Simplify The Shelf-to-Table Process
They say it takes a village to raise a child, but for the village of Birchwood that just isn’t enough. This small town in Wisconsin is also providing solutions to an oftentimes invisible problem: food insecurity. According to the USDA, food insecurity is the “lack of access, at times, to have enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members and limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods.” Food insecurity doesn’t just affect those living below the poverty line—any walk of life can experience it. Whether it’s from an unexpected hospital bill, a gap in a paycheck deposit or a sudden car repair, the stress of not knowing where the next meal is coming from can be devastating.
Originally founded by Bess Knapmiller and Fred Vreeland, the Birchwood Area Food Pantry teamed up with the local Lions Club in 1975 to distribute food on holidays. The pantry was held in the Birchwood United Methodist church with most of the supplies coming from area churches, individual community members and other local organizations. They outgrew their space and moved into the Birchwood Senior Center. Finding that they still had a need for more room, the Birchwood Area Food Pantry relocated to its current building on Main Street—easily accessible to its target population of those who live within a 20 mile radius of Birchwood. In 2010, the pantry became a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit charitable corporation. Funded solely on donations, their philosophy is simple: “To realize and recognize the human dignity of each individual; and to recognize that individuals, community members, religious organizations, and businesses want to and will participate by helping others in our community if they are aware of the need; and to honor each act of giving.”
On the first and third Monday and Saturday of each month, the Birchwood Area Food Pantry opens its doors. The pantry welcomes everyone and there are no income requirements. Most importantly though, there are no judgments. When asked what the food pantry wanted to accomplish, Bonnie Johnson, food procurement officer, simply says, “We just want to feed people.” Senior citizens, the crux of the Birchwood Area Food Pantry, are at the highest risk for food insecurity. According to Feed My People food bank in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 67 percent of people utilizing food pantries in Wisconsin are forced to choose between food and medical care.
With baby boomers peaking in the next 10 years, the growing number of senior citizens on fixed incomes with health issues could signify an even greater need for organizations like the Birchwood Area Food Pantry.
Individuals at the Birchwood Area Food Pantry used to walk up and down the aisles with a grocery cart, pick out their food and have to physically unload the cart onto a tabletop scale. They would then load the cart back up to take home. This was often a struggle for senior citizens or individuals with medical issues who could not physically lift all of the food they needed. The process was cumbersome and inefficient. Now, with Rice Lake’s RoughDeck floor scale, individuals can simply roll the cart onto the floor scale, have the weight of the cart tared, the food weight recorded and they’re out the door. Bonnie says that the RoughDeck floor scale has been a “dream come true.” Built for repeatable weighing, RoughDeck floor scales are the strongest, most accurate floor scales available. A superior structural design ensures that deck deflection is minimized and weighments remain accurate over a long period of time. In an environment like a busy food pantry, a reliable and accurate floor scale is essential—not only for the people using the food pantry but also the food pantry itself that needs to easily track and record incoming and outgoing food.
