Home Deliveries in Any Language

Thanks to you, our Community Food Rescue volunteer food runners, participants in Manna’s Food for Families program are receiving fresh produce and other perishable food, frozen meat and shelf stable food right to their front door. Manna started home deliveries in March, in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, for people who are at high risk. Manna participants, who get about 50 pounds of food per delivery, are thrilled. Dominique called Manna after receiving his delivery to say thank you for the box and for taking care of him.

Volunteer food runners have given us valuable feedback as we refine this home delivery process. At the same time, we are learning about how home deliveries benefit our volunteers. Food runner Deena shared, “The delivery went smoothly and introduced me to an enclave in my community I didn’t even know existed.  One of the benefits of volunteering with Manna is opening my eyes to my neighbors.  May we never return to ’normal’ when this is over; ’normal’ wasn’t working.”

Volunteers pick up food boxes at one of Manna’s two locations. At the Gaithersburg warehouse, the front desk staff assists in checking off your participants and getting boxes. In Silver Spring, staff assists on Tuesdays and Fridays, and volunteers self-serve on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursdays. Our no-contact delivery process allows for volunteers to drop food at the resident’s door, ring the bell and go. They also call participants as soon as food is delivered. Now that summer is here, we want to ensure that perishable food is taken inside quickly and stored appropriately.

Volunteers self-serve by signing in and getting boxes from cold storage at Manna’s Marketplace in Silver Spring.

To avoid missed communication we ask volunteer food runners to take these additional steps to help participants know when food will be delivered. First please call participants on your list the day prior to delivery, before 7 pm if possible. Second, call upon delivery. If language is a barrier when conveying delivery, try texting to the contact number (this will only work if the number is a cell phone). Here is the message in three languages:

Call or text participants the evening prior to delivery before 7 pm:

English: Hello! This is Manna Food Center. Your food will be delivered tomorrow. We will call or text you when it is at your door. Thank you.

Spanish: Hola! Este es Manna Food Center. Sus alimentos serán entregados mañana. Lo llamaremos o le enviaremos un mensaje de texto cuando esté en su puerta. Gracias.

Vietnamese: Xin chào! Đây là trung tâm thực phẩm Manna. Thực phẩm của quý vị sẽ được mang tới vào ngày mai. Chúng tôi sẽ gọi điện hoặc nhắn tin cho quý vị khi thực phẩm ở trước nhà của quý vị.

Call or text as soon as you have made delivery:

English: Hello! This is Manna Food Center. Your food has been delivered. Please take it inside and properly store the perishables. Thank you.

Spanish: Hola! Este es Manna Food Center. Sus alimentos están afuera. Por favor recójalos y guárdelos apropiadamente. Gracias.

Vietnamese: Xin chào! Dây là trung tâm thực phẩm Manna. Thực phẩm của quý vị đã được mang tới. Hãy mang đồ vào trong để giữ trong nhiệt độ phù hợp. Xin cảm ơn.

You can copy this text into an email, send it to yourself and then save it to a notes app on your cell phone. We hope that this messaging process will ease language issues. As always, please share any comments or suggestions when you complete the food run status in ChowMatch. Let us know if this improves communication. Your feedback helps us improve our process for you and the community we serve. Thanks for all you do!