Extra Table FEEDS

Amidst covid, Sysco, was unable to continue sourcing and delivering food for our then 22 food pantry partners across Mississippi, the hungriest and most obese state in the nation. We pivoted and partnered with a small start-up food procurement company (CHOW). The 2-person company had a goal of creating a logistics division using us, Extra Table, as a test site. With new software platforms, AI, and CHOW’s knowledge of the industry, we were able to purchase directly from food manufacturers eliminating the 3rd party cost, use logistics, donor, and inventory software to warehouse and track our food distribution and maintain informed and automated communication with donors. These steps alleviated the need for several key staffing positions. We saved 22-36% per food item in our first test runs. We continue to see these trends as we grow today. In 2023, we serve 62 food pantry partners monthly where we deliver quality, healthy food to their doorsteps for free; that’s ingenuity and growth! CHOW had a profitable logistics company of its own Q2 and added 4 staff. Local economic developers found an out-of-date warehouse in an area of blight where a donation letter would serve for rent. In the time freed up by technology efficiency, we invented a one-pot bag meal combining locally grown rice, beans, spices, and the vitamins that food-insecure Mississippians are missing in their diet. 108 people can bag 10,000 meals in 55 minutes at $.44 cents per meal. Water is the only ingredient needed.

Extra Table currently uses the following software platforms – Monday, Twilio, Routific, Network for Good, LinkTree, Ticket Sign Up, Later, and OpenAI. All but two of these platforms are free and therefore not cost-prohibitive to a nonprofit’s bottom line. It is important to note here – we are not scientists or brilliant techy developers. We are ordinary people working with a passion and very limited resources – like most small business owners and entrepreneurs. By implementing several software platforms that are available to the general public, we have been able to revolutionize our work diminishing food insecurity in the hungriest and most obese state in the nation. Other small nonprofit operations with meaningful missions and small businesses can experience the same growth and development with the given tools and when presented with the opportunity to learn.

These platforms save Extra Table time and money through the reduction of errors and staff positions while increasing output, offer professional presentations, collaborative work sites for local or remote employees, and the ability to share our story far past the four corners of our state. These platforms take Extra Table, the little non-profit that could, to the next level with ease. Again, the time saved here could be and was used to develop a food boxing initiative, educational programming, and recipes as well as a one-pot wonder meal of red beans and rice with added vitamins.

Our core mission is different as well – we do not participate in canned food drives. While meals matter, dollars make the difference. Extra Table fundraises to purchase food in bulk and at below wholesale prices that we warehouse and then deliver monthly to food pantries and soup kitchens across the state of Mississippi monthly for free. 60% of what is collected in a canned food drive goes into the garbage research shows. With almost 400 food pantries in the state and 3 Feeding American Food banks, we are the only one that works in a way where our mission is healthy food, and purchasing decisions are based on the food needs of our pantry partners express. Extra Table is currently in the process of purchasing reusable paper and biodegradable plastic bags in order to reduce landfill trash from bags and boxes that are filled weekly at pantries with donated food then quickly discarded. This environmentally friendly donation will not only positively impact our plant but also remove this reoccurring expense for the small and majority rural, food pantries that we provide food to monthly.

It must be noted that our logistics software also calculates truck weight, routes the most efficient path to our pantry partners and uses a texting feature to notify pantry #2 that our truck is on the way once the delivery at Pantry #1 is complete through GPS in efforts to communicate expected arrival times and maximize volunteer availability.

Our solution serves those low-income and food insecure in Mississippi. There are new faces at the pantry due to inflation, the working poor. Emergency food boxes help them make ends meet. We do not track demographics as our focus is not color or kind but the mouth that needs feeding. Mississippi is the most food-insecure state in the nation, the most obese, has 4 of the 10 hungriest counties, and with 1 in 4 children food insecure in a state with 74% free and reduced lunches in public schools. Food is essential and we have to continue serving and grow to do more. The rural nature of our state and the lack of public transportation is a factor that prohibits people from getting to the food pantries. We have whole counties still without grocery stores so even if you can afford it or have a EBT card, you don’t have a ride to the store.

  We provide recipes with directions that are mindful of reading levels, cultural norms, and cooking skills. We partner with financial institutions for financial education. Research shows education skyrockets when families sit together to eat a meal hence we have put such emphasis on our red beans and rice One Pot Wonder meal that will offer a vitamin-packed delicious meal that is easy and quick to prepare so a family can sit together and eat. We have certain pantries that focus specifically on certain cultural and ethnic demographics, and we work to get those pantries items that are specific to their diets (ex. Masa flour). We use our donor management software to send our surveys to our food pantry partners to get feedback in real time and we are always constantly evaluating where we are, our process, and how we can be better and do more.

The Challenge or specific problem that Extra Table is most aligned with is GROWTH standpoint. We are entering our 15th year and have experienced the most growth, financially and by footprint, in the last 5 years of our work. The problem is that we are the hungriest, poorest and most obese state in the nation and we know with proper diets we can only improve education, employment, and break the cycle for those living below the poverty line. Food is a basic human right and no one should go hungry in one of the richest countries in the world. We know that by putting goals in place annually, meeting and exceeding those goals we can decrease access to food and those that are food insecure in our state each year. We have an established product and business model and are ready for future growth. We have the track record but time and continued dedication will help us get there.

We believe we can have great impact and make great change as the most efficient and effective feeding program in the state of Mississippi. Our methods are smart and simple. 

WHO: We have a target population that struggles with a variety of socioeconomic hardships and we take our program of work, what we believe to be the best solution to fighting food insecurity straight to those in need in a way that is respectful and accepted. 

OUR ACTIVITIES: The way in which we network, fundraise, purchase and deliver food are all unique to us. We have researched other nonprofits in and outside the food realm in order to best evaluate our practices and outcomes so that the measurable impact of those fed goes up and negative health indicators decrease (diabetes, heart disease, obesity). 

OUTPUTS: We know hard facts like if a family sits around a dinner table opportunity for education increases. We know if we can occupy this realm with quality food, and financial education, and partner with groups that offer other wrap-around services at the pantry then we can count on significant positive and upward-swinging outcomes. 

SHORT TERM GOALS - Our short-term goals are to get more quality food to those hungry in our state by the current measures and means we have in place. 

LONG TERM GOALS- Our long-term goals are stocking pantries with food, teaching cooking demonstrations, taking our red beans and rice program, expanding it, and creating a mini mobile factory where we can employee people to help make these meals onsite at food pantries. We would like to eventually endow our administrative funds so that burden goes away and we can solely focus on our mission. 

Extra Table currently provides food for free monthly to 62 nonprofit small feeding progams/businesses each month, with the goal to add 5 more pantries and increase the donation amount of food delivered, and 5 year goal is that we have multiple food pantries in every county in our state receiving a much larger monthly donation of food. With 82 counties, we would like to have 2-3 pantries we support per-county so that travel time and access are fairly reasonable and they are able to serve more people due to our increased food donation annually. With 670,000 food-insecure Mississippi, this is the number we want to see drop over time.

We have for-profit small business partners- Chow Purchasing and Logistics, a pallet recycling company, a pest control company, a company that owns our warehouse, an insurance company, a cpa firm, a local attorney, and lots of farmers most of whom give us special pricing in efforts to support our feeding program.

Our goal is to serve quality healthy food to those low-income and food insecure across the state of Mississippi through our food pantry partners. We serve all ages and all populations putting an emphasis on Collegiate Hunger, establishing pantries on campuses. Food pantries, community boards, purchasing team, and donors with a goal of remaining efficient are factors that drive decisions and organizational strategy. Food pantries influence the type and amount of food we distribute. Community boards are the boots-on-the-ground volunteers, donors, and community leaders. We created an event- March of the Mayors – each city is assigned a food item to collect for 4 week, Mayors promote collection telling our story on all their social channels, we gather as a region to pack food boxes, and food pantries pick up the food. This event is magical boxes from storytelling, fundraising to volunteerism, to added food at the pantries! Truly 5 stars!

TRANSPARENCY, PASSION, EFFICIENCY – We are transparent; people like that. They see and appreciate our passion and tireless, determined drive to do more and offer the best food. Partners like knowing that every penny of their donation is put to work feeding families, that we have a team that is purchasing quality food direct from factories all over the country to get the best pricing and that we privately raise funds to cover administrative fees so that our focus is on raising funds for what matters – food. You can always hear me saying our food offers dignity, respect, hope for a better tomorrow. Our food is quality, offers variety and flavor while having nice labels. Our food brings people up and doesn’t look like a government handout. Small business partners are blow away by our structure, ability to do a lot with a little, and our willingness to hustle.

We have just written a strategic plan and are in the process of writing an operation plan. What is a strategic plan without an operational plan to get you to the goals? This working plan is very important in our day-to-day decisions and goals but critically important in our long-term movement. 

This current year we have expanded by 5 food pantries and upped the dollar amount we are sending our pantries each month. We are focused on building our boards' diversity, and securing more reoccurring gifts so we have more control and more insight into our purchasing needs and abilities. We are determined to fully launch our red beans and rice one pot wonder program as well as programs like Youth Ambassadors. 

Our long-term goals show us with multiple food pantries in each county in Mississippi with money and resources set for a sustainable future. We also want to have a program of best practices to share with other states as to how we are taking the most food-insecure state in the nation and making concrete changes. 

First, I had a professor in graduate school that left the next year to teach at MIT. The way that man opened up our thought processes was incredible. He made me truly believe that through science, asking questions and great partnerships we could conquer just about any barrier set before us. He set me up, personally, to never accept what was in front of me and to challenge accepted patterns of thought in order to improve the world around me. Anijo Mathew had one of the biggest impacts on my life. Second, its MIT. You guys made the bar that sets the standard. MIT, to me, is the most exceptional group of visionaries. To get to tell you our story and ask for insight would be incredible. The Truist Foundation Inspire Awards would give us funding and the ability to network with MIT in order to move the marker on food and the efficiency of feeding even further for Mississippians.

We would love to hear your thoughts as to how we could work smarter, include more technology and AI into our daily practices, strengthen our ability to tell our impact story through better methods of data collection, and look at how you compel people to invest in your ideas in order to build and make great progress that changes outcomes, culture, and lives of those low-income people we serve. After all, they are our neighbors - Extra Table is a program that fights hunger differently and at its core, we are just neighbors feeding neighbors.