Vivery Community

Results: PROVIDING THE VIVERY TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM TO FOOD BANKS AND PANTRIES: The Vivery platform was first developed by the Thierer Family Foundation in collaboration with the Greater Chicago Food Depository to meet the nuanced challenges of the food assistance ecosystem. The unique partnership yielded a best-in-class solution that won the Chicago Innovation Award in 2022. The platform equips food banks and pantries with powerful digital tools to increase neighbor awareness of available services, optimize their distribution strategy, and better connect with the communities they serve. In less than a year, the Vivery platform has been adopted by 12 food banks, including all eight food banks serving our home state of Illinois, covering a network of 2,735 food pantries and approximately 2.6M food-insecure individuals. Unlike other food finder tools, Vivery removes the invisible borders around each food bank’s coverage area, creating a contiguous map of all food resources available in the state. This ensures that no matter where a neighbor searches in Illinois, they will always find detailed and accurate pantry and program information online to meet their unique needs, schedules, and circumstances. FOOD PANTRY IN-HOME DELIVERY PROGRAM Home delivery is a critical need for increasing access to food-insecure neighbors, but managing delivery programs can be expensive and cumbersome for food pantries and community organizations. Leveraging technology , Vivery.org is building a scalable solution for in-home delivery. Vivery.org piloted an in-home delivery program, providing six food pantries in and around the Austin community of Chicago with a fully-funded and supported solution for in-home delivery. In 2022, these programs provided 490 deliveries of nutritious food. In addition, the pilots created twelve new jobs at the local delivery company, reclaimed 160 volunteer hours by the food pantries, and increased the efficiency of delivery routes, saving 36 hours for the pantries. Based on the program's success, Vivery.org is expanding the delivery program with a focus on disabled neighbors and communities of color. FOOD PANTRY ONLINE MARKET Our Food Pantry Online Market is an innovative program allowing food-insecure neighbors to access food distribution online and order their groceries for pick-up at a time that is convenient for them. We partner with community organizations as pick-up sites for orders placed on the Online Market. By partnering with other social service agencies, families in need can access several services at one location. The Online Market also removes the critical barrier of stigma that prevents many eligible neighbors from seeking food assistance. Online ordering empowers neighbors to select items as they would through other online systems such as Amazon and Instacart. To date, our online markets have processed over 24,000 food orders. We are expanding the program to new pantries to help equalize access to food for thousands of neighbors.

Target demographics: food-insecure communities

Direct beneficiaries per year: 12 food banks implement Vivery technology so that 2,735 food pantries have an accurate online presence covering 2.6M total food-insecure population

Geographic areas served: the United States in partnership with food banks and food pantries

Programs: in-home delivery programs, online markets for food pantries, and bringing Vivery technology solutions to food banks and food pantries at no cost to bridge the digital gap and equalize access to nutritious food, and other food services, for everyone.