Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva has been awarded the 2024 Network Celebrations Award by Feeding America for its outstanding work, partially because of its efforts to rollout an online ordering platform for those in need.
A press release from the food bank said that the “prestigious award recognizes member food banks and affiliates within the Feeding America network that exemplify the spirit of ‘Many Voices, One Vision’ through innovative initiatives and impactful work in the fight against hunger.”
Only seven Feeding America network members and affiliates, including Northern Illinois Food Bank, received the award, officials said.
The recognition was credited to the local food bank’s efforts to expand online ordering options for those in need through its OrderAhead platform, something that Jen Lamplough, chief impact officer at Northern Illinois Food Bank, said was first implemented about 18 months ago.
“This has been in the works since 2017 when it was kind of in a pilot phase and we were doing online with My Pantry Express and then it has grown,” she said. “Sort of simultaneously, Feeding America was creating their online ordering platform called OrderAhead and over the last year and a half, we’ve been working to bring that OrderAhead platform to our food pantries because it’s free and super-easy to use.”
Lamplough said “last year was the big start of it” and that the group has been working hard to “bring online ordering across our network.”
According to the food bank, the system allows people to privately select food items and choose convenient pickup times and locations directly from their phones or computers.
“It’s the same as ordering something from a retailer like Walmart,” Lamplough said. “It’s a click and collection system that is more convenient for our neighbors who are juggling lots of stuff including multiple jobs, family stuff. People who are in need of other services often have to go and wait for a long time. This is a great way to bring access of food to people in a really convenient and dignified way.”
Lamplough spoke about those without access to the internet and stressed that “this is just one point of access – there’s other ways to get food including coming to our food pantries or mobile markets.”
“This is just another access point and there are a variety of reasons people don’t come to our pantries including transportation reasons, so they can order online and have someone pick up for them,” she said. “We do have home delivery with some of our food pantries and so there is this suite of services for people to have multiple access points because not everybody has the same ability to either access technology or spend the time within a food pantry waiting.”
The online platform was rolled out last summer, she said.
Lamplough said that “our online ordering systems … account for about 2½ million meals” out of 90 million distributed a year.
“We do know that 39% of the people using the online system have never been to the food pantry before,” she said. “It’s like bringing in people who haven’t been able to go otherwise, so we know it’s reaching people we haven’t been able to reach before which is the goal on the online ordering.”
To access the OrderAhead program, go to www.OrderAhead.org.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
