Social Equity Group Project

 For our project we will be creating a fundraiser kit/packet for elementary schools to use to raise money for Central PA Food Bank. The main idea is to educate the students that money is more helpful than food donations and to make a fundraiser that raises money in a fun engaging way.  Fundraiser will be a "Penny Drive" or "Coin Drive" instead of a Food Drive. There will be containers provided to sit in common ares like the lobby, cafeteria and maybe the classrooms to collect loose change.  The students will be provided with a small ziploc baggy to collect change from home to bring it into school. It will also be encouraged for students or parents to donate empty cans or jars that could be used for collection of coins within the classrooms.  The classroom cans will be dumped into a big collection container at the end.  It could be up to the school to make it a classroom competition of whose class or which grade can raise the most money.  Assets:  Adver...

  Our project was deeply inspired by the incredible tour Dacey experienced at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. Hearing about the vast operations and the dedication of the staff, especially Kir Evancho, brought to life the essential work being done behind the scenes. One of the most striking revelations was how the food bank operates more like a distribution center, partnering with hundreds of agencies to ensure food reaches those in need. It was eye-opening to understand that most of their inventory comes from corporate grocers and how monetary donations are far more impactful than traditional food drives. It highlighted the importance of efficiency and strategic partnerships in tackling food insecurity. The commitment to providing nutritious options while respecting the dignity of those they serve truly exemplifies the heart of community service. This experience has inspired us to delve deeper into how design can further support their mission, amplifying their impact on so many...

We have made sense of what we have learned by doing extra research and taking notes when we learn new things in interviews. We are able to turn these things we learned into design opportunities by making things easy to understand in visual graphics. We can make people understand that donating money is better for the food bank through visually easy to understand posters, social media posts or billboards. We can make real posters by printing them out and make mockups of social media posts by taking a screenshot of a social media post and replacing a photo with our image. Mockups or prototypes for billboards or table clothes and large posters can be done in photoshop with premade mockups or we can make our own. Technically we don’t know this idea will work but we are hopefully it will and have all had our share of school fundraisers so we know what makes them fun for the kids and actually raise money.

All the assets for the Central PA Food Bank project.  The idea: A fundraiser packet to give to schools (elementary or middle) and make it a no food donation fundraiser by collecting loose change (and bills too). It will be set up in a lobby area. We could have coin collection cans in other parts of school.  Items:  - Table for lobby - Sign for table - Banner sign for the table - brochures with information  - something to put on container for the money collection  - information card for children to take home to parents  - information brochure for parents  - information brochure for teachers  - advertising for fundraiser and general idea of donating money not food (Posters, Billboards, social media, banner in school, etc.) - stickers or pins for kids (freebies) - bag or box to keep money in  - box design for the whole kit to set up the fundraiser  - table cloth for main table in lobby  Assignments for each specific part coming soon...

Theme: Wanting to contribute to food bank  Community members want to help the food bank but don't know the best way to do that.  Community members think donating food or volunteering is the best way to help a food bank.  Community members don't know that money can go further for the food bank than donations of food. 

Do you know the difference between a food bank and a food pantry, or better yet the different goals that they serve for the public? What about how food banks originated? Food bank history can be traced back to a later area of the 1960s when a retired businessman by the name of John van Hengel established the first food bank in Phoenix, Arizona. During the year 1967, John began to notice grocery stores were throwing away food that was still demeaned as edible. He began to collect the food and would store it in a warehouse so that he could distribute it to soup kitchens and food pantries. About nine years later, in the year 1976, a federal grant along with the Tax Reform Act of 1976 aided in the spread of food banks across America since it made it more financially beneficial for companies to donate food. Food banks then spread to Canada and Europe during the year 1983 and as time went on with crises arising, food banks became a resource to many as food prices began to rise. Now, today, f...

 After talking to Kir during the tour and talking to other people for our interviews we were able to put together a resource flow of how money comes in many forms and how it is used. What brings money in? People Donors Corporate grocery donors Food donations Volunteers  Where does the money go? People in need food shelters food pantries  buying more food  building new locations (banks or partner locations) schools Organizing food (volunteers) Packing boxes (volunteers)

 Frame Your Design Challenge  1) What is the problem you’re trying to solve? Take a stab at framing it as a design question.  Solve hunger in the Central PA area and general PA Getting people to donate money rather than food to the bank without sounding like they are begging or just asking for money. Getting the community to understand that the dollars go further in helping provide meals for people in need than the donations of food.  More funding toward the food bank to help with the high demand of people in need due to rising living costs, inflation, and the post-pandemic era leading to higher food insecurity.  How can we encourage more people to donate without blatantly asking for money to help with the high demand of people suffering from food insecurity, especially nutritious food insecurity? 2) Now state the ultimate impact you’re trying to have.  Easy access to nutritious food for all people 3) What are some possible solutions to your problem? Think ...

 We reached out to several people via email at the Central PA Food Bank to get interviews. We heard back from 2 of them but they were not able to schedule interviews before this due date. We have been in contact with them to send them information about our project and the questions we could ask to better prepare them and so they can have the right people get in contact with us. We have heard back from the people we reached out to for the Expert interview and will be working on scheduling those. Dacey went on a tour and then was in contact via email with Kir and sent her the interview questions to answer.  Interview Scheduling Good Evening Central PA Food Bank. My name is Penelope Williams and I am a student who attends Millersville University, studying Interactive and Graphic Design. For my Design for Social Equity class, my group mates and I are researching non-profit organizations and in doing so, we are working to learn more about Central PA Food Bank. For this project, we ...

     On November 4, I (Dacey) toured the facility of Central Pennsylvania Food Bank and talked to Kir Evancho. Upon arriving I was greeted by the receptionist and told that Kir would be right out and that I could have a seat. Kir greeted me and asked about the general premise of the project. I told her that we were basically simulating what it would be like if we as designers were working with an organization. This helped frame the tour and I gained lots of valuable insight from it.       The front area is mostly offices and she showed me a map of the countries they serve. There are 3 total main facilities, Harrisburg, Williamsport and Blair. The one in Blair county is new and not yet on their website. Williamsport is very rural and this facility is able to reach the more northern counties. She said that the new one is so that they are able to connect with the farmers out there to have more connections to fresh food.       We moved ...