: Routledge.
Murcott, A., Belasco, W., & Jackson, P. (2016). The handbook of food research. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Naylor, R. (2014). The evolving sphere of food security. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schanbacher, W. (2014). The global food system: Issues and solutions. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.