Pivoting

Today’s blog is written by SWH Co-Founder Jeffrey Yoh

Last spring, as the pandemic started to become widespread, Servants With a Heart was virtually shutdown. We have had almost three million meals canceled at schools, churches, and with other organizations because our packing events require so many people to work so closely together. Our partners at Furniture Factory Outlet World thankfully offered us space to set up a permanent packing facility (which will remain long after COVID-19 is a distant memory!).

Our family, along with two other SWH families and our Program Director, experimented in the space with a variety of ways for individuals and families to pack efficiently while safely following social distancing protocols, and we eventually came up with a social distancing packing model that uses between 23 and 40 volunteers on four modified packing lines.

We worked as a group (mostly members of our SWH Leadership Team, along with some professional help and guidance) to renovate the area in the store—took down walls (and rebuilt some), repaired drywall, tore out carpet and risers, sanded, painted, had the concrete floors polished, added doors, moved in our commercial sink, and added heat and A/C.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, down at Furniture Factory Outlet World and at two local churches, we have packed 824,962 meals, 134,352 of which stayed in the Charlotte area. We pack nearly every Saturday with a group of up to 40 volunteers who can make roughly 12,000 meals. Please consider joining us for our next SWH Impact Day, and if you are interested in using our socially distanced packing protocols with your group either in our space or yours, please contact us!

Jeff Yoh, SWH Co-Founder

SWH Leadership Team members Jeff, Jeff, and Jeff (the middle one is the author of this post) hanging crown molding in our new space!