During the month of September we hosted three “Lunch with Dave” events with our Partner Agencies to give them an overview of the Vision 2020 Strategic Plan, and other happenings within the Food Bank. Fifty agency staff and volunteers attended. Our agencies tell us they always enjoy the opportunity to have face to face time with Dave.
About three years ago, when we first moved to the new building, we had2016 a “Lunch with Dave” to discuss the new building: sort of a compare and contrast between the Mercy and Brengle facilities. The agencies that attended those meetings still talk about them.
Dave gave a “Mission Moment” in each lunch, provoking a lot of conversation amongst the agencies. Dave discussed how we have provided 50 million meals, and that if you put 50 million plates side by side it would reach around the world! The agencies were excited to know that they have had a hand in distributing that amount of food to the community.
Another great conversation began by explaining to the agencies where all the food comes from that they order from us and distribute to the clients they serve. Dave had a pie chart drawn, and the visual really shocked a few of the agencies.
One of the last conversations in all the lunches was regarding the “The Gap”. Dave had a chart drawn which represented the amount of food we are currently providing with our agencies and through all our other services. Even with all the different ways food is being distributed to clients in need, we still have a 100,000,000 meal gap. Dave shared that we hope to start to fill the gap and by 2020 would like to provide 85 million meals a year!
I believe having lunches like this really helps the agencies to get excited about the work they are doing, and see how we are all doing this work together!