Families must come first in pantries’ online ordering

The intent behind a transition to online ordering for Lutheran Social Services’ food pantries was to serve more needy families.

But unfortunately, for the moment at least, the opposite has occurred.

What the nonprofit agency is calling “a significant decrease” in families served has prompted it to steer away from one of the changes that accompanied the launch of its innovative online ordering system in mid-February.

Now, as it should, Lutheran Social Services is rethinking how and where families can pick up their pantry orders and select fresh produce and other perishable food, having recognized that shifting pickups from established storefront pantries to Columbus city-owned community centers wasn’t working as intended.

The Champion Avenue pantry on the South Side, which closed this spring, has been reopened, and the agency is looking for a new permanent location for a pantry on the West Side after a leased site was closed in February.

Of its other three central and southeastern Ohio pantries: A Delaware County pantry pickup location had not been changed, a Caldwell pantry was closed and changed to a mobile operation but without online ordering because of iffy internet access in the rural area and online ordering has not yet been adopted by a Lancaster pantry.

Lutheran Social Services serves 29 of Ohio’s 88 counties and is the largest food-pantry system in the state, so it’s important for the agency to get this right. Changes that it makes in pantry services in Columbus can be used throughout its domain and are also likely to be adopted by other agencies that are watching this experiment closely. In addition to food, the agency provides thousands of people in need with shelter, safety and healing services.

It is good that Lutheran Social Services has been pursuing innovation in measured increments without undue haste. The key is to make sure the pioneering pantry processes actually make operations more efficient for families and the agency alike.

The agency had hoped that moving away from fixed sites for its pantries would allow it to save money, select convenient pickup locations closer to its clients and even enable it to adjust pantry sites as need grows or declines in certain neighborhoods.

While reverting to previous pickup sites, Lutheran Social Services remains committed to its new online ordering system, and that’s fine if the agency applies the same objective perspective to gauging the performance of that approach. It’s good that telephone ordering and a help desk are also available.

Changing the way things have long been done is never easy. It is probably even more challenging for a large agency serving a population that is itself challenged to meet some of life’s most basic needs. Those who must avail themselves of food pantries may not have dependable internet access or may have difficulty using technology.

But Lutheran Social Services also knows that not changing comes with its own set of problems. Like most nonprofits, it needs to seek greater efficiencies to stretch limited resources.

Thankfully, this agency knows how to navigate change successfully, as demonstrated by its 2006 decision to give families flexibility to choose what they need and want instead of giving everyone the same pre-selected boxes of less-perishable goods. Consideration of clients’ needs must remain a priority in the move to online ordering.