Becoming a Choice Partner!
Between August 2012 and August of 2015, Bayou City Blessings in a Backpack purchased groceries and inventory from retail distributors such as Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Joe V’s Smart Shop and other local grocers. The process of acquiring inventory was labor intensive as it required volunteers to shop, load, unload, organize, pack and then deliver weekend food bags. This process meant that volunteers were moving the same inventory multiple times which was not efficient or effective. Because of the growth of BCB, it was time to begin a new school year by partnering with other organizations in order to find purchasing options on a larger scale.
BCB learned about Harris County Department of Education’s Choice Partners Program in August of 2015. The Choice Partners program offers local school districts, governmental agencies and not for profits a collective membership into the Co-Op for greater purchasing power. Here are some assets of membership as found on the Choice Partners website.
Choice Partners provides “quality, quick methods of delivering facilities services which:
• Saves BCB volunteers time in purchasing. Contracts are already competitively procured.
• Saves BCB volunteers time in purchasing food services
• Maximizes BCB donations for food purchasing
• Improves BCB procurement and efficiency in acquiring foods meeting nutritional standards fo elementary children
• Extends volunteer time through the use of these contracts.
HCDE’s Choice Partners members awarded contracts to Gordon Food Services as one grocery vendor and BCB was thrilled to select them as a new grocery partner. GFS allows BCB to order directly from the website with designated inventory and pricing for Choice Partners. This process is easy, efficient and insures products that meet nutritional standards for elementary children. The healthy inventory available to BCB is the same inventory served in school cafeterias by many local independent school districts.
Each fall, HCDE’s Choice Partners hosts a Food Show to showcase new products and ordering options. The ordering team from BCB has attended this since 2015 and always looks forward to learning about industry trends and new inventory.
GFS has been and continues to be a huge ally to BCB. Each of our account representatives, Terrance, Nate, McKenzie and many more, work tirelessly to insure that the children in our program has the best product available. This phenomenal team will alert our buying team to discounts, and clearance items which helps us to stretch every donation dollar.
In addition to GFS being an amazing grocery partner to BCB, they are also an amazing source of financial and volunteer support for which we are incredibly grateful.
