Do you have any dietary needs or concerns? Are there specific food items that would be helpful to you? Are you satisfied with the quality and quantity of the food you receive? Are you treated with respect? Are the location and the date/time convenient? And how likely are you to recommend our services to a friend or family member who needs food?

To improve current offerings, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank is turning to its guests to learn more about how we can better meet their needs. The questions posed here are just some of the survey questions we are asking guests. Their feedback is crucial to us, not just to know how we are doing, but, more importantly, how we might improve.

Amplifying the voices of our guests

On a recent, crisp October morning, Food Bank team members visited the Mobile Food Pantry in Reva (near Culpeper), where well over 100 guests completed the survey, and close to 300 households received free groceries.

How we work

Every day, we partner with more than 400 organizations that help us distribute food to people who are food insecure, across 25 counties and eight cities in central and western Virginia. Our partners include food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters, and we operate programs like the Mobile Food Pantry, Good Food School Markets, the Family BackPack program, and more.

Guest surveys were launched at our program sites.

See an overview of our programs

“The survey is one piece in how we determine how to move forward with programs operated by the Food Bank,” Director of Programs Zach Nissen said. “We feel it’s important to learn from the people we serve if, and how, we can improve. Giving our guests a voice in that decision-making process can have a profound effect on their dignity as well as our insight. I’m very grateful that so many guests have already been so generous with their time.”

This survey is strategic

Asking guests to actively participate in plotting a course for the future of the Food Bank’s work is not a coincidence. In the recently adopted strategic plan, (learn more about our new strategic direction here) our neighbors and guests are at the center of everything we do. At a time when we are distributing more food than ever, and serving more guests than before the pandemic, their feedback has never been more important.

And it makes sense: Who best to tell us how we’re doing than the people we serve?

Seeking feedback

Visitors to six of the Mobile Food Pantry sites were the first asked to provide their feedback. In the coming weeks and months, the plan is to visit additional program sites. And, in due time, program partners and volunteers will also be asked to provide their feedback. Those surveys are currently being designed.

When all that feedback is compiled, the Food Bank will have a better understanding of the effectiveness of its programs.