Number 1

The primary social need that Second Harvest satisfies is giving necessities to the people that need it. They provide food and nonfood items, plus fresh produce and vegetables. Overall Second Harvest wants to end hunger. The mission of Second Bank of Metrolina is to feed hungry people by soliciting and distributing food and household items through partner agencies. Second Harvest works to educate people in the community about the nature of and solutions to the problem of hunger. Second Harvest supplies food throughout a 19 county region of North and South Carolina through a network of over 700 emergency pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and programs for low-income children and seniors. It is working and it’s working in the fact that it’s encouraging others to help too. The amount of produce and items that they get has increased dramatically and that why they need a bigger facility so that they can serve more people and sort through more food.

Second Harvest does a good job when it comes to managing the volunteers and getting a lot of people to come out and that’s what helps it to be a well-oiled machine. The organization has a beautiful system where everything is tagged and placed in specific areas where it’s easy accessible to move with a forklift. Also the way that they have organized the weight scale’ for the food to be weighed on before being shipped’ is tremendous; which is a good thing so that they can ship the products and food out faster so that it’s not sitting in the warehouse. They have it set up so that right before it leaves it gets weighed. As of right other organization has a good media presence and great partners, in Food lion, Harris Teeter, Family Dollar, and other nonprofit organizations. Plus the company has gotten an influx in funds and resources through donations from big companies and people and has a good amount for the upcoming future.

It could improve in some areas though, like having a bigger waiting room in the front building so that when they do have volunteers they are able to wait comfortably. One time as I walked into the building like usual to sign in and get a name tag I realized that there was a line just to get into the building to sign in and grab a name tag. Everyone and there mother was volunteering today; companies, churches, the community, parents, students, other random organizations, etc. This would be the first time I’ve seen so many people come and volunteer and also so many people try and fit into a small check in room. In the front office along with 100 other people it became hot so I had to wait outside and had no clear idea when it was time to come in. Also since Second Harvest is a nonprofit it can apply for grants to help it fund its new expansion and hire more specialized workers in order to get things to run smoother. The organization could also improve on its distribution methods, because for one their using trucks and trucks have all sorts of malfunctioning problems and it sometimes touches other people hands before getting to the people.

I think that they have a lot of opportunity to become more efficient as a company. For one the new warehouse that they’re getting is highly needed and is a great opportunity to get more people to come in and volunteer and to get more donations. I also think that they could get a new system to check people in and get name tags as well, because if it’s a lot of people some people don’t even sign in. Also as far as future opportunities you can always improve your brand recognition, social media presence, and hold more fundraising events. Plus with the new media exposure they just got for getting $1.5 million from food lion is going to bring a lot of eyes to the company. They also just got a new website so it can bring new people in to volunteers.

Socially the company has the opportunity to help impact the community in a greater way through vocally advocating for different social causes, like it somewhat already does in only partnering with other nonprofits and no =t letting people who they give the goods to sell or return the products.

Second Harvest being a nonprofit brings up many potential threats as well though. It is very vulnerable to economic crisis, because when money becomes tight people will donate less. Also with the upcoming change in government the regulations on nonprofit funding, etc. could be change. One thing that I noticed while volunteering there as well was the way that you have to sign up for volunteering ahead of time online is weird, because when you sign up you may forget when you signed up to volunteer or just forget that you even signed yup in the first place, and it’s a potential threat that the amount of volunteers they get will decrease, but it’s also an opportunity as well. When people sign and forget they don’t show up, but if you find a way to remind people you could get more volunteers and not be overstocked or understocked at your volunteering stations, because sometimes you might undershoot it anticipating a lower than who sign up for it turnout.