Partner Agency Resources | North Country Food Bank

TEFAP

What is TEFAP?

The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) distributes U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) foods to individuals and families who use food shelves, on-site meal programs and shelters.

TEFAP providers must be approved by the food bank/state in order to distribute TEFAP foods. Providers must also stay in compliance with TEFAP policies and guidelines at all times.

Mn Tefap Summary 2024

MN TEFAP Manual for Providers

Reference the MN Department of Human Services TEFAP Policy & Operations Manual for TEFAP Providers (link), revised 2023.
MN TEFAP website link
Hunger Solutions MN also offers some TEFAP resources for providers.

MN TEFAP Intake & Income Guidelines

The current (2024) paper intake form and income guidelines can be found here.

Monthly Reporting of Statistics

Reporting monthly household statistics (total households, number of adults, children, and seniors, and pounds distributed) is a required component of compliance with TEFAP. This Statistics Guide breaks down the definitions and how to calculate the service stats.

(Want to shift away from paper and complete intake and track visits electronically? Check out the Service Insights (SIMC) section of this resource page!)

Civil Rights

Civil Rights Training is also a required component of the TEFAP (or any USDA) program. NCFB will administer this training once a year for partner agencies. If you have questions, please contact Kristin Osowski, Agency Relations Coordinator at kosowski@northcountryfoodbank.org.

Agency Ordering / Deliveries

Retail Food Rescue / Food Donations

Content for those currently receiving food rescue donations from a retail store or other business. If your agency would like to pursue a food rescue program, please reach out to Hannah Douglas at hannah@northcountryfoodbank.org for assistance.

Food Rescue Resources

NCFB Donation Standards (can use with retail donors or individuals)
NCFB Donation Guidelines (very suitable for individuals or community groups-food drives)
Good Samaritan Act overview (explains the protections a food donor has from liability)
Food Dates Guide (Sell By, Best by, what it all means)

Agency Materials

Retail Food Rescue Manual - best practices for agencies with food rescue efforts
Food Rescue Pounds Reporting Sheet (one-time)
- Includes breakdown of categories and example items.
Monthly Food Rescue Pounds Reporting Sheet
- Use for one donor throughout the month for multiple pickups.

Monthly Reporting is a necessary and required action of food rescue. It is one of the most basic ways we can steward our food donors! Food Rescue pounds are due to NCFB staff by the 5th of each month.

MealConnect

Record and submit food rescue donations in real time! No more manual tally of donations and remembering to submit to the food bank each month!

MealConnect is a digital platform used to capture food rescue donations, and it's FREE! It works on a desktop browser, or use the mobile app! Learn more about it here.

Want to sign up? Email Hannah to get started.

Click here to link to MealConnect

Food Safety Materials

Service Insights (SIMC)

What is Service Insights [on MealConnect]?

Simply put, Service Insights (SIMC) is a digital intake platform designed by Feeding America specifically for our network. This short video highlights the purpose behind the Service Insights initiative and the ways it can be used to complete intake and serve your neighbors!

View document: Summary & Benefits of SIMC.

Benefits for Food Banks, Pantries, and the Collective Network

Supports ongoing service and performance improvements by providing food banks with more accurate, real-time data from their partner agencies. In contrast to data that is reported by agencies, for example, on a monthly basis and sometimes in a paper format.
Supports the production of weekly, monthly, and annual unduplicated counts. When all partner agencies within a service area use the same technology solution it is possible to produce unduplicated counts of people served across the service area.
Reduces the amount of paperwork and time it takes food banks and partner agencies to produce reports for the USDA (e.g., TEFAP). Some technology solutions offer custom reporting and collect electronic signatures from individuals served. This means USDA reports can become paperless.
Custom reporting features allow food banks and their partner agencies to quickly produce reports required by the state or county government, donors, or other stakeholders.
Data at the agency level can better inform food procurement and distribution and, thus, allow food banks and pantries to better meet the needs of the people they serve.
This initiative will also enable food banks, states, regions, and the national network, to tell a more unified story. Specifically, working towards standardization of data elements and data definitions will allow for more consistent messaging when:
- Lobbying and advocating at the state and national level (e.g., for TEFAP, CNR, SNAP, Farm Bill).
- Crafting fundraising efforts and stewardship of donors.
- Building partnerships with other social service organizations
- Raising public awareness through communications and media efforts.

How to Get Started with SIMC?

If interested, please email Kristin Osowski or Hannah Douglas. We will answer any questions and set you up with an onboarding date to do training. If needed, NCFB will provide you with a tablet to use for intake.

Monthly Reporting Procedure

Once you start using Service Insights, monthly statistic reporting becomes easy! TEFAP household statistics and pounds distributed need to be reported to NCFB each month, and we report it to Hunger Solutions. This is required. However, this data still needs to be pulled from SIMC (it is not yet a common platform across all agencies).

At the end of the month, when all neighbor visits have been entered, navigate to Reports > Essential Statistics Report.
(Navigating to Essential Statistics Report)
Filter by the correct event schedule and date range. Click "Run Report".
(Essential Statistics Report filters)
You will then see the Duplicated counts (total VISITS - may include repeat households) and Unduplicated counts (total individual households served) and the age divisions as well.
(Duplicated and Unduplicated counts)
The easiest way to report this data to NCFB: click on "Export to Excel" near the top. Save the spreadsheet to your device, then attach it in an email to Kristin Osowski. (You can also retype the numbers into an email if you'd like.)
Reporting the pounds distributed to neighbors is also a necessary piece of information. If you are not using SIMC to track these pounds, please include that in your email to Kristin as well.

Volunteer Management

Extra Links & Resources

Below is a variety of resources that may be useful to your agency's operations. Check it out!

More Than Food Consulting (Katie Martin (CEO) authored the book "Reinventing Food Bank and Pantries")
- They offer regular webinars which are recorded and have other videos available here.
Leah's Pantry
- This organization offers lots of trainings with a trauma-informed lens. Two notable trainings are: Building Nourishing Pantries and The Nutrition Pantry Program.
Food Dignity has an institute module training that looks beyond the charitable food system.

Where does the food come from?

We hear this question a lot! Check out this chart demonstrating the food bank "supply chain".

Our streams of food include: TEFAP, other commodity programs like CSFP, Purchased, bulk Donated (via our MN food bank cluster), Produce, as well Retail Food Rescue locally to food shelves.

Neighbor Experience & Accessibility

Pretend you are a neighbor visiting the food shelf for the first time. Walk through the process. Is it welcoming? Are the instructions clear?
Non-English speaking neighbors? Use the I Speak Statement Card to identify their language.
Using tools like Google Translate can be helpful
Ask around to see if there is someone in the community who can help translate during distributions.
Put up signage in each prominent language, but also use images.