Five days a week, 52 member agency pickups a day, nearly 100 offsite deliveries a week, The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) fills orders from more than 530 food pantries, meal programs and shelters across Eastern Massachusetts —from Framingham to Prov- incetown and from Salisbury to New Bedford. Our member agencies order more than 4 million pounds of healthy food on a monthly basis. About 70 percent pick up food from our Boston Yawkey Distribution Center. The rest pick up from one of five satellite distribution sites or receive deliveries from GBFB. With that much healthy food going out the door, we need fast and efficient systems for every step between order processing and order pickup. It takes a lot of people—from GBFB team members to the employees and volunteers of our member agencies working together to achieve our mission to end hunger here. Getting Healthy Food from GBFB to Those in Need Step 1: Agency Orders A member agency logs on to Shop GBFB to order from our online marketplace, offering as many as 300 items. Agencies can shop up to five days in advance of their order pickup date. Warehouse pickup times are scheduled in 20 minute increments between 8:20 a.m. and 3:20 p.m., Monday through Friday. Step 2: Order Fulfillment On pickup day, GBFB warehouse associates “pick” the order from the racks of our 78,000 square-foot warehouse —dry goods in the morning and perishable items closer to the pickup time. Warehouse associates “stage” or position completed orders at the dock assigned to the agency for pickup. On average, GBFB stages 52 orders a day on its six shipping docks. Step 3: Boston Pickup Agency staff arrive 15 minutes before their scheduled pickup. In addition to their completed online order, agency staff can shop in our on-site Marketplace (see below) for additional items. Agency staff, often with the help of GBFB volunteers, load their vehicles—everything from compact cars to minivans to trucks—before getting on the road back to their communities. Offsite Pickup/Delivery For agencies located far from Boston, we deliver an average of 60 orders per week to satellite docks in Harwich, New Bedford, Peabody, Framingham and Plymouth. Available for only short periods of time for order pickup, this dock space is generously donated by local business owners. For larger agencies with orders of at least 5,400 pounds, GBFB makes direct deliveries, an average of about 40 a week. Step 4: Healthy Food Delivered! The GBFB Marketplace The Greater Boston Food Bank’s Marketplace, located adjacent to our warehouse, offers agencies an assortment of fruits, vegetables and other highly perishable items, such as fresh fish, to add to their order on the spot. On average, the Marketplace distributes more than 12,000 pounds of healthy food a day. Agency Order Statistics Minimum order weight for Boston pickup: 500 pounds Average frequency an agency orders: 2.6 times a month (up to 6 times monthly for largest agencies) Average number of items in an order: 22 items Minimum order weight for satellite dock delivery: 2,500 pounds Average weight of Boston pickup order: 2,900 pounds Average weight of direct delivery order: 5,400 pounds 5 4