The Mitzvah Food Project: More Choice Spells Growth for Northeast Philly Pantry

Twice a week, Eva Khaitman travels from her home in Northeast Philadelphia to volunteer at the Choice Food Program, a new initiative being piloted by the Mitzvah Food Project, a five-pantry program of Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

Khaitman, a tech-savvy 76-year-old Russian who describes herself as young at heart, is tasked with guiding clients on four touch-screen monitors that allow them to select food from a bountiful pantry.

“Every good merchant needs to know the merchandise,” said Khaitman, who makes practical and healthful suggestions. She is also a client, one of more than 600 individuals who benefit from the program each month.

“I like the program because it has a big variation of fruits, vegetables and meats,” she said. “They give a lot of food, and I think it’s helpful for a big family.” Volunteers like Khaitman make the program run smoothly, helping clients place orders and filling them from the onsite pantry.

The Choice Food Program, which began in June, is different from traditional food programs. Instead of handing out prepackaged meals filled with shelf-stable items, food choice is the goal. Clients have the opportunity to select what they want to eat, with an emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables.

Each item in the pantry is given a virtual point value, based on USDA guidelines and choosemyplate.gov, a nutritional guide from the USDA and the Department of Agriculture. A pound of carrots, for example, is one point. Cookies are three.

“The system is based on nutrition,” said Sabina Dopiro, the Choice Food Program’s site manager. Each registered client gets a “credit card” linked to points that are allotted based on family size. A single person gets 30 points per month; a family of seven with two teenagers receives 145. There are no income restrictions, and a part-time social worker is on-hand to help qualifying clients apply for food assistance.

“The program allows clients to make their own choices, it eliminates food waste, provides more food, and it respects the dignity of those in need,” Dopiro said. Much like a grocer, she orders what’s popular. “Fifty percent of our clients are Russian, so I know they like cabbage,” she explained. “American clients like sweet potatoes, or corn during the summertime.”

Since the choice model was implemented, coupled with expanded hours, 68 percent more clients utilized the program. The program’s location inside Klein Jewish Community Center, a thriving community hub offering a range of services, has helped boost that number.

But the big bump in clients and the sheer amount of food distributed each month — from roughly 13 pounds to 19 per person — is not without a significant cost increase. The program purchases much of its food from suppliers such as SHARE Food Program, Philabundance and Common Market. Its expenses have nearly tripled.

Choice Food’s annual budget of $500,000 will be privately funded for a three-year period, but after that the program might explore other avenues. “We have been looking at Philabundance’s Fare & Square, a nonprofit grocery store model, to see if it’s scalable,” said Brian Gralnick, who directs the Center for Social Responsibility at Jewish Federation.

And while the Choice Food Program currently licenses its touch-screen technology from St. John’s Bread and Life, a hunger-relief group in Brooklyn, NY, it wants to develop a system more in-tune with its model.

In the future, kiosks linked to food pantries could be set up in housing complexes and community centers, making it simple for seniors and other homebound clients to order exactly what they want. “Clients like [the program] because it’s a form of choice. They like and deserve to choose the foods they want,” Gralnick said.

Khaitman, the client-turned-volunteer, added: “I lived a very hard life in Russia, and I’m always amazed at the generosity of American people.”

The Choice Food Program is in need of volunteers. To learn more, contact Sabina Dopiro, Choice Food Program Site Manager, at 215-832-0625 or sdopiro@jfgp.org.

Image via  Mitzvah Food Project