Are we going to eat today? San Antonio Food Bank adds online ordering as COVID-19 increases need – San Antonio Express-News

Markisha Beacham is balancing classes and a work-study job while pushing toward a degree in administrative assistance at San Antonio College.

The 34-year-old mother of two struggles to provide for herself and her teenagers on her current salary.

Basically, its like, are we going to eat today or not eat today to get a bill paid? Beacham said.

She has turned to the colleges food pantry, a resource that often makes the difference between giving her kids a hot meal or a bowl of cereal for dinner.

And, Beacham found, theres an app for that. This year, the San Antonio Food Bank became one of the first in the nation to adopt OrderAhead, an online platform developed by the nonprofit network Feeding America.

Users enter their ZIP code, select a pickup time and location, choose from an array of available products and confirm their order. With a $20,000 grant from Feeding America, the Food Bank is testing the system at SAC.

San Antonio Food Bank staffer Herminio Pesina hauls a cart of groceries between two cars during a curbside distribution Wednesday. The San Antonio Food Bank is piloting a new model of charitable food distribution called OrderAhead. OrderAhead allows users to select from a variety of options and choose a designated pickup time and location, increasing efficiency and discretion. In addition, the food bank hosted curbside pickup sessions every afternoon of the week.

San Antonio Food Bank staffer Maureen Gallington loads a box of mixed vegetables into the back of a vehicle during a curbside distributionWednesday. The San Antonio Food Bank is piloting a new model of charitable food distribution called OrderAhead. OrderAhead allows users to select from a variety of options and choose a designated pickup time and location, increasing efficiency and discretion. In addition, the food bank hosted curbside pickup sessions every afternoon of the week.

People fill carts with groceries for a curbside distribution Wednesday. The San Antonio Food Bank is piloting a new model of charitable food distribution called OrderAhead. OrderAhead allows users to select from a variety of options and choose a designated pickup time and location, increasing efficiency and discretion. In addition, the food bank hosted curbside pickup sessions every afternoon of the week.

San Antonio Food Bank staffer Herminio Pesina pulls a cart of groceries to a vehicle during a curbside distribution Wednesday. The food bank is piloting a new model of charitable food distribution called OrderAhead. OrderAhead allows users to select from a variety of options and choose a designated pickup time and location, increasing efficiency and discretion. In addition, the food bank hosted curbside pickup sessions every afternoon of the week.

Volunteer Robert Bishop loads food onto carts as the San Antonio Food Bank conducts a curbside distribution Wednesday. The food bank is piloting a new model of charitable food distribution called OrderAhead. OrderAhead allows users to select from a variety of options and choose a designated pickup time and location, increasing efficiency and discretion. In addition, the food bank hosted curbside pickup sessions every afternoon of the week.

Volunteer Robert Bishop loads food onto carts as the San Antonio Food Bank conducts a curbside distribution Wednesday. The food bank is piloting a new model of charitable food distribution called OrderAhead. OrderAhead allows users to select from a variety of options and choose a designated pickup time and location, increasing efficiency and discretion. In addition, the food bank hosted curbside pickup sessions every afternoon of the week.

Lauren Granado with the San Antonio Food Bank loads bags of groceries into a vehicle during a curbside distribution Wednesday. The food bank is piloting a new model of charitable food distribution called OrderAhead. OrderAhead allows users to select from a variety of options and choose a designated pickup time and location, increasing efficiency and discretion. In addition, the food bank hosted curbside pickup sessions every afternoon of the week.

San Antonio Food Bank staffer Herminio Pesina loads groceries into a vehicle during a curbside distribution Wednesday. The food bank is piloting a new model of charitable food distribution called OrderAhead. OrderAhead allows users to select from a variety of options and choose a designated pickup time and location, increasing efficiency and discretion. In addition, the food bank hosted curbside pickup sessions every afternoon of the week.

About 60 percent of students there are considered food-insecure, which makes the campus a perfect proving ground, said Roger Narvaez, a former Food Bank employee and now the senior coordinator at the colleges Student Advocacy Center, which aims to improve retention and graduation rates by helping with nonschool needs.

You have to have food before you can focus on your studies or your education or school, Beacham said. Without that, you cant think about anything, because you have to survive first.

Narvaez described OrderAhead as very accessible, very easy, very user-friendly.

Its also private, designed to lighten the emotional burden of obtaining food help as well as improve the efficiency of distributing it.

The need for food assistance increased dramatically in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic upended San Antonios service-based economy. The Food Bank went from serving 200 to 400 families at its frequent pop-up distribution events to 2,000 to 4,000 and was looking for ways to feed more people faster, said Eric Cooper, its president and CEO.

Integrating the app into its operations will help us reduce the stigma and increase dignity in how people access charitable food, Cooper said.

As a community, we have a high rate of inequity when it comes to those with resources and those without, and so we have, per capita in our population, one of the highest poverty rates in the country, Cooper said.

But the process of picking up food can be difficult and even humiliating, and clients might have to wait for hours to obtain a single box of supplies.

Ernest Garcia (left) watches as Maureen Gallington (from right) and Herminio Pesina with the San Antonio Food Bank load groceries into his vehicle during a curbside distribution Wednesday. Garcia said hes on fixed income and has twice sought the help of the food bank. The food bank is piloting a new model of charitable food distribution called OrderAhead. OrderAhead allows users to select from a variety of options and choose a designated pickup time and location, increasing efficiency and discretion. In addition, the food bank hosted curbside pickup sessions every afternoon of the week.

Maybe theres some embarrassment, Cooper said. (Maybe theyre thinking), I dont want to be seen, I dont want my family to know or I dont want someone to judge me.

Loading his trunk in front of the Food Banks sprawling warehouse recently, Jorge Quiroz said he had never had to rely on the organization before the pandemic. But work in the oil fields has been scarce, severely affecting his income.

Things get bad. I guess you got to try whatever, he said.

But Quiroz isnt comfortable with it. He doesnt relish feeling as though he has to rely on handouts to survive.

Im not used to it. Im used to working for what I get, he said. I never liked to live off food stamps or anything. I like to work for what I earn.

Food insecurity, or inconsistent access to sufficient amounts of nutritious food, is a nationwide problem. In 2020, 10.5 percent of households were food-insecure at some point during the year, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Generally, the need is greatest in the South, according to a map of food insecurity maintained by Feeding America.

OrderAheads solution is to expand pickup locations to include less obvious venues such as schools and libraries, including the Alamo Colleges, which have established food pantries.

Cooper expects that the platform also will improve the existing model of food distribution by increasing flexibility.

Tools like OrderAhead mimic what one might experience (at) their local H-E-B or a restaurant and how they might use an app like Uber Eats or DoorDash, Cooper said.

Gastrointestinally speaking, one size does not fit all. Prepackaged boxes can include ingredients or entire meals that contain allergens or violate dietary restrictions. By taking individual needs and preferences into account, OrderAhead can cut down on waste.

They can pick what they want from their phone rather than have to go in and shop for it, said Narvaez, the coordinator at SAC.

No. 1 is convenience for the students, he said. It definitely is going to (save them time), especially when they have children, they have tests, theyre in between classes.

Beacham was eager to try the platform. She expects that it will make meal planning easier, potentially improving the quality of her familys diet in the long run.

You can just make better decisions when you have more time to pick your items, she said. When you go into a store, if you have 15 or 20 minutes, then youre going to probably just grab whatever. But if you dont have those options right in your face, youll do better with your choices.

Kelly Figueroa with the San Antonio Food Bank rolls a cart of groceries to a car during a curbside distribution Wednesday. The food bank is piloting a new model of charitable food distribution called OrderAhead. OrderAhead allows users to select from a variety of options and choose a designated pickup time and location, increasing efficiency and discretion. In addition, the food bank hosted curbside pickup sessions every afternoon of the week.

She hopes the platforms increased privacy will encourage her peers to use it.

For some people, I know theyre ashamed to even say they need help, Beacham said. A lot of students will rather go hungry than feel the shame.

Sometimes we just need a helping hand to get us to the point to where we can give back, she said. Because if we have nothing, what can you give?

caroline.tien@hearst.com

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Are we going to eat today? San Antonio Food Bank adds online ordering as COVID-19 increases need - San Antonio Express-News