Paul Beffa
Organizational Field Experience Overview and Goals Paper
The Food Bank of Central Missouri
Supervisor: Melanie Lake

A. Vision, Mission, and Goals of the Organization and the Population They Serve

While there are many organizations out there that need help, I have decided to volunteer my time and effort to the hard working and quite generous organization of The Food Bank of Columbia Missouri. The Food bank has been serving central Missouri since 1981, and has grown exponentially ever since due to the help of the strong community in which The Food Bank is embedded. In 1981 The Food Bank started by distributing 18,000 pounds of food, and in 2012 has grown to distributing a staggering 28 million pounds of food. In Central Missouri, The Food Bank is serving 32 counties which contains about 121,000 people living at or below the poverty line. The working poor make up more than 70% of the people that are receiving food assistance, with the elderly being the fastest growing poverty population due to fixed income and rising medical bills.
The Food Bank helps thousands of people throughout Central Missouri, but this is done indirectly through partner agencies. These agencies are the actual places where the poor and hungry receive the food they so desperately need in their lives to ease at least one of their many burdens. The reason why the food bank is able to serve so many people is because of their large warehouse. The Food Bank is able to purchase food at wholesale and bulk prices, making everything more affordable. The Food Bank also receives donations from a wide variety of sources, including local producers, growers, and food drives. Although The Food Bank is an independent organization, it still helps government programs, like CSFP for elderly, and SFSP for children.
The Food Bank has a very simple but meaningful mission statement, which is “Sharing Food. Bringing Hope.” This short mission not only, embodies who they are and what they do, but also The Food Bank strives to show the people that they serve that there are people out there that care about them and that things will get better. I truly believe that just by the, what may seem minuscule, gift of food, these people are given something much deeper. That deeper feeling is not only hope, but the actual sense of belonging to the community they are a part. A meal can not only give the people the nourishment they need, but also warm the person’s heart.
B. The Project and My Role

My project involves helping the wonderful people at The Food Bank of Central Missouri. I have been helping on a weekly basis for the past month every Thursday night from 6 to 8:30 P.M. I have also volunteered here in the past with the service fraternity I am currently apart of, so I was already familiar with my surrounds going into this project. Having already experienced this type of work before, allowed me to jump right into the work that needed to be done from day one, and let me tell you they put you to work right away. The main job at The Food Bank is to package up food into individual bags, and then into larger boxes. This may seem like an easy task, but the volume at which this is done is incredible. For example just last week, our duty was to package chicken chunks. By the end of the night we filled almost 10 pallets of boxes, all stacked 5 boxes high and 4 by 4.
Almost every Thursday The Food Bank has some type of organization, or group of people volunteering to help with all of these tasks. Whether it be the boy scouts, girl scouts, fraternities, sororities, student organizations, or even some elderly groups from the community, they all come out and help get these tasks done. From our BA 3500 class of service learning students, there are about four of us, which is the perfect amount to assign special duties to. The four of us usually get the task of setting up supplies, delivering food to the tables, or packaging the food into the boxes and loading them onto the pallet. This type of division of labor allows the work to get done in a timely and efficient manner. Working together as a well-oiled machine makes the work and the night go much more smoothly and much more quickly.
There are a variety of different meals that we prepare for the many agencies that The Food Bank serves. Some of the main programs that we package and prepare meals for are; Buddy Packs, Central Pantry, Summer Food 4 Kids, and Mobile Pantry. Buddy Packs is a much needed program that helps hungry elementary students in 28 of the 32 counties that The Food Bank serves. During the week these poor hungry kids are able to receive breakfast and lunch from their schools, but what about the weekends when the kids aren’t in school? These Buddy packs help solve some of that problem, by putting healthy and nutritious foods into their backpacks to take home for the weekend. During the 2013-2014 school year more than 6,000 Buddy Packs were distributed weekly. The Central Pantry is a service of The Food Bank. With its large facility, they are able to distribute food to about 13,000 people a month. Summer Food 4 Kids is similar to the Buddy Pack program, except it provides food for the kids during the summer months while school is not in session. Summer Food 4 Kids provides lunches to kids at designated locations and are comprised of the same nutritious meals they would receive during the school year. Finally, the Mobile Pantry provide a wonderful food distribution service to the areas that do not have access to any food supply buildings. Large trucks filled with food, stops in these areas and distributes the food to these families in need. In 2012 alone the Mobile Pantry distributed almost 700,000 pounds of food. There are many other organizations in which The Food Bank provides help to, but these are the four main programs that are the primary focus of The Food Bank.
When my shift rolls around at 6 o’clock, the process has already begun. I have to jump in and take the job of whomever is leaving for the night. Every night provides a different challenge, with all the different foods that need to be packaged. So far during this project I have helped package chicken, cereal, hotdogs, Buddy Packs, and even whole chickens. Each food requires a certain packaging and cleanup process. By about 8 o’clock, the volunteers from the various organizations clean up their tables and head home. It is then our job to clean up the rest of the place, and put the food back in its correct place for pick up from The Food Banks partner agencies. This task includes sweeping and mopping the floors, making sure all items used in the packaging process are cleaned and ready for use next time, and recycling of any plastic or cardboard waste that is produced from the work. These important sanitation and preparation jobs take up the last half hour of our night, before we are allowed to head home.
C. Exploring Professional Competencies and Creating My Goals

From this project I hope to gain a better understanding of how to lead a team successfully, and how to better motivate my team so that they not only enjoy the work that they are doing, but also so that they can get the job done on time and in a professional manner. There are three main competencies that I would like to work on throughout my time at The Food Bank of Central Missouri. The first would be within the inspiring other category, in which I would like to communicate effectively. The second competency I would like to grow in would be under the emotional and social skills category, in which I would like to establish relationships with the people I am working with. The last competency I would enjoy working on during my time would be under the final category of individual performance, in which I would like to accomplish better teamwork skills.
In order to more effectively grow in the professional competency of communication, I need to work on expressing my thoughts in a manner that everyone is able to understand. When asking for help with a certain task at The Food Bank, I should explain fully what I need help with instead of just asking for help. This will result in getting the job done faster, without having to go back and repeat steps that we might have missed. The next competency of social skills will build on the first competency of communication that I would like to work on during this project. Improving my social skills will help my time at The Food Bank become more enjoyable, and hopefully make the time move faster. Also by working on my social skills I will be able to find out other peoples strengths and weaknesses. Figuring out others strengths and weakness will allow me to work more efficiently with the other volunteers. Finally building my teamwork skills falls right into place with my other two competencies that I am trying to improve. By becoming a better team player I will hopefully build stronger relationships with my fellow volunteers. The better I know my team the more fun and enjoyment we will be able to get out of our tasks.
Through working on these competencies and growing in the ones that I consider to already be a strong suit for me, I will be able to fit in quite well in whatever professional career I decide to pursue. Not only will I be able to effectively communicate with my boss and fellow employees, but I will also be able to build relationships outside the office. This will lead to enjoyment of the work I will be doing, and hopefully and long and successful career. Through doing all of this service for others, it makes me realize that whatever career I do decide to take, I want that companies values to be focused on the community and the betterment of the people less fortunate than us. I hope to continue in my growth in service for others, and in my professional relationships.