If you’ve seen one food bank, you’ve seen … one food bank. Food Banks Canada collaborates with a network of over 5,500 organizations, each of which serves a community with distinct needs and operates in its own way.
A shared set of values and best practices underpins this healthy diversity: every network member upholds Canada’s Ethical Food Banking Code. And now, each one is also working toward accreditation through Food Banks Canada’s Standards of Excellence.
Some food banks have already completed this journey. This month, we’re celebrating The Salvation Army in Grand Falls-Windsor’s accreditation.
What inspired you to be an early accredited organization?
Since receiving the initial package, we wanted to jump right in and try to be among the first. Having that stamp behind our name would mean a lot to not just our clients but also our donors.
Describe your approach to reaching accreditation.
We applied to the grant program last year to hire an employee to help with the application, and we are grateful to have received funding to hire an employee for three months to help with the process. Once they started and handled the day-to-day tasks, it freed me up to sit down and dive into the process and see how we can improve and what we had already completed.
What was your first step in the process?
Our first step was to compare the standards to the Salvation Army’s standards as well. What was noted is that, based on our organization, we had already met many. When the application came through first, it seemed daunting, but taking the time to go through and see that we had already met a few helped make this process easier from the start.
Which standards were most manageable to meet? Why?
As a “smaller” food bank, many of the food handling processes were simpler than those of a larger food bank, making them easier to work through and complete.
What/which standards did you find daunting?
There was a big section on policies. Having and posting policies was an interesting challenge. There were multiple times when I had to really dive into the policy. Sometimes, we had our own policies already, but we had to make sure that they were the same or needed to be slightly worded differently to make them accurate.
- How did you overcome this?
I would reach out to our representative at our head office to make sure I was on the right track with the policies or that there wasn’t something I was missing. As well, the FBC team were great to work with to coordinate different policies and wording based on provincial rules and regulations.
What surprised you through the process?
It seemed intimidating at the beginning. Any time you see “accreditation,” I believe we put our backs up that it will be a long and hard process. But the team at FBC and our head office support were great during the process. Also, I believe that we tend to overthink things. When you get down to the meat and potatoes part of the process, most food banks are already on the right track.
What advice would you offer to other organizations seeking accreditation?
Don’t over think it and reach out. There is never a question that they will not help with!
What value does reaching accreditation provide to your organization?
This is a great standard to meet, and it also holds us accountable now. I look at this as a stepping stone, it’s not something that you reach and just take a break. It’s a here we are, how can we get better and keep improving for our clients.
- To the food banking system?
As I mentioned, it holds us accountable to a standard. It also comforts our clients to know we are held to this level of service. It pushes us forward to always be the best we can be in serving our communities.