How Food For Free streamlines aid distribution with PEX
Want to save this case study for later?
About Food For Free
Food for Free is the leading food rescue and distribution nonprofit dedicated to providing reliable access to fresh and nutritious food to Eastern Massachusetts communities. The organization rescues food that would otherwise go to waste and creates new distribution channels to reach underserved populations in 29 communities across the region through partnerships with 147 food access organizations.
As part of their mission to ensure everyone in the community — regardless of age, income, or ability — has consistent access to nutrition, the nonprofit provides critical resources to families faced with food insecurity in Cambridge and Somerville school districts through their Weekend Eats Carrot Cards program.
"The ability to use Batch Funding to fund cards in less than one hour per month saves us so much time. When we were getting physical food, there was no way we could accomplish that task in less than one hour!"
M. Lennox, Manager of School Programs
The challenge
Prior to joining PEX, Food For Free did not have an expense management system in place to provide funds to families in need. Instead they offered a weekend backpack program, which involved several steps to go through operationally to acquire the food, get volunteers, communicate with the schools to pick up the food before it went bad, and distribute. Employees coordinated with volunteers to pack bags of fresh and non-perishable foods each week before sending bags to schools across the city to be distributed to students. This required several hours of labor and burdened participating students, who were visually marked to peers as food-insecure by the backpacks. There was also an inconvenience in the event that a student missed school and was not able to collect their free breakfast and lunch. Amongst other challenges, children were not using the food for its intended use (to have food over the weekend when school was not in session). They were seen eating it as a snack and sharing it with friends, therefore they often had nothing to take home. Placing the responsibility on a child to get the food home versus the adult or guardian became a concern for the program.
The solution
Food For Free receives funds through ARPA funding from the Somerville and Cambridge school districts of Massachusetts. To seamlessly bridge the gap between hardship and success, Food For Free partnered with PEX in 2021. Instead of physical food, families now receive a PEX Visa® Prepaid Card that is funded with $25 a month for each student enrolled within the school district. Each card has a unique PEX ID that is used to identify families, creating a more discreet and private process between Food For Free staff and school liaisons. The access to funds ends once a student graduates, leaves the district, or opts out. On holiday breaks, families receive $10 extra per child. It is important to note that there is no cap however the funds do not roll over each month. M. Lennox stated that the onboarding and implementation was seamless, allowing her team to save time and efforts.
The results
Increased utilization
Since implementation. Food For Free has funded over 2,500 PEX Prepaid Expense cards with over 80% utilization rates, proving that families are using the funds they are given.
Time savings
It takes the team less than 1 hour each month to fund cards.
Immediate access to funds
Switching to PEX has allowed for a more COVID-friendly option to get benefits to families faster.
Similar resources
Opinions, advice, services, or other information or content expressed or contributed here by customers, users, or others, are those of the respective author(s) or contributor(s) and do not necessarily state or reflect those of The Bancorp Bank, N.A. (“Bank”). Bank is not responsible for the accuracy of any content provided by author(s) or contributor(s).