How One Pro Bono Volunteer Has Helped Improve Our Processes

Fatih has been volunteering with Second Harvest Heartland’s CSFP team, helping them get the most out of the funds provided to the program. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) provides low-income seniors age 60+ with a free box of nutritious and shelf-stable groceries each month. These food boxes help seniors channel their financial resources toward urgent expenses like medicine and utilities instead of groceries. 

Fatih has been assisting the team in process mapping. This mapping makes sure that neighbors are receiving their food boxes efficiently and that the cost of the program is acceptable for the organization. 

Fatih is retired from 3M and saw the call for skills-based project volunteers at Second Harvest Heartland on our website. Kelly Mortvedt, Second Harvest Heartland’s volunteer engagement manager, recognized Fatih’s unique skillset and felt that he would be a good fit for helping with CSFP’s operations. 

“While at 3M, one of the things I did was process improvement. We did this in our factories, and sometimes in product development,” says Fatih. “I was trained in a number of tools, such as Lean Six Sigma, and other leadership and facilitation skills.” 

“This opportunity allows me to use my expertise to improve processes and make an impact.”

Fatih is grateful for the opportunity to help assist seniors in putting meals on their table, as well as to work with the CSFP team. “At the end of the day, it’s all about food equity. We want to make sure that people can have a meal. For those of us that are lucky to not have issues [with affording food], it can be hard to understand what people go through. So, [I appreciate] being able to help in some way to make that process even better in terms of reducing the cost so we can serve more people or use our resources more effectively.”
 

Fatih believes that small efforts can make huge impacts in the goal of ending hunger together. “The team is doing a great job day in and day out. I'm so happy to be able to work together to make the current process more efficient."

"It’s sad to see that there’s still a lot of hunger out there, and anything I can do to contribute—even how little it is—it’s all a bonus for me.”