Beyond the Pantry
Building Connection, Dignity, and Stability
​​​Siebert is partnering with Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin and More Than Food Consulting to offer a series of interactive, hands-on online workshops for Lutheran food pantry partners. These sessions are designed to equip pantry leaders with practical tools and strategies to strengthen their role as trusted resources in their communities—supporting not only immediate food needs, but also connection, dignity, and long-term stability for individuals and families.
Participants will explore topics such as effective pantry operations, meaningful guest engagement, and ways to connect guests to additional community resources. Designed for both volunteer-led and staff-supported pantries, each session offers actionable insights and opportunities to learn alongside peers across the network.
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Webinar Descriptions and Action Item Ideas
​Date: Tuesday, February 24th | 12:30-1:30pm CT
Offering Warm Referrals: Connecting neighbors to information or services that are outside of your organization’s scope of work.
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Action Item Ideas: Gather feedback from neighbors about their hopes and goals, learn about community programs and resources, build relationships with community agencies to understand their services and application process. Enroll in our online training program called Referral Ready to start a warm referral program.
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In case you missed the webinar, access the slide deck and webinar recording!
Date: Wednesday, April 22nd | 12:30-1:30pm CT
Promoting Healthy Food Using Healthy Eating Research (HER) Guidelines: Ranking food nutritionally and promoting healthy options.
Action Item Ideas: Create a nutrition statement or policy, source culturally preferred food items, promote healthy items with signage and nutritional nudges to make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Date: Wednesday, August 26th | 12:30-1:30pm CT
Volunteer Engagement: Recruiting, training and interacting with volunteers to build buy-in and enhance pantry culture.
Action Item Ideas: Host volunteer orientations and trainings to discuss customer service and ways to create a welcoming environment, coordinate regular volunteer appreciation events, ensure volunteers reflect the community.
Date: Wednesday, October 28th | 12:30-1:30pm CT
Integrating Wrap Around Services: Supporting neighbors to connect to community resources and programs by offering wrap-around services, one-stop-shopping experiences, and co-locating services with other organizations. Collect feedback from neighbors about additional services that would be beneficial.
Action Item Ideas: Invite other organizations to host on-site classes or workshops, provide on-site services like health screenings, voter registration, or SNAP/WIC enrollment assistance.
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Interested in learning more or signing up? Email Kalyani Grasso at kalyani@siebertfoundtion.org
Thank you to our partners!
