06/27/2025
Hello friends and community members.
With an influx of new members, and a significant increase in missed appointments over the last few weeks, we feel it is important to help shed some light on what we do and the time it takes us to do it. There are two of us running Q***r Cupboard. Quite often, there is only one of us available at any given time.
When a community member is in need of food assistance from us, they fill out a Jotform and schedule a pickup. This form asks a few, very basic questions. Each appointment slot is 30 minutes to allow time for anonymity and other possible issues such as traffic. An email is also sent with confirmation, our address, and other important information.
Once the form is submitted, we get a notification and an appointment on our calendar. In order to make sure the boxes are made on time for our clients, we have to be sure we are home at least 30 minutes prior to the actual appointment time. There have been instances that a grocery trip or doctor appointment has taken longer than expected and we literally drop everything we are doing to run home to build the box for those in need. We aren't complaining, this is what we signed up for, we do this because we have passion for it.
Each box takes a minimum of 20-30 minutes to assemble depending on requests and allergies. Sometimes there are perishable items in the boxes because they are donated by other community members that would like everyone to have fresh food.
We carry it through the house and place it on the porch for pickup. We watch carefully to ensure the box is picked up but we also don't want to violate anonymity. Our front curtain is closed so the dogs don't bark.
When a box is not picked up, the perishable items are quite often thrown away, we bring the box back inside and to the pantry, and it takes an additional 30 minutes or so to put everything away.
Each box takes a minimum of 45 minutes (if the box is picked up at the beginning of the appointment time), but can take upwards of an hour and a half (if the box is NOT picked up).
We understand life happens. We understand there are emergencies and things that cannot be avoided. This is why we have our 3 strikes rule. This is why we have 30-minute appointment slots. If you are not able to make your appointment, PLEASE LET US KNOW. It would save us an hour and a half, perishable foods, and many other things if we were just informed that you aren't able to make it. We don't need a reason, we don't judge, we just want to know whether or not we need to make a box.
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