Pantry Vending

Pantry Vending

Pantry Vending was an incredibly well-planned presentation professionally presented in an interesting and unique way.  I think that this project has a lot of potential and could one day easily become a real volunteer-based program. The one thing that really interests me with Pantry Vending is its ability to evolve throughout the years and become a much bigger, nationwide, or even worldwide charity.  There were a few suggestions and comments I would make to the members of this group.

• I did realize that several times during the presentation you commented on how this is something that the homeless would be able to use.  That being said, a lot of the items you gave as examples are canned / boxed foods that require opening and cooking.  I still think including these items is a great idea, but you could add that you only accept "pop top" cans that can easily be opened and eaten without cooking.  If that's not something you would be interested in, you could move to include more easily edible foods besides dried fruit and nuts.  I know that you specifically stated that you didn't want to include items like chips and unhealthy snacks, it might be easier for the homeless people to eat these foods, so it might be something that you want to include.  If the machines were calorie based like we discussed in class, the amount of snacks distributed to needy people could easily be managed and controlled. 
• The other comment I wanted to make is that I really think this project could easily find funding and could one day be moved into an "automated" storefront like the gas-station convenience store on Park Avenue.  This would allow both registered users and other people to get the food, with all the money from normal users going to purchase more food and items for the needy.  This would also allow you to include refridgerated items such as milk, cheese, eggs, and other perishable goods.
• I would genuinely sit down as a group and discuss potential backers who would help make this project happen.  I think Dr. J was absolutely right in class when she said that churches would be interested in participating in making this happen.  Besides churches, grocery stores like Kroger who regularly donate to Feed the Need might be interested in donating food.  Other charitable organizations would be interested as well.  I think it is entirely possible to push this project forward and think it would be amazing if you could do that!

I really enjoyed this presentation and really hope that you're able to try to push this project forward to make it a reality.  This is something that Memphis and the entire nation could easily benefit from.  It's a clever idea and the presentation was great!