Supply Chain in the Era of COVID-19
A year ago, the global supply chain was stretched to its limit during the onset of COVID-19, causing ripple effects across most industries and their consumers. The then mysterious virus was front and center, the world on the edge of its seat as countries closed their borders and mandatory lock downs were enforced. People found themselves on the outside looking in, waiting for the virus to show up in their backyard - it was just a matter of time. As fear gripped the nation, uncertainty drove the demand for food and other essentials to a fever pitch where frenzied crowds created a national shortage of hand sanitizer, masks, disinfectant wipes, toilet paper, and bottled water…just to name a few. Logistics and supply of goods varied wildly as closed borders prevented goods from entering into the country and retail establishments were closing their doors due to state-by-state safety regulations. These moments tested the true mettle of organizations; to embrace change and adapt through innovation and ingenuity or find yourself paralyzed, not knowing how to move forward. World Vision chose to lean in - the results were unprecedented with the amount of resources that were distributed to every corner of the U.S. We had a record year bringing lifesaving resources to over 12.5 million people while distributing 100 million pounds of food to vulnerable Americans.
Five ways World Vision ensured that our supply chain remained open to distribute food, hand sanitizer, masks, diapers, and other supplies to vulnerable communities.
- Safety - Safety is always a top priority for World Vision, a child focused non-profit humanitarian organization. We care deeply about the well-being of our employees and we work hard to ensure that our front-line workers and their families are safe and healthy. We understand that their welfare is directly correlated to the success and growth of our programming in the field, especially as we responded head-on to the COVID-19 crisis.
We quickly pivoted and formed an organization-wide COVID-19 Taskforce that monitors the pandemic daily at the national, state, and local level to develop effective safety protocols. Such protocols include mask wearing, social distancing, touchless check-in stations with QR codes, and regular sanitization of high-touch areas.
A newly appointed COVID-19 Champion position was implemented at each of our seven warehouse distribution centers where the Champion works in tandem with the COVID-19 Task Force to implement and enforce safety protocols through a lens of continuous improvement as guidelines rapidly change with the tide of the pandemic. In addition to our front-line staff, volunteers are the lifeblood of World Vision when it comes to completing supply chain tasks such as sorting donated product, assembling food kits and helping to load out supplies for local partners. Volunteer safety is paramount and navigating the right balance of having them on site to support our system versus lowering the overall exposure at each site has proven to be an ongoing challenge during the pandemic. Constant collaboration and communication with key organizational stakeholders such as the COVID-19 Taskforce has proven critical to our success.
2. Innovation - Innovators often thrive during seasons of change. Heightened attention to change management continues to play a critical role in steering a large enterprise such as World Vision where staff are our main asset and they are imbedded within the fabric of the humanitarian work we do as a non-profit organization.
We reviewed every aspect of our business from the type of products we procure to how we move product – we shifted from a retail distribution model to a touchless curbside pick-up model in hopes of limiting the amount of foot traffic inside our sites.
An opportunity was created with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to partner with last mile distribution of boxes of fresh produce, dairy and meat in nearly every state. This was a new space for World Vision, but we quickly developed cold-chain standards, secured refrigerated trailers for dozens of locations receiving food, and trained over 100 churches on safety protocols and best-in-class distribution models. Doing this has meant that our vast network of church partners have been able to receive and distribute thousands of boxes of foods each week to their community. All of this was done at a rapid pace via virtual conferencing technology due to restrictions on travel.
3. Taking risks - "No risk, no reward," a quote we all have heard but may not understand. The challenge for World Vision has been finding the right amount of risk to take in order to make the biggest impact to those who are vulnerable. As a child-focused non-profit, World Vision prides itself on risk mitigation while aggressively managing unintended consequences. With that philosophy as our foundation, we set out to take on the appropriate amount of risk with the driver being, people are hungry, and they needed help.
World Vision for years has distributed shelf stable food through our network and events such as weekend backpack feeding programs, but over my 16-year tenure, we have never worked with perishable foods. The learning curve with handling fresh food and its cold-chain integrity was very real but the reward of bringing millions of pounds of nourishing food to dire families from the South Bronx to the Navajo Nation greatly outweighed the risk of the unknown in this space. 10 months into the fresh food program, the risk has continued to pay off in the form of new partnerships with key churches, as well as relationships with food distributors and freight carriers. The greater market awareness of World Vision's domestic work has opened new donor engagements opportunities as well.
4. Listening to the voice of the customer - In the non-profit space, our customers are the partners that we serve. As the pandemic started to ramp up in late February, World Vision met with key stakeholders (pastors, School Superintendents, community leaders, etc.) to listen and understand their concerns. The theme that rose to the top of almost every conversation was, when schools shut down, children in those schools who rely on free breakfast and lunch will go hungry. With this data, World Vision set off to create a solution where we developed a Family Emergency Kit which includes enough shelf stable food to feed a family of five for one week and and a bag full of other essential items (school supplies, PPE, laundry soap, shampoo, toilet paper, etc.) Much preparation and strong relationships allowed World Vision to create these kits, develop a funding strategy, and launch a touchless distribution model that was created in less than a week after the U.S. declared a national emergency in mid-March. Shortly after, we scaled this model to 14 strategic regions across the U.S.
5. Investment in our partner network - In the same vein of how we care about our staff, World Vision cares about our amazing partners in the community. We wanted to remove any obstacles (financial, logistical, strategic, etc.) that would prevent them from being able to serve during the pandemic. World Vision increased its partner network by 30% within a matter of months to meet the community’s growing needs and we equipped them with the supplies they needed to effectively serve.
In the early months of the pandemic, when hand sanitizer was impossible to purchase , we assembled boxes containing a variety of PPE including enough hand sanitizer, facemask, disinfectant wipes, and more for our community partners to keep their staff and volunteers safe as they distributed World Vision’s Family Emergency Kits. We also met with our community partners to understand their operational needs and worked to answer their need by providing pallet jacks, fork-lifts, and grants for other expenses. We walked alongside them with capacity training and at the height of the pandemic, we were coordinating 400+ truckloads of fresh food per month to over 70 hub locations scattered throughout the urban and rural areas of our country.
This has been a challenging year to say the least. As we look back and reflect on everything that has transpired, I am filled with a deep sense of gratitude for how our teams have responded to the greatest crisis our country has ever faced. I am encouraged that the future is bright as vaccinations increase daily - moving forward to find healing from this season seems more like a reality. Wherever we find ourselves, World Vision will continue to sustain our work to serve the most vulnerable families as it is predicted that their needs will remain long after the virus is contained.