Fiscal Year 2022-2023
Annual Report
Food Pantry:
In the fiscal year 2022-2023, AIO’s food pantry market saw a 40-percent growth in both market visits and individuals served. Due to economic challenges, significant price increases in all grocery categories, and reduction in essential social programs such as SNAP and other state and federal assistance, the need for food assistance in Knox County increased. Families and individuals who have relied on AIO for assistance occasionally were able to receive more food more frequently. Many who came to AIO once a month have begun visiting the market as often as once a week. Our collaboration with Knox County Homeless Coalition (KCHC) is also represented in our market visits. The homeless population continues to be our community’s largest challenge, and AIO has successfully provided food and other necessities. Food sources were an important focus of our operation during this past fiscal year. To meet the growing demand, and to provide an abundance of quality foods, we expanded all of our food resources, including available supplies from Good Shepherd Food Bank, our supermarket partners including Hannaford, Shaws, and Walmart, and many local grocery and convenience stores. We also developed relationships with a start-up commercial grower, and increased donation frequency from all previously established relationships. Food purchased from wholesale distributors was cut back mid-year as our food acquisition budget was quickly challenged. We met the increased need by increasing donation pick-up with our supermarket partners and developing new relationships. Community awareness also continues to increase donation drop-off, which provides a significant resource and variety to our market.
Energy Assistance:
Our energy assistance program remained essentially unchanged from the past two previous fiscal years. While we remained on budget, the $300 voucher does not offer significant assistance as fuel prices rise. Fortunately, this past winter was mild and the assistance needed was less than in the past. All qualifying applicants received assistance within our allotted budget. Some additional financial resources allotted for fuel assistance were rolled into electrical disconnection assistance, allowing us to serve additional clients during May and June. Many of the people we served during that time were new clients and became regular visitors to the pantry market. We also strengthened our working relationship with the federal program “Low Income Heating & Energy Assistance Program” (LIHEAP) administrators Penquest in hopes of securing more assistance for our clients. This will continue to be the focus of our energy assistance program in the coming year.
Weekend Meals:
Enrollment in our Weekend Meals program grew by 34 percent, a continuation of the growth we have experienced for the past two years. Our program continues to provide food for families who rely on school lunches for children during the school year but are challenged for lunches during the weekends. This year, we reached an agreement with Miller School in Waldoboro, outside of our regular service area, to continue to provide school children and families in Waldoboro with weekend meals for the fiscal year 2023-2024. Our collaboration with the Waldoboro food pantry will provide financial reimbursement for food provided to Miller School, and we will continue to pack and deliver to the school. During fiscal year 2022-2023, we provided over 16,500 weekend meal packages that included two breakfasts, two lunches, snacks, beverages, fruit (when available), and a single dinner item. We performed a survey of participating families at the end of the school year to provide feedback on program performance. We learned that most families were satisfied with the provided food, however, most felt they would prefer fresh, healthier food and would rather receive more breakfast and lunch items and would rather not receive dinner items. Menu adjustments for the coming fiscal year have been planned based on survey responses. This program continues to be a volunteer favorite, with reliable volunteer teams and efficient program execution.
Diaper Program:
The 2022-2023 fiscal year was our first full year of program delivery. The program continues to gain popularity, with nearly 75 families served each week, as well as sharing diaper supplies with KCHC clients. Program operations were modified twice during the year. Diapers had been kept separate from the market, requiring volunteers to retrieve diaper packages by size at the request of visiting clients. In an attempt to streamline the program, diapers were placed in the market, and visiting clients were asked to take one package per diapered child per visit. This was not successful as diapers were often taken by pantry market shoppers who had not enrolled in the diaper program, and some families who were enrolled did not follow limit instructions. As a result, we returned to the previous “by request” model. The result of these program modifications is reflected in the inconsistency in the program data report, showing 54 percent growth in program enrollment and 200 percent growth in diapers distributed. In fiscal year 2022-2023, we established a collaboration with the Rockland Police Department, which now picks up diapers at all diaper collection locations for delivery to AIO. This collaboration results in increased Diaper Program awareness as well as AIO community awareness. Partnering with Rockland Hannaford, the police department hosted a successful diaper collection drive during the spring 0f 2023, and plans for additional diaper drives for next year are in the works.
Budget:
AIO exceeded our 2022-2023 annual budget in both revenue and expenses. Without utilizing reserves, we expanded from a $680,000 projected budget to $990,000 actual expense, and increased revenue to $997,000. Our administration-to-program ratio remains 77 percent program to 23 percent administration, within the nonprofit best practices outline. The ability to expand program services to meet the food assistance need by raising additional funds to do so is a reflection of the community in which we operate and trust AIO has established within our community. AIO remains financially secure and positioned for continued success.
Outlook:
After two years of significant growth and expansion of all programs, I believe we have successfully met the challenge of overcoming the stigma and embarrassment typically associated with the food pantry experience. With increased accessibility, a personal choice shopping model, added programs, and the successful launch of a state-of-the-art facility, rapid growth was projected. Those projections have been exceeded in ways that AIO staff, board members, volunteers, and all community members should be proud of. I believe we have reached a sustainable program delivery level where annual 20 to 25-percent growth should be projected. While continuing to support and advance the concept of a local food network, we should always seek additional ways to address food insecurity and lead the way in creative food-sharing solutions. There is tremendous opportunity ahead of us, and AIO is well-positioned for all future challenges.