The Lakeview Pantry Home Delivery Program provides groceries to clients who are unable to visit the pantry due to age, disability, or illness. The program delivers to around 240 clients monthly using volunteers. Clients receive bags containing various food items, including options for special diets. The program is managed by two staff members with help from volunteers for food sorting, packing, and deliveries. Demand currently exceeds the program's capacity due to limitations in storage, budget, and volunteer drivers.

1. HOME DELIVERY PROGRAM

2. Program Overview
Purpose
The Lakeview Pantry Home Delivery Program was started in 1989
and has been running continuously since that time.
The program has been designed to meet the needs of clients who
are eligible for pantry services, but are unable to come in due to
advanced age and/or physical disability or illness.

3. Program Overview
Program Details
The Home Delivery Program has approximately 240 clients
enrolled in the program and operates 3 Saturdays per month
serving, on average, 180-200 clients.
Clients are eligible for 1 delivery per month.
Clients report that they are provided with enough food to last 1 to
2 weeks which supplements the food clients obtain from other
sources or purchase independently.

4. Program Overview
Special Diets
Clients receive 2 large bags of groceries containing: dry goods,
fresh produce, dairy, eggs, meat, and bread.
Due to a number of client reported health issues, the Home
Delivery program offers 3 different dietary options:
• Regular Diet: No restrictions
• Diabetic Diet*: Restricted in sugar/starches
• Heart Healthy Diet*: Restricted in sugar/starches,
sodium, cholesterol, and saturated fat
* A registered dietician approves
the menus each week

5. Program Overview
Staffing and Volunteers
The Home Delivery Program is administered by the Community
Outreach Coordinator who is aided by the Outreach Assistant (a
Jesuit Volunteer).
The Community Outreach Coordinator dedicates about 10 hours a
week to program management with some responsibilities
delegated to the Outreach Assistant.
Primary Responsibilities:
Placing food order through GCFD,
menu planning, set-up & delivery
volunteer management, program
development

6. Program Overview
Staffing and Volunteers
Volunteers are a vital component in the successful implementation
of the Home Delivery Program and their involvement can be
divided into 3 main shifts:
• Friday Set-Up: around 5 volunteers to assist with setting
up the supplies and food for the following day’s shift
• Saturday Set-Up: around 15 volunteers to assist with
packing the delivery bags
• Saturday Delivery: using their own vehicles, around 10-15
volunteers (to keep delivery sizes manageable) to make
the deliveries

7. Client Intake Operations
Client Inquiries
If a client inquires about the Home Delivery Program, whether in
person or over the phone, staff will discuss the following:
• The pantry has 2 programs: walk-in (including proxy pick
ups) and home delivery.
• Staff will explain the benefits of the walk-in program (i.e.
more choice, weekly bread and produce, and no waiting
list)
• The home delivery program is specifically for those who are
disabled and do not have anyone who can serve as a
proxy

8. Client Intake Operations
Client Inquiries
If the client, after being presented with the options available, is
interested in the Home Delivery Program, staff will inquire about
the nature of the client’s disability
If deemed appropriate for the program, the staff member will
provide a brief overview of how the program works
The client will be provided with a client information packet and be
informed that when the program is able to accept new clients
they will be contacted to officially apply

9. Client Intake Operations
Client Information Packet
Contains the Home Delivery Interest Information Sheet, which
provides details about the program, the eligibility requirements,
and the application process
Clients are asked to complete the enclosed Home Delivery Interest
Form and return it to the pantry to placed on the waiting list.
A Program Referral is included which is to be filled out by a service
provider to document the client’s disability
Provides client with a Proxy Form to
authorize another individual to
come pick up food on their behalf

10. Client Intake Operations
Application Process
Completed interest forms are placed in the waitlist folder noting
the date that they were received
When availability arises in the program, clients will be contacted
in the order that interest forms were received with some
exceptions given to priority candidates
A staff member contacts the prospective client and, if still
interested, an in-home visit is scheduled to complete the
application process in person

11. Client Intake Operations
In-Home Assessment
Provides the opportunity for direct contact with client and allows
for an open dialogue on the details of the program and the client’s
involvement
Basic information such as household size, dietary restrictions,
income, rent, SNAP benefits, and medical coverage is recorded on
the Client Information Sheet
Additional information pertaining to the client’s support network
(i.e. Family/friends, caseworker, etc)
and other organizations that they are
currently receiving services from
is also recorded

12. Client Intake Operations
In-Home Assessment
Clients are asked if there are any other issues that they may need
assistance with and, if so, are referred to Lakeview Pantry’s
Bootstraps Program and Manager of Client Services who can make
further referrals if necessary
If the client is deemed a good match for the home delivery
program, they are provided with an Active Client Information
sheet and a Home Delivery Calendar, which detail the logistics of
the program (when deliveries are available, how to place an order
for delivery, etc)

13. Client Intake Operations
In-Home Assessment
The staff uses this opportunity to clarify any client uncertainties
regarding the program logistics
The client is informed of the next delivery date and told that they
are to call and order a delivery for that date – this serves as a trial
run to make sure that the client does, in fact, understand the
when/how of the program

14. Distribution Operations
General Responsibilities
The distribution operations from the pantry perspective can be
divided into seven main responsibilities:
1. Home Delivery Voicemail
2. Greater Chicago Food Depository Order
3. “Food Gap” Purchase
4. Menu Planning
5. Driver/Delivery Routes
6. Friday Preparation
7. Saturday Set-Up & Delivery

15. Distribution Operations
Home Delivery Voicemail
On a Home Delivery week, clients are greeted with a message that
informs them of the next delivery date and directs them to leave
their name, address and apartment number, phone number, and
the number of individuals in the household
The voicemail is checked Monday – Wednesday and individuals
are added to the delivery list for that Saturday in Salesforce, the
database Lakeview Pantry uses.

16. Distribution Operations
Greater Chicago Food Depository Order
Lakeview Pantry receives its deliveries from the GCFD on Thursday
mornings, so orders must be placed by Tuesday morning.
Depending on the Home Delivery weekend, orders are made for
enough food for either 65 or 80 individuals
Ordering is based on providing each client with around 34-36
items using the following as a guideline:
•Dry Goods: 22-24
•Fridge: 3-4
•Frozen: 3-4
•Fresh: 4-5
(7-8 for Heart Healthy)

17. Distribution Operations
“Food Gap” Purchase
Often, some of the items you order from the GCFD are out of
stock, and purchases must be made to fill the gap.
For LVP, this means turning to local wholesalers such as Restaurant
Depot and Dearborn Wholesalers.
The most common purchases are fresh produce, eggs, and milk.

18. Distribution Operations
Menu Planning
Following the GCFD order confirmation, the menus for the 3
different diet orders can be put together.
These menus provide the client with a list of each item they have
received in their delivery as well as portion recommendations
Completed menus are emailed to a volunteer who is a registered
Dietician who approves them and makes note of any changes that
should be made regarding the diabetic
or heart healthy offerings

19. Distribution Operations
Driver/Delivery Routes
After all clients who are receiving a Saturday delivery are entered
into Salesforce, a Saturday Home Delivery Report is run and
exported into Excel
From this list, delivery locations are entered into a Google Map
which allows for a visual aid in determining the delivery routes for
drivers
Using the Saturday report and the Google map, deliveries are
divided into routes for how many ever
volunteer drivers there are that
Saturday

20. Distribution Operations
Driver/Delivery Routes
We aim to have at least 10 volunteer drives each Saturday, as we
hope to give each drive no more than 8 deliveries
• 8 deliveries is 16 bags and that’s about the limit to
comfortably fit into a volunteer’s vehicle
The driver list contains a break down of the number of bags of
each diet the volunteer should have and provides the driver with
the name, address, and phone number of each client

21. Distribution Operations
Friday Preparation
Volunteers make up the bags for Home Delivery – the regular bags
are brown, the diabetic are white, and the heart healthy bags are
red.
•Since each client receives two bags, half are marked with
a R, D, or C
Volunteers go through the bread and place aside enough whole
grain bread for the deliveries
Following Friday’s distribution, staff checks in the pantry
coordinator to see which produce
items home Delivery can use on
Saturday (LVP “leftovers”) and these
items are labeled for the Saturday
set up crew.

22. Distribution Operations
Friday Preparation
Volunteers bring the bags up from the basement and set them up
in the lobby. All the “marked” bags are placed on one side and all
the “unmarked” bags on the other.
Volunteers bring to the front all the Home Delivery food from the
back storage area* and place on the counters. *
Hung on the main freezer in the back is a set-up list that details for
the set-up crew the number of deliveries and all the refrigerated,
frozen, and fresh items that are to be
packed and placed into the delivery
bags on Saturday morning

23. Distribution Operations
Saturday Set-Up & Delivery
Set-up begins at 9am and volunteers are asked to sign in. Any
new volunteers are given a quick overview of the necessary tasks
and paired with a “veteran” volunteer.
Often, a veteran is given the task to help manage the set-up in the
back of the pantry (the refrigerated and frozen bags)* while the
staff member remains in the front to assist with set-up
In the front, volunteers bag all of the dry goods on the counters
into all the different color bags.
Once this is completed, the back
volunteers will bring forward the
bread, milk, and cold bags.

24. Distribution Operations
Saturday Set-Up & Delivery
Once all bags are packed, they are sorted into groups according to
the driver lists. *
• For example, Driver 1 may need 3 marked and unmarked
brown bags, 2 marked and unmarked white bags, and 1
marked and unmarked red bag.
• Numbered flags are used to identify the driver number
Drivers come in around 10:15-10:30 and choose the route they
would like to take. Staff notes which list each driver takes in case
any problems arise.

25. Home Delivery Program
Issues
Currently, demand for the Home Delivery Program is much greater
than Lakeview Pantry’s ability to provide it. There are several
main factors behind this:
• Storage space for Home Delivery food (both dry and cold
items)
• Budget limitations
• Limited number of volunteers with vehicles who are able to
make deliveries

26. Questions?