New points system at PF Food Bank allows client choices
<p>Jane Smith of Post Falls, who has been going to the Post Falls Food Bank for more than five years, has her food checked out by food bank volunteer Melissa Busby on Wednesday. The food bank, located at 415 E. 3rd Ave. in Post Falls, established in April a market-style approach to giving food to people, where they have a choice as to what they receive.</p>
<p>Post Falls Food Bank volunteers Elder Hunter, left, and Elder Jefferies sort donated food items on Wednesday at the bank's 415 E 3rd Ave. location. Now that the bank is adapting a market-style approach, it needs roughly double the number of volunteers to keep it running efficiently.</p>
POST FALLS — Going to the Post Falls Food Bank is now just like picking up groceries at the mom-and-pop corner market.
The nonprofit has changed the way its clients receive food, going from pre-filled shopping baskets to a market-style point system in which folks make food choices and go through a checkout counter before leaving.
"It gives them more dignity and control," said Leslie Orth, the food bank's executive director. "It also gives them critical thinking skills that some haven't had the chance to exercise."
To celebrate the change to the market system, an open house will be held at the food bank at 415 E. Third Ave. today from 5 to 7 p.m. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 5:30 and food will be served.
Orth said the new system has been popular. She said assurance came when she asked a client how she likes it.
"She said, 'This is the first time I ever came to the food bank and didn't feel bad about being poor,'" Orth said. "There is a dignity that they receive when they come in and it feels like a mom-and-pop farmers market."
The food bank serves between 75 and 100 families per day.
Orth said the previous way food was picked up also didn't take into account people's special dietary needs.
Under the points system in the market, clients receive 100 points per month for the head of the household and an additional 20 points for every other person. Points can't be rolled over from month to month.
"It's their responsibility to budget their points," Orth said. "We help supplement their budget and are not their whole food budget for the month."
Clients grab a shopping cart as if they are at a grocery store and go through the aisles. Items are marked with how many points they are.
No points are required for produce and some other items.
"People load up on the good stuff like fruits and veggies, which is what we want," she said. "If they were to go to a store, they'd more than likely pass on the produce and go to the pasta. Now we give them that option of improving their diet."
Orth said the new system has generated a need for more volunteers, however.
"We have five or six volunteers a day and we need double that," she said.
Orth said two volunteers are needed at the checkout counter as such positions didn't exist before. The market also needs to be stocked about every hour.
The market also offers samples of food such as stew made with products in the market, so clients can decide if they want to try the recipe at home.
"We now have a little Costco in us," Orth said. "We're expanding the nutritional world."
Orth said the food bank's board and previous director Sherry Wallis had planned on the market when she came on board in November.
Nicol Barnes, food bank program manager at Community Action Partnership in Coeur d'Alene, said weekly clients there pick up items themselves like a market, but it's on an honor system and not a points system. She said in the two months that she has been on board, she hasn't heard any proposals to change to a point system.