Executive Summary

Pace Leader: Lauren Mezher

Group Members:
Zach Bonifas
Josh Davidson
Chris Fenter
Alex Haban
Eric Michael
Bria Million
Logan Montgomery
Nonso Okonji
Brad Weidner

UMC Food Ministry

2. Agency & Project Information Location:

Name, Location: Our group volunteered at UMC Food Ministry in Covington, Kentucky.

Contact: Brady Dean, CFO of UMC Food Ministry in Covington

Mission: UMC Food Ministry is a non-profit organization that provides free meals to at-

risk children in Kentucky and the Greater Cincinnati Area. They provide meals to Boys

and Girls Club, YMCA, and Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky, various after school

programs, and churches in the area. They operate solely through the US Department of

Agriculture (USDA) Child Nutrition Program, which is run at the state level through the

Ohio and Kentucky Department of Education.

Vision: UMC’s vision consists of two main goals; to consistently feed everybody in need

of a meal, and to live out the Gospel through generosity and hospitality. UMC Food

Ministry strives not only to fill the stomachs of people in need, but to connect with

children and adults on a personal level and minister to them through genuine, loving

relationships. UMC Food Ministry wants to become a stable part of the community by

allocating food to other nonprofit organizations and reaching as many people as they

can with their services and resources.

Values: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,” Matthew 25:35. UMC

Food Ministry’s core values are identity, meals, and faith. Identity: The Ministry upholds

the beliefs of John Wesley, by taking food to the places where kids need it the most

instead of expecting the children to come to them. Meals: UMC Food Ministry makes a

point to serve balanced meals that provide the nutrients that children need. They serve

all of their meals based upon USDA food patterns, which include a combination of

bread/grains, protein, fruits, vegetables, and milk. They also try to serve hot meals with
fresh fruits and vegetables, given that they can safely do so in accordance with health

department regulations. Faith: UMC Food Ministry is transparent about being largely

federally funded, however they are not restricted in the activities/content of

programming that may be held when serving food under their program. Though faith is

one of their core values, this only shows through the way they interact with and treat

others. They do not directly or indirectly advertise any type of belief system.

Impact: Since their culmination in 2008, UMC Food Ministry has provided millions of

meals to children and youth in the Northern Kentucky area who have struggled to be

fed. UMC Food Ministry grows larger each year. In 2017, UMC Food Ministry served

nearly 1.5 million meals, most of which were provided to their partner agencies, Boys

and Girls Clubs, YMCA, and Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky. UMC Food Ministry

impacts a large area because they have 8 central kitchens and 92 feeding sites.

Metrics for Success: UMC Food Ministry measures success by the number of USDA

Certified Nutritional Meals provided per season (correlating with school schedules in the

area; Fall, Spring, Summer, Breaks and Holidays). Everyday, UMC Food Ministry

strives to provide food rations that contain a serving of a fresh fruit or vegetable. UMC

believes this fresh fruit drive sets them apart from other food banks and overall UMC

provides healthier options to at risk children. They encourage the growth of personal

faith in the children they feed.

Type of Service: The group was able to clean, cut, package, and seal fresh fruits and

vegetables so at risk children had a healthy option in their meals. The group also

packaged food together that gets shipped out to local non-profit food distribution

centers. UMC is an extension Ministry of the Covington/Northern KY District of the

United Methodist Church that partners with other non-profit organizations to provide

food to areas where there is a substantial population of children who receive free and

reduced lunches in their schools. They mainly serve and operate out of the Northern

Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati area.

3. Group Roles:
Video team: Nonso Okonji, Eric Michael

Infographic team and communications team: Logan Montgomery, Bria Million

Executive Summary team: Zach Bonifas, Josh Davidson, Chris Fenter

Presentation team: Brad Weidner, Alex Haban (Nonso Okonji, Eric Michael)

Our initial action as a group was to break up into four separate groups to

complete the five main components of the project. The communication between our

team and the UMC Food Ministry began by Alex establishing contact with Brady Dean,

an intern with the organization. Once the contact had been established, Bria took over

and planned our visits and kept in touch with the agency. Nonso and Eric headed up the

video team. Nonso did all of the on-site filming for the video, and Eric assisted him in

the editing phase for the final video. There was a lot of work that went into editing the

video to be ready for our presentation. Logan and Bria were tasked to complete the

infographic. Logan and Bria did background research on the UMC Food Bank and

drafted up several sample demographics for the rest of the team to discuss and select.

After this Bria and Logan finalized a couple of graphs to include in the paper. Zach,

Josh, and Chris were given the task to complete the executive summary. Chris

completed the Group Roles section of the report by communicating with the rest of the
team. This allowed him to effectively document a detailed report of the each member’s

contributions. Josh finished the Group Project’s Outcome section. He elaborated on the

strengths and weaknesses of the group in Project Impact and other projects during this

academic year. Zach started the Agency and Project Information section. He was able

to gather background information on UMC Food Ministry and explain their purpose. All

three writers did editing to the paper. The presentation team is made up of Brad, Alex,

Nonso, and Eric. Nonso and Eric are focused on the video aspect of the presentation,

but all 4 team members worked together to practice and complete the presentation. The

timeline wasn’t set in stone; however, it was implied that each group member does their

part by the final breakout session before the Project Impact due date. Josh, Zach, Bria,

Brad, and Alex were able to volunteer on-site at UMC Food Ministry for eight hours,

which is impressive because we all have busy schedules. Chris, Nonso, Logan, and

Eric volunteered for over 4 hours at UMC Food Bank because they had earlier classes.

These individuals made up for lost time by taking on extra roles in the project.

Our two volunteering days were March 20th and March 27th. We volunteered from

8-12 on these two days. We met at the CRC Circle at 7:30am for both trips. UMC Food

Ministry is located 20 minutes south of UC in Covington, Kentucky. We arrived around

8am and were met by Tracie and Brady. Tracie described the two functions our group

would be doing during our volunteer hours. Before she explained the two tasks, she

divided us into two groups according to what time we had to leave. The first function

was packaging the organization’s “enhanced meals” which they deliver to local children

around the Covington area. Tiara was the head of this operation, so she specifically

showed us how to package the meals efficiently. Our specific task was to pack Ziploc
bags with one can of chicken salad, two pickles, three crackers, and a fruit. UMC Food

Bank will hold events for children to come and get their “enhanced meals” or they will

deliver the packages in bulk to churches, schools, and the YMCA for kids to eat. We

produced over 300 “enhanced meals” over the two days. The second function was

slicing various fruits and sealing bags of the sliced fruit. Ralph was the head of this

operation, so he gladly demonstrated what needed to be done. During the first visit, we

sliced and bagged cucumber. As a team, we bagged over 1,000 servings of cucumbers

for at risk kids. The second visit we bagged over 1,000 servings of cantaloupe and

squash. During our first visit, Nonso, Eric, Chris, and Logan packed the enhanced

meals. Josh, Brad, Alex, Bria, and Zach sliced and bagged the cucumbers. During our

second visit, Josh and Bria packed the enhanced meals, while Nonso, Eric, Brad, Alex,

Logan, Zach, and Chris sliced and bagged the cantaloupe and squash.

4. Group Project Outcomes:

Our Project Impact group displayed multiple strengths as we completed the

project. One strength the group presented well was communication within the group.

The group was able to communicate very effectively from the beginning of the project.

We always knew the deliverables of the day, and were able to complete them

effectively. The group was also able to schedule multiple days of community service via

great communication. Another strength our group displayed was honesty and

transparency. We were always honest with group members about the work that needed

to be done and the work that had already been done. Everything in the group was

transparent to insure great productivity and efficiency within the group. Participation
and cooperation was also strong within the group. The roles that were given to each

member appeared to be equal and established equal cooperation among all members.

As with any project, or group effort, there are weaknesses associated with

strengths. One weakness that our group displayed was procrastination. We, as a

group, waited until the last minute to complete assignments and work. Along with

procrastination, our group did not do a great job of setting goals outside of breakout

sections. We tried to rely solely on completing work in class and that proved to be quite

difficult. We later assigned roles outside of class to combat the time management issue

we faced. We were also not very efficient in communicating with our organization. This

created a big problem early on as we could not effectively achieve lasting contact

between our first organization, the Freedom Center. Once we changed organizations,

we adapted and communicated much better with UMC Food Ministry.

In comparison to last semester, the theme of our group’s excellent

communication skills have been a great asset. Through both semesters, we were able

to to get the projects done with equal shares among all members and in a timely

manner. Procrastination, however, was a theme that hindered our group’s efficiency in

both semesters. Though we achieved to get all projects done on time, we waited and

had to rush more than needed. The chemistry within the group appeared to be well.

There did not appear to be any feuds between any members, and that was a great

theme to have.

5. Infographic
6. Service Hours
Zach: 8
Josh: 8
Bria: 8
Brad: 8
Alex: 8
Chris: 6 and worked extra on the project
Nonso: 6 and the video
Eric: 6 and the video
Logan: 6 infographic and more