We created an easy-to-use digital inventory tool for food pantry managers. Once registered, they can log on at any time to find food they need or to give away food they don’t.

Essentially connecting dozens of disparate pantries to create one, fully-stocked, fully-utilized city-wide pantry.

We started off by giving the Provision app (provisionpantry.org) to a few food pantry managers to get the inventory system started. Realizing that the more people that registered to be a part of this network, the stronger and more effective it would be.

From there, we also created a series of posters to send out to all pantry managers that not only acted as awareness drivers to encourage participation, but also could be hung in their offices as a daily reminder to update their food needs/haves in their Provision profile.

By connecting all 32 food pantries in the Chicago area, Provision now helps manage, track and redistribute the thousands of pounds of produce, meat and supplies available throughout the Chicago area—proving that the issue was not just getting food, but getting food to the right place at the right time.