Tracking impact: How Margot gets food and books to Kennett families

She will have given out 1000 lbs of food and 1500 free books to Kennett families in just 6 months!

Many people would be surprised to learn how many essential services we take for granted - our parks, libraries, supports for families struggling with poverty, and even firefighters (like Margot's sister Lili, right) - depend so much on volunteers. One of the ways to raise awareness about the critical role played by these volunteers and agencies is to try to track the impact of these efforts.

I have worked to track impact at every organization I have helped to lead, because it is so helpful in becoming more effective and in securing more funding (especially important with increasing inflation and government cutbacks). In each case, the challenge is how to track impact efficiently without taking time so desperately needed for the work itself.

So I was excited to begin trying this at KAN. As you can read below, these efforts can help to illustrate not only the need in the community and the impact we can have, but can also offer lessons about how Margot is able to do all this, and suggest changes that might make us even more effective. This example also illustrates how even someone like Margot, whose disabilities are complex and profound, can make a difference through volunteering. Read more!

The need

Our work includes the maintenance of the Little Free Pantry (LFP) at the Kennett YMCA, where food-insecure families struggling to put food on the table can pick up free pantry items. Over the past 2 years, Margot has worked with other volunteers at Kennett Area Community Services (KACS) to restock the LFPs at the Kennett YMCA and the Church of the Advent 5 days a week. Even with this schedule, there were still too many times that we found it stripped almost bare, and a family waiting for us to leave so that they could take what they needed. A recent change compelled KACS to cease operating the LFPs, and so for the past 2 months, the Church of the Advent has organized their congregation to maintain their LFP while we have worked to maintain the LFP at the YMCA (we restock it 3 times each week).

Back of the PULL at the Kennett Heritage Center

Our work also includes the Pop Up Lending Libraries (PULLs), originally established by Arts Holding Hands and Hearts (AHHAH). The growing gaps in reading literacy in the US are well-documented, and the PULLs provide an easy way to get free books into the eager hands of young and old alike. How eager? In some locations, 50-70% of the books we leave every month are taken!

The impact

LFP: Over the first 5 months of this year alone, Margot bagged and/or labelled and distributed over 800 lbs of rice and beans and over 300 servings of healthy instant oatmeal, directly through KACS and now primarily through the YMCA LFP. This is in addition to the 700 lbs of potatoes and onions she has bagged for the KACS on Wheels programs, which makes monthly deliveries to shut-ins.

PULLs: Over the first 4 months of this year, Margot restocked Kennett's PULLs with more than 3000 books, over 1000 of which were taken home. She also collected almost 1000 donated books left at the PULLs. This has been so successful that Jacob (right) recently joined us in restocking PULLs in Coatesville.

How Margot can do all this

Part of this work centers on identifying outcomes linked to your goals that can be easily and reliably measured, tracked, and periodically reviewed.

The goal: In Margot's case, this is relatively easy: to get food and books respectively into the hands of the people who need them. This does require making some reasonable assumptions: for example, that the items are being taken only by those who need them.

Easily and reliably measured: Given these goals, a count of the number of items taken is an easy, valid, and reliable measure.

Tracking: Beginning in January, we set up a log to track the number of books and each kind of food item we added each time we visited the LFP and a PULL.

• PULL: At every visit (usually every 4 weeks or so), we replace all of the books in a PULL with a fresh batch. Each book we place in a PULL is labelled, so we count the number of labeled and unlabeled books retrieved. We get the number of books taken by subtracting the number of labeled books retrieved this month from the number we deposited the previous month. We count the number of unlabeled books we retrieved as donations.

• LFP: We also count the number of bags of rice, beans, and oatmeal (and now also pasta, tomato sauce, and other items), placed in the YMCA LFP (which we now restock 3 times a week). At each visit, we count the number of each item left over from the last visit.

Central to this work are goals that are a good fit for Margot's interests and abilities. This is especially important given her profound and complex disabilities (you can read more here). We draw on research-based teaching techniques and adapted materials to help her do as much of the work as possible. These are structured as specific, measurable goals that keep challenging Margot to build her strength and skills. Note that these goals are also designed to help Margot meet levels of muscle strengthening activities recommended by the US Department of Health's Move Your Way campaign.

And these goals have to fit with supports provided through the Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) we hire and train to work with Margot , and who are paid through her Community Living Medicaid waiver. The restocking is integrated into the daily schedule I prepare for the DSPs, and all of data tracking and logging is integrated into the daily note that I require DSPs to complete to help meet requirements for the waiver. Here is an example of instructions for her DSP to prepare crates of food to restock the LFP (the X is replaced by the number of items/crates Margot actually placed/carried).

Margot placing items she has bagged/labelled in a crate for delivery, with Khabeera's help

Margot helped to assemble crates for the LFP at the YMCA... One crate held 8 bags of rice, 8 bags of beans, and 4 bags of oatmeal, and Margot carefully placed (e.g., did not throw) X of 20 items (see right). A second crate held 4 boxes of Mac and Cheese, 4 cans of tomato sauce, 4 boxes of pasta, and 4 packages of ramen. Margot carefully placed (e.g., did not throw) X of 16 items. Margot placed X of 2 crates carefully on the floor by the front door. Then she carried X of 2 crates from the porch to the bike / truck for delivery.

Maintaining this schedule is also made easier by the fact that we have workspaces dedicated at KAN that keep the items organized. For example, the table above is adapted to help Margot fill crates for the LFP by ensuring that the crates is at a comfortable height.

Changes than might make us even more effective

Of course, capturing the impact helps to justify the time and resources required to continue the work - in Margot's case, the effort that both she and her aide expend. It can be easy to overlook the small impact of a given day's work.. but activities repeated several times a week over the course of a year can add up! Another reason to track impact, however, is to identify ways that we might continue to improve out work... consider these examples.

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LFP: We have been considering a campaign to raise money instead of collecting food donations to sustain the YMCA LFP. So we have begun purchasing other items that have been popular with families (e.g., pasta, sauce. mac & cheese, ramen, etc.), and tracking how quickly these move. These data would not only support a campaign but could suggest a specific amount to raise. And this helps to address what we understand to be one of the main concerns about LFPs: the risk that food might spoil if left in too long. With this model, we can track what moves, only buy what moves quickly, and replace what does not.

PULLs: AHHAH is now in a position upgrade specific PULL stations (thanks to a generous community partner willing to build more stations!). These data suggest which stations to prioritize and which to move. In addition, these data may help test a new design... Many wonderful children's books risk being lost in the traditional PULL design that have the spines facing out and that are beyond the reach of little hands. That led us to install a new design in Philter Coffee on State St in Kennett, This display sits just 18" off of the floor (see above). We will see how quickly these books move over the next couple of months.