Our mission is to support local community-based organizations by providing them with the resources they need to support their communities and connect with their neighbors in a tangible. Small Things distributes food, hygiene, and household goods to our network of 80 local partners, comprised of community centers, churches, mosques, and synagogues in and around Philadelphia, PA. Our primary operations focus on foods and goods distribution, where we distribute 160,000 pounds of food each week, including culturally appropriate food and rescued foods, but we also operate senior meals, homeless kits, and kid's programs. In 2023, we will be launching several new programs: warehouse skills training to increase employment opportunities, a choice food pantry where individuals are able to "shop" for goods they want rather than just being handed a box of pre-chosen goods, and a hot meal program where individuals are waited on and receive hot meals in a large group setting. We also plan to expand our food rescue operations to retail where we will pick up and redistribute food that would be thrown away form corporations such as Trader Joes and Amazon.
Small Things is in the process of assessing needs that are not being met in individual neighborhoods and filling those needs. Currently, we are launching several new programs for 2023 (warehouse skills training, a hot meal program, retail food rescue, and a choice food pantry). We may also launch a street cleaning initiative and a few other community-related efforts to be determined. We are looking for a student to select one of these programs/initiatives based on his/her interests and then assist us with building out the program in an efficient, effective, and strategic way. For example, if a student is interested in helping develop the choice food pantry, he/she would review practices of our partners and other organizations who are running choice models and then make recommendations for how we can best execute and build-out our program. The deliverable would likely take the form of a recommendation report.
