First name Last name
Molly Tenenbaum
English 101
10 August, 2014
Improved Donation Quality Needed for the XYZ Food Bank
To the food bank manager,
I have worked at the neighborhood food bank for a couple of years now. Every week we serve the members of our community who pass through our doors. These are people whom we have come to know well, and we often greet each other with a warm exchange. It is always our intention to provide our neighbors with the best possible food that we can. With the dedication of our regular volunteers, we typically accomplish our goal of providing quality service. However, this service is becoming increasingly difficult to provide. While sorting our donations, we all too often come across food that we ourselves would not want to eat, to say nothing about giving it to a family. Our limited storage space is constantly overcrowded with an influx of defective canned and perishable goods, as are our dumpsters. Storing this extra, substandard food is hard on our refrigeration and freezer equipment, the constant repairs of which tax our limited budget and time. I understand that about a month ago both shift supervisors discussed these matters with you, yet It seems that every week we must bring these same issues to the attention of our donors, each week seeing little to no results. With the welfare of our patrons in mind, while respecting the chain of command, I would like to make some suggestions to you that I hope will provide more revenue for the food bank with less waste, and serve as solutions to some of the most common challenges that we as a food bank face.
Time and time again, despite our repeated complaints, the major grocery markets provide us with vegetables that are bruised, broken, slimy or otherwise not fit to serve to our clients. In the summer, it is often the case that the putrid vegetables attract hordes of fruit flies which swarm about the food bank. These vegetables tend to go straight into the compost which is a huge waste. Since we apparently cannot get anybody with some authority to talk some sense to these grocery stores, I propose that we make an alcoholic beverage out of all the produce deemed unfit for consumption. We could mix the tomatoes, broccoli, strawberries and all the other plant rejects into an economically viable alcoholic cocktail. Since the ingredients are cheap enough, we could afford to pass the savings on to our buyers. If we marketed this swill under a catchy name, like say “Desperate Times,” I’m sure it would be enough of a hit to at least generate funds for another walk-in freezer to for storing all our extra bread.
On the topic of the bread, just too much of it goes bad due to lack of storage. Let’s face it, we tend to get the food products that have gone past the date where the grocery stores can still sell them, so the stores end up donating those products to us. Despite our repeated complaints, they continue to donate bread products that have already spoiled. Just the other week we had to throw out almost half of our bread donations from one of our top donors. I don’t want to mention which store it was, but bread of that quality didn’t seem to be a very safe way to feed our clients. The fact is that even when a large portion of the bread is bad, we always have a ton of edible bread left to store and not a whole lot of space to store it. Rather than wasting money on a whole new freezer that we desperately need, I have an idea that I hope will kill two birds with one stone, or more specifically, chickens.
Instead of using up a lot of warehouse space with bread that nobody has a use for, why not make a use for it by promoting this surplus as free chicken feed. It’s my understanding that residents of Seattle are allowed to raise a number of chickens in their own yard. Meat products tend to be high on the list of desired foods for our patrons, and eggs even more so. I know that I have seen a few chickens running around Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood, and a few other neighborhoods as well. I suppose if our patrons don’t want to keep their own chickens, we could always make room for such critters in the grassy lot out behind the food bank. This would be a convenient source of meat and eggs. This strategy could save us valuable time that might otherwise be wasted in discussing the moldy bread problem with our donators.
In general, much of the meat donated to us from the super markets is unusable. It is food bank policy that if the plastic wrap covering a package of meat is broken even in the slightest way that we must throw out that package of meat. Since a large percentage of the meat we receive from the grocery stores comes with the plastic already compromised, by the end of the week we end up with the equivalent of an elephant in perfectly good meat that must go to waste. I suppose one way to cut down on the problem would be to raise the awareness with our donor stores that we cannot accept damaged goods, though it seems to me that our volunteers have attempted this many times and yet the problem persists. Since we can’t turn the rejects for our meat donations into booze or feed chickens with it, why not recycle meat into more meat by feeding pigs with it. I don’t know what the Seattle city policy is on keeping pigs, but I know from experience that a pig will eat just about anything. Maybe if we were to shine as an example for the community we serve by keeping a pig of our own in the grassy lot behind the food bank, we could show our neighbors a better way of procuring meat than actually expecting our donated meat to be unmolested.
Along with perishables, we do receive a good deal of canned goods, and many of these cans go to waste as well. As we do our best to ensure that all of the food that we give out to the public is fit for consumption, all foods are subject to inspection. The thing with the canned goods is, if a can is dented anywhere near it’s sealed ends, or has a large dent anywhere, we are supposed to throw it out. It is too often the case that up to thirty percent of the canned goods that we receive as a donation from a grocery store can be damaged to the point where they must be thrown out. While some of these defects can be marginal, there are cases where a can is completely crushed, and yet instead of getting thrown out at the store, it gets donated to us. I’m guessing that the stores must appreciate how much we help to lower their trash bill. Yet, could this mountain of unacceptable cans amount to at least lump of profit? I’m guessing that the contents of the cans could also be fed to our pig, while the cans themselves could be worth a few bucks.
I’m guessing from reading this letter that you might be wondering if we might improve the quality of our donations by simply heightening the awareness of the employees at the stores from which we receive our donations. Perhaps if they understood more clearly the standard of products that the food bank can and cannot accept, we would see an improvement in the quality of the donations. I agree that if this approach would work that this would be a very good idea. However, I know that many of our volunteers have repeatedly complained to the supervisors of these markets regarding the issues that I have described to you. We have even provided these supervisors with a list of what is acceptable for our needs and what is not, and we still have seen no results. Maybe it is time for someone at the food bank with more authority to have a chat with these stores.
The quality of our donations directly impacts all other operations under our roof, and the quality of life under many other roofs as well. Expecting us to accept garbage with our donations is ridiculous. We at the food bank are working hard to provide the best possible food products for our patrons, and are actively brainstorming ideas to cut down on waste and operate within our limited space, resources and budget. Historically the dedicated volunteers have met with limited success in improving the quality of the food we receive from the major grocery stores, whose donation practices are about as sensible as making liquor from putrid vegetables or feeding rotten food to animals. Whether you bring the issue up your chain of command, or investigate the problem yourself, we would appreciate a realistic solution to this wasteful situation.
Sincerely,
First name Last name
Volunteer, XYZ food bank