preset-reading-column · fiveq.content · themes: light, muted
Reading · Column
A comfortable reading column.
Presets: Reading
How we work
Why we stopped asking for proof of need
For our first eight years, every new guest filled out a two-page intake form. In 2017 we threw it away.
The form asked for income, household size, and a utility bill. We told ourselves it helped us plan. What it really did was make people prove they were poor before we'd hand them a bag of rice.
We weren't losing food to people who didn't need it. We were losing people who did.
What changed
Now we ask one question: how many people are you shopping for? Visits went up 40% in the first year. Our shelves didn't empty. Our volunteer list grew, because many of those new guests started signing up for shifts.
- Average check-in time dropped from 9 minutes to under 2.
- First-time guests who came back within a month rose from 31% to 68%.
- We saved about 300 volunteer hours a year on paperwork.
If you run a pantry and want to try it, our volunteer handbook walks through exactly how we made the switch.
preset-reading-toc · fiveq.content · themes: light, muted
Reading · Guide
Long guide with an automatic, sticky table of contents built from the heading 2s.
Volunteer handbook
Everything you need for your first shift
Who we serve
About 3,000 households a year shop our pantry. Most live within a mile of Alder Street. Many are working families whose paycheck runs out before the month does. Others are seniors on fixed incomes, students, and neighbors between jobs.
You won't be able to tell who's who, and that's the point. Everyone gets the same welcome.
Your first shift
Arrive fifteen minutes early and check in with the shift lead at the front desk. You'll get an apron, a name tag, and a buddy who has worked at least ten shifts.
Bring closed-toe shoes, a water bottle, and your appetite. Volunteers eat lunch together after every Saturday shift.
Food safety basics
Wash your hands when you arrive and after every break. Gloves go on for anything unpackaged. Check dates on dairy and meat before shelving, and set aside anything that looks off. When in doubt, ask Grace.
Talking with guests
Say hello and introduce yourself. Ask what they're cooking this week, not what they need. Never ask why someone is here. If a guest shares something hard, listen first, then let the shift lead know so we can follow up.
preset-reading-editorial · fiveq.content · themes: light, muted
Reading · Feature story
Centered column with a drop cap and a big pull quote.
Feature
The kitchen at 418 Alder
The first Thursday dinner fed eleven people. Pastor June made chili in a borrowed slow cooker, and half the guests were volunteers who'd been told there would be food. Nobody minded. They pushed two folding tables together and stayed until the church janitor turned off the lights.
Today the kitchen runs on a commercial range donated by a restaurant that closed during the pandemic, and it feeds two hundred people every week. The folding tables are still there. There are just forty of them now.
Head cook Denise Mbeki plans each menu on Wednesday night, after she sees what the garden and the food bank truck brought in.
I never know what I'm cooking until the day before. That's the fun part.
Her rule is simple: cook it like it's for your own family, because some weeks it is.
preset-reading-policy · fiveq.content · themes: light, muted
Reading · Policy
Policies and legal pages. The first quote becomes a plain-language summary box.
Legal
Privacy policy
Last updated September 1, 2026.
The short version: we only collect what we need to serve you and send receipts, we never sell or share your information, and you can ask us to delete it at any time.
1. What we collect
Your name and email when you volunteer or give, and your household size when you shop the pantry. Nothing else is required.
2. How we use it
To schedule shifts, send tax receipts, and plan how much food to order. We report totals to funders, never names.
3. Who we share it with
Only our payment processor and email service, under agreements that keep your data private.
4. Your choices
Email privacy@commontable.org to see, correct, or delete anything we hold about you. We reply within ten days.