Have a passion for helping your community? Listen!
Thanks to Fran Lytle of Brand Champs for this fantastic guest post!
Last year, my husband Bill and I started a feeding program in our community, Chincoteague VA. We have a passion for helping people and realized that a feeding program would assist people who are food insecure.
Every Monday, with a team of volunteers, we serve a free hot lunch to people on Chincoteague. When we started the program, we recognized the need because we were members of a volunteer team that delivered food packages to 60 food insecure families every year before Thanksgiving. The objective of the feeding program was to feed these and others every week, not just once a year.
So, we started planning. Bill & I are Behaviorists and Brand Strategists so we decided to use the system we recommend to our clients when they’re undertaking a rebranding initiative … identifying what the brand is and what it means to people. This task requires the brand to identify strategies for moving forward. At this point, tactics aren’t discussed … just the strategies. The tactics would be mapped out in subsequent sessions.
We developed a map to chart our journey forward. Using a large Post-It-Note pad we created a grid that included 3 strategy columns … What’s a “must have” for this feeding program? What’s a “should have”? And, what’s a “nice to have”? Then, we started filling in each column.
First, we started on the “must have” strategy column and after many edits and discussions, we agreed on the following 10 strategies. We must …
- Feed people a hot lunch every Monday … even holidays
- Offer it free … however, gratefully accept donations
- Make the food homemade … food that people really enjoy
- Welcome and treat our guests with love and respect … it’s not a soup kitchen
- Open it to everyone in the community
- Recruit a team of passionate volunteers
- Promote it throughout the community
- Fundraise to keep the program going
- Have a brand name that has meaning
- Create a brand story that resonates with people
Next, we undertook the task of filling out the “should have” strategy column. Again, the list was discussed and edited before finalizing it. We agreed on the following 5 strategies. We should …
- Have free food and toiletries that our guests could take home with them
- Get to know our guests names
- Visit with our guests during lunch so we can create relationships
- Mentor our volunteers
- Encourage youth to volunteer
We took a break after completing the “must have” and “should have” strategy columns to reflect on the work. Once we felt comfortable that we were mapping out a journey that we would continue to have a passion for, we moved onto the “nice to have” strategy column. This was a more difficult task because we didn’t want to overwhelm ourselves, potential volunteers and donors. So, we embraced the “don’t boil the ocean” behavior that all entrepreneurs should heed.
Bill and I recognize the value of a “nice to have” strategy list. It enables the brand to move these currently non-essential items into the “should have” and “must have” columns as the strategies in those columns are implemented. We thought about what else the community might need that this feeding program could provide.
After listening to our community, the “nice to have” strategy list was developed with 1 strategy. It would be “nice to have” a …
- Partnership with other services in our community that help people
Next, we identified tactics to accomplish each strategy. The entire planning process was accomplished in 3 months. Our feeding program, Manna Café CI has been serving free hot lunches every Monday for over a year. We currently serve 300 – 350 people each week! Last year, we served 11,919 hot lunches. We even served free hot lunches on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, which both fell on a Monday.
During the first year, Bill and I and our volunteers developed relationships with our guests. We listened and realized that Manna Café CI could provide other needed services. We implemented …
- A hot lunch delivery service for the homebound (40-50 each week)
- A coat drive so our guests could select a free coat
- A hat, scarf and glove collection to distribute to our guests
- A toy drive so children and youth could select free gifts on Christmas
- A gift table so our guests could select free gifts to give to their loved ones
Thinking about starting a program to help your community? We recommend that you first identify the need. Then, create your strategy “must have” “should have” and “nice to have” lists. The next step is to develop tactics to accomplish the identified strategies. Then, listen, listen and listen some more. Your community will tell you what it needs!
Fran & Bill Lytle are the Co-founders & Directors of the non-profit feeding program Manna Café CI, Inc. in Chincoteague, Virginia and the brand strategy group Brand Champs.
