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Transport receipt format for NPOs

so thank you everybody thank you for your patience as the rest of the world has moved forward with zoom we've gone other platforms I'm not quite as familiar with zoom but we're getting there we're getting there um so I want to thank you all for coming to today's Workshop uh there was a question before is I have many people in the room will we all receive credit for it there is no actual like credit to be given for this this is an optional class um it's more for your benefit to fully under to make sure that you are able to remain compliant if you choose to apply for them so I'm Carrie L I'm the director of agency Services hi everybody uh we have Katherine dorby agency grants and Communications coordinator here as well I'm going to review the hip naap portion Katherine will review the operation support portion of today's Workshop right now we have everybody's cameras on um I will be turning off my camera once we get started uh we also have everybody on mute coming in you are welcome to take yourself off of mute to ask questions or to use the chat box for to ask questions Katherine is going to be putting assuming the computer cooperates with her she will be putting a link to the presentation in the chat box for you so that you can download the slides for your convenience any questions before we get started okay now we get to watch Carrie Dazzle you and share the screen so can you all see a screen okay great I'm going to turn my camera off now and we're going to get started all right so we're here today talking about hpnp what does hpnp mean hpnp is hunger prevention nutrition assistance program a brief overview it's actually been around since 1984 okay it is funded by New York State Department of Health and fun fact for the state is I don't know of any other state that off off a program like this so it is a very unique program uh it is administered by eight of the 10 food banks across New York state it is supplemental it is not meant to be your primary source of funding it is meant to supplement the cost of food and operational cost for food pantries soup kitchens and Emergency Shelters only and the way that they do that is by both the food Grant which I'll talk about and then operation support which Katherine's going to talk about they also have food safety education sanitation supplies nutrition information just say yes for fruits and vegetables and I'll talk more about that later so let's talk about the food Grant the application process does depend on inclusion and passage of the New York state budget so as an update I think you've been receiving the emails um it was included it was passed but not at the level that we had been hoping for so we had been hoping for 75 million for across the state they funded it at 50 million okay we are doing a push for advocacy um to sign a petition to try to increase that amount and get a legislative award out of that so Katherine is going to be putting a QR code at some computer's fighting her she'll be putting a QR code in the chat box as well I encourage you to sign that petition that petition gets the food pantri soube kitchens and shelters hopefully more funding so that you can feed more people okay the grant year runs July 1 through June 30 there is an Advisory board that meets late winter to discuss any changes from hpnp and then we review the applications for anything new or any changes that have to be made the by the first week of March you know on March 1st we are letting you know that applications are available on our website so we did that by sending out emails to all of you and we also mailed postcards that is the only physical mailing you get from us is that postcard saying the applications are online so we have transition to electronic applic applications where it's a fillable PDF that you can download to your computer save and then return to us electronically applications are due April 12th and must be returned by this date incomplete or late applications are not accepted the review board then meets to determine the awards award letters go out to in mid to late June so I know it's hard to wait but patience please um and then the grant is activated for any order picked up on or after July 1st I go whoa sorry I went to the end wrong button some general requirements so the emergency feeding relief organization which is a food pantry soup kitchen or shelter you must have been operational for at least six continuing months before you apply for the funding okay you are to spend the grand funds throughout the period not through one large order you must provide food free of charge with no requirements to the to the general public no requirement for participation in religious prayer ceremony education or consultation as a condition you can never refuse to give food to any person on the basis of race color citizenship religion sex national origin ancestry age marital status disability sexual orientation which includes gender identity unfavorable discharge from the military or status as a protected veteran you must also provide food to anybody who's requesting it on their first visit regardless of they meet any of your criteria as a food pantry you are allowed to set geographical boundaries doesn't mean you have to but you are allowed to but if somebody comes to you for that first time and Falls outside of your geographical boundaries you have to serve them the first time just like you would serve anybody else if they don't have any paperwork that you that you normally require the first time you serve them regardless just like you would serve anybody else you can never ask to see nor can you record Social Security numbers you must post agency and guest Bill of Rights those are available on our website we also have them available in Spanish on our website if you are a soup kitchen that serves more than one meal per week you must have a a current Department of Health permit you must comply with food safety standards you must agree to let us the regional Food Bank visit you at least every two years to check to make sure that everything is being stored safely you must receive the food safe or safe food handling training at least once every five years we offer that on a regular basis if the grant year coming up you are due for food safety Alex will be emailing you repeatedly to let you know that you need to take food safety by the end of May or miday I think it is so it's not it should never be a surprise um but we do require that it's at least one person ideally it should be more but we're saying one person Katherine the way I have it set up right now I can't see my chat box so will you let let me know if there's questions at any point thank you we all doing okay so far lovely um other requirements you must have a 501c3 nonprofit public charity status or be sponsored by 501c3 nonprofit public charity if you are already a member of the regional Food Bank you've already met this requirement if you are not not a member of the food bank and you're applying then you have to attach that status that determination letter with your application there are minimum nutrition requirements that goes along with receiving hip naap so for a food pantry soup kitchen shelter a hip naap meal consists of at least one serving from three of the five food groups and at least one of those servings must be your fruit or a vegetable ideally you should be trying to provide at least two servings of fruit or vegetable per every per meal so the five food groups are grains breads pasta cereal fruits vegetables meat poultry fish beans eggs nuts dairy milk cheese and yogurt if you are a soup kitchen or an emergency shelter okay we also have this I see people taking notes we have this on our website at Regional food bank.net under agency resources and forms that is there written there for you if you are a food pantry hipap acknowledges you may not for example have the cold storage for a lot of dairy items fruits and vegetables offer similar benefits of the vitamins and minerals the fiber um so they have Consolidated for a food pantry those five food groups are actually three food groups for a food pantry so one group would be your grains breads pasta cereal another is your fruits and vegetables combined and then while Dairy yes provides calcium it's also a really good source of protein so they've combined the dairy with the pro with the protein groups so that makes your three food groups for a food pantry food pantries are expected to provide three meals per person for three days in the pantry bag so each person that you're receiving should be getting nine meals and that's based on that chart that you have seen on our website you see at our site visits again it is per person so you need to be adjusting for larger families smaller families okay it's not one size fits all while we ask how many how much food do you give for a family of four if your family is seven you've adjusted for a family size of seven or you've adjusted down for a family size of two questions on any of that okay we shall keep moving in years past um and we don't do it every year but last year we did host two in person what's in a bag workshops and then it due to popular demand we did it virtually as well what's in bag workshops helps I um familiarize food pantries with how to pack a food pantry bag ing to hpnp guidelines um how to offer the most nutritious Foods least amount of money we did record the virtual one and we do have that recording on our website if you wanted to listen to that with that being said Alex Lamberton is the nutrition resource manager and he is always able to assist if you have questions about what counts or what doesn't count or how can I do this better please give Alex a call he's extension 290 by the way so hipap is given as a line of credit on account here at the food bank it is not money in hand it is a line of credit the lines of credit are used to pay the handling fees for eligible items eligible items are marked with an asterisk if it is that static PDF that we upload to our website Monday Tuesday and Friday mornings by now most people are ordering using pww with the live inventory so if you're looking at the live inventory it's going to say yes in the state Grant column to know that it's eligible for hpnp and those cost for hpnp eligible foods are automatically deducted from your Grant when you place your order this is an example of what it would look like the top half is that stat PDF that I talked about Monday Tuesday Friday uploaded to our website it's outdated as soon as it's updated as soon as it's loaded but in the middle you see that asterisk yes for hipap so the marinara sauce the red pepper sauce are eligible the gravy is not okay the bottom half is if you're looking at pww where you're getting a live inventory and it is up to date as of when you are looking at it you're going to see under the state Grand column liquid starch is not hpnp eligible not a tasty food um but the sausage patties or the sausage the fish patties stuffing are eligible when you spend your Grant the awards again are on account for any order that you pick up on or after July 1st you are encouraged to spend the funding on a regular basis throughout the year unspent funds we reserve the right unspent funds may be reallocated in December and near the end of June okay to give everybody a better shot at spending these hpn funding and that's because this is meant to be spent throughout the year it is not meant so that you can get turkeys at Thanksgiving or Easter baskets it is to feed people year round okay and then all funds must be spent no later on orders picked up no later than June 20th of 2025 for this upcoming Grant year questions yet okay um so how do you find out how much you have left on your account on your balance for your one way is your monthly statement we no longer mail these monthly statements to you instead you log into pww and you access your statements through pww okay so if you are not the person who pays the bills your choice is to either forward those statements to the bill payer or provide that login information to the bill payer but on the bottom of each statement is going to tell you your available Grant Balance you also can log into pww and click on the grants tab that also will show you your available Grant Balance in addition on the bottom of every invoice so every time you pick up an order from the food bank also on the bottom of those shows your Grant balances so there's a number of different ways that you can see how much money you have left at this point the system does not tell you how much you started with but it does tell you how much you have left one of the conditions of receiving and keeping hipap is that you submit monthly reports so these monthly reports must be submitted on pww between the last day of the month for which you're repor repor in and the 10th of the following month so if you're reporting for the month of March you can submit starting with March 31st but no later than April 10th if it's after the 10th of the system if it's after the 10th of the month the system is not going to let you place an order it's going to tell you that you must submit the statistics in order to continue if it's after the 25th of the month we are going to have to to physically place you on hold your account on hold while you should still be entering those numbers you will not be removed from hole until you reach out to Catherine whether you're calling her or emailing her to let her know that you have entered those numbers even if you are closed for the month or if you spent all of your funding you still have to enter a monthly report and why does all of that matter well let me I'll come I'll get there I guess I was ahead of myself um to enter the reports on pww you're going to choose that statistics tab for the effective date if you're reporting for M for March you will from the dropdown choose the month of March from the dropdown you'll choose the year of 2024 comments we we do not see any comments that you enter there unless we go in and open up your account the report pulls the numbers it does not pull the comments so you might be saying hi thank you so much for all that you do that's lovely thank you um but if you are trying to give us additional information in there that will not be captured you have to actually reach out to us separately what we would like to see in that top comment section is the contact information for who is entering the monthly statistics so that if we have a question about them we know who exactly to reach out to uh the age ranges did change July 2023 so you are keeping track of the number of children ages 0 to 17 the number of adults ages 18 to 59 and elderly 60 and above I know it's an offensive term more and more so every year but that's what the state is going with a food pantry also keeps track of the number of households being served okay soup kitchens and shelters you are counting let's go with soup kitchens first you are counting the number of people that you are serving you are not asking them for their age for a soup kitchen you can visually assess how old do you think that they are okay for an emergency shelter you are counting the number of meals being provided so if you have five people in your shelter for the month it's not going to be five adults it's going to be how many breakfast lunch and dinner did you provide to those five people throughout the month okay so if you're an emergency shelter and you have questions about that please give us a call to make sure that your statistics are being entered correctly and we're capturing the information correctly um that common section on the right of the quantity is nothing it it's we don't need that it's unnecessary any questions yes there was one in regards to uh uh service insights I am confirming with Katie that she is entering the statistics for you okay if um if you are using service but I have she is yes um some of you have started using service insights that is a free intake platform by by that we are offering through feeding America um and you're working with Katie VanZant here at the food bank and as of right now Katie has been entering your monthly statistics for you um at some point she's not g to be able to keep doing that and I'm sure they have a plan and process for how that will that will work um but if you're using service insights the same information is being captured any other questions okay so why why do these reports matter um so these are like important state hunger stats they use are used to legitimize the need for funding additional funding okay so it helps to paint a picture of the need in your community whether it be for local funding or state funding we can't submit our reports until we have your statistics we are also being held accountable to the state for our reports on the 25th of the month is when Katherine runs the report pulls the numbers and submits them to the state that is why if it's after the 25th um we have no way of knowing and you have to reach out to her because we've already turned in our report we then have to reach out and update our report to the state so because there is those risk you do run the the risk of losing your grand or we run the risk of losing our grant if things are not being reported in timely fashion and if you have constant reporting issues you are not considered for funding you may not be considered for funding or you may be getting a reduced allocation we do have this Matrix set up um for the number of late a late report is considered anything after the 25th that's what we're currently going with yeah the 25th um so if you consistently have late reports you lose L funding some different hypnot projects the hypnot produce Grant so when you are looking at our inventory you might see hipap produce a case of Beats $35 and you're like I'm not going to spend my money on on Beats so what hipap produce is it is funding part it's a part of the hypn funding it does not come out of your Grant okay it is a separate pulled Grant of funding uh it's largely New York State grown Pro um produce I was going to say product but it's produce it is whenever we have it available there are no limits you can order as much as you reasonably think that you can use and store it tends to be harder and shelf stable because hipap requires that we purchase product the rest of our our prod produce is largely donated so this we are intentionally ordering the product which means it tends to be a higher quality product largely shelf stable but not always sometimes we get raspberries or strawberries and they just don't have a great shelf life um but I encourage you to order hipap produce whenever you think you can even though there is a cost for it you will see on the bottom of your invoice that came out of a hpn produce Grant it does not come out of your personal award Bo okay any questions on the hypn produce okay um we also have sanitation supplies so if we come to do a site visit to your food pantry soup kitchen or shelter even if you do not receive hpn we can provide you up to three Appliance thermometers at each site visit if you're a meal program we can provide you up to one pro thermometer with that being said you are expected to have a thermometer in your unit at all times and you are expected to not be waiting until we come to see you because you need to make sure that you are storing your food at food safe temperatures at all times um the other part of Sanitation supplies is if you are a soup kitchen or an emergency shelter we do assemble kits that contain cutting boards um gloves hand soap thermometers chlorine test strip kits and those kits went into inventory last early this week for soup kitchens and shelters we have a nutrition resource manager I mentioned Alex Lamberton extension 290 or Alex L Regional food bank.net so Alex is going to make sure that as a food pantry your meal pack AG is meeting hpnp requirements we're going to be working with soup kitchens and Emergency Shelters to make sure those meals are meeting hipap uh minimum requirements he conducts the food safety training and monitors that and keeps track of that he is available to answer any nutrition or food safety questions you have at any point so please make sure that you are reaching out to Alex with your questions we have just say as fruits and vegetables which is free nutrition education for the people who come to use your programs okay right now Kristen Bop is the jsy nutrition educator for the upstate portion of our territory the downstate portion position is still vacant but that is free nutrition education to help people figure out how to use the pinto beans for example okay and finally we have milk cards if you are receiving hpnp once a year we send you some milk cards so hpap requires that we spend a certain percentage of our budget on fluid milk we don't have the storage capacity and you don't have the storage capacity to store a large amount of milk so the way that we Implement that is with milk cards largely we work with steuarts because Stewarts is in 21 of our 23 counties and so we turn that we take that percentage of our of the funding we convert that into milk cards and once a year we will send you some milk cards for those living in putam for those living in in Rockland County there are no stewards we work with inarah ShopRite same principle we send you milk cards for inara shoppr right these milk cards can be either given to a family I would confirm that they do drink milk first or you can choose to redeem them yourself and pass out the milk either option unfortunately putham County we have no vendors that we can work with um but that is how we handle the milk cards and with that being said they are currently enveloped up you will be seeing in the next week if you are currently receiving hpnp you'll be getting an invoice for the milk cards do not panic again this does not come out of your hipap budget your line of credit this like the hipap produce comes from a separate budget but we do have to invoice them to you any questions on that is there a vendor that you use for the beacon area um for Beacon we are using stewards I understand that there may not be a stewards there if you do get mil cards that you can't use you can send them back and we can reallocate them elsewhere and I know that's not an ideal system but the capacity restraints of us and you in particular is just this has been the way that has worked for best for everyone anything else in there okay so what I need you to remember is hpnp is supplemental it is supplemental did I say that enough this is not your entire budget for the year you are still you still need to fund raise you still need to find other sources of funding even though it is supplemental funding you must abide by those hipap requirements all year round it's not I'm out of hypnot funding I no longer have to give three meals a day for three days per person or I don't have to serve people on the first visit you still have to do all of the above applications are due here April 12th we do prefer electronic returns of application if you submit your your application electronically Katherine's going to send you an email saying thank you it's been received if you send it in the through the mail we've had some show up three months later um there is no guarantee we do not send the confirmations if we get them by mail okay and again it is dependent on the New York state budget and it's never guaranteed so with that being said I am going to turn my camera on to see if you guys have any questions before we turn it over to Katherine feel free to unmute if you have questions about hypn may I ask oh go ahead girl oh may I ask a question about the AAP Grant um my understanding of that was if I shop the dock at the food bank what I pick up there comes off the AAP Grant now this this may seem a bit odd but um I seem to be unable to spend mine it's increasing um okay so whether you pick up from here at an order here at the food bank or a delivery site or if you shop the dock if it's hpnp eligible it will come from hpnp your AAP is funds that are donated that never expire and they will be used to cover anything that is not covered by a more specific Grant it is the last chance so if you're finding that you're being charged but you still have you have you have a balance but you still have AAP yeah um please call Valerie at extension 244 okay did that answer the question Gale it did thank you welcome is there anything in the chat box any other questions okay I'm gonna turn I'm gonna get up Katherine's gonna come over and gonna talk about operation support [Music] your name all right hello everyone so good to see you thank you so much for joining us today I'm just going [Music] to you still see the thing Perfect all right some around all right all right so I'm going to talk about the operation support Grant so this is similar and yet different than the hpnp grant it is still under the same hpnp umbrella but operation support provides nonf food support to eligible emergency feeding programs so the amount of an operation support Grant is limited and is variable based on the annual state budget Appropriations so the link that I had sent earlier and what Carrie had talked about it is important to Advocate to the state to say just how important These funds are so if you haven't already please sign that petition and let's try to um get the state to understand just how important it is because OS and hipap are both uh affected by this so the maximum award that can be requested is 3 ,000 total not $33,000 from each category that I'll be going over shortly so due to the limited funds and the increased number of requests most grants will be less than that 3,000 so funding is Operation expenses in six categories so the awards may not be used to support any activity where the primary purpose is to distribute tfap USDA Foods operation support Awards any single program may not exceed that 3,000 and there is no minimum award limit so let's go over those six categories so the first one we have is Staff costs so this is only direct Food Service workers um that can be funded under the staff cost so this includes people that are actually engaging in serving the community or storing of food such as Cooks kitchen help Pantry workers and food service or storage area cleanup persons a job description that includes specific duties and percent of time spent doing those duties must be included in the application so what is not covered are administrative Personnel such as bootkey we have is utility costs and boy do we know that all those utilities are going up every time I get my build each month um so utility costs associated with food service or storage areas may be funded so an electricity or heating bill for the um food service area specifically so what's not covered are trash or recycling removal or pest control services water or sewer charges or telephone costs or costs associated with other than food service or storage areas those are not funded either so when we say utility we're really looking for heat and electricity and or electricity our next category is Food Service space costs so this is costs for the occupation of space for direct food service or storage areas that may be funded so operation support can fund rent or user fees charged during the grant year so you must include a percent of rented space occupied by the food program on the application floor plans may be requested by us if need be so some people just have agreements that just say um for your use for the food pantry you pay us x amount per month that's perfect or if they if it's a rental for like the whole building and only 10% of that space is the food pantry then we would look at that 10% we do require a rental lease agreement um when you get your approved budget form you'll have to send that into us and that would be due in August so what's not fundable is the cost for administrative offices or mortgage payments any questions so far as we're kind of going through the categories Sarah you have a question yes um what if like I see you can't uh do the director costs but uh what if I'm the only employee well if you're actively working on the Food Service then that can absolutely be covered okay all right P yeah of course good question anyone else so far all right we'll keep chugging along our next category is Food Service paper products and other supplies so this is for non-durable supplies necessary for the provision of on-site meals such as paper plastic recyclable bags disposable plates cups napkins din wear tablecloths plastic wrap aluminum foil foil steam table hands food containers Food Service gloves disposable aprons hair nuts and garbage bags Thermo blankets are also an allowable expense so that's for on-site programs like soup kitchens and Emergency Shelters food pantries may only claim Food Service gloves grocery bags cardboard boxes or the thermal blankets an itemized list of products and the quantity of each and estimated yearly cost must be provided in the application so all the things that we're kind of talking about of things that we do need um are in the actual application we do make a a nice uh layout for you to explain where these costs are coming from um so we'll we'll take a look at that shortly so things that are not fundable are things like office supplies bath tissue facial tissue Sterno cleaning materials vehicle fuel or masks so there's a lot of stuff that can be covered um it's usually anyone I think everyone can use some of these things in their uh in their day-to-day functions next we have transportation expenses so these are the costs for transportation of food from the food bank Warehouse or food bank delivery site to the emergency feeding program so due to the pandemic Transportation cost to deliver food and meals to recipients home are allowed and that is still the case they have still allowed that this does not cover cost for volunteer mileage from the home to the agency or trips to pick up donations or mass distributions so we had these set up in two different categories we've got mileage reimbursement at 67 cents per mile or payments to rent a cargo van or trucks from a vehicle rental company I know a lot of you guys do use like U-Haul and things like that to pick up your larger orders that would absolutely be covered under this grant any questions so far because I know transfer portation and the um disposable items are kind of a big category all right looks like radio silence I'll take it as a good thing there vehicle fuel vehicle fuel so the reimbursement mileage is what's covering the fuel um but you can provide a fuel receipt for um when you're using a U-Haul um or a rental service you can absolutely um put that towards it as well and then did you just say that deliveries to homes is still eligible yes and so and then um vehicle fuel for organization vehicle if you're using the organization's vehicle it's going okay so yeah if if in regards to the fuel if it is um a an agency's actual vehicle the vehicle belongs to the group then that's just going to be done as uh mileage reimbursement at 67 cents per mile you just have to show that you've done those mileage and it comes out to that cost I have a question on Transportation okay go ahead Debbie um I'm new at this so it's okay just trying to understand that I guess the transportation is the only thing that we apply for under the operations support um so I'm trying to clarify um if we have a couple that they're the only ones they have a trailer behind their vehicle like a open trailer and um they go to a food delivery site to pick up like say twice a month and they so a couple questions is um I'm seeing that the transportation cost that they can be um what do you call it um I can like write a check for them for their mileage but the mileage is only from is it it's not from their house to delivery correct it it's the mileage is calculated from your site to our either delivery site or the warehouse so you can calculate them leaving from from your agency to us and then back and then that would be what they would get reimbursed for and um so again like when I look at the paperwor it requires there's a log that's required to document this and it talks about recording the odometer readings so if it's the same people going the same back back and forth all year do they I mean you know it's it's the same mileage it doesn't change so is the odometer readings still required odometer readings are still required and it's got to be from the site to the delivery site correct so that that's the the mileage that is done I understand if they do leave from their home like they don't need to come to you first um so if they at least get like the beginning dominer reading and then you can do the C calculations um coming here and then back then that would work okay thank you right of course and I'm always here for any questions so when when it comes time for documentation and stuff please feel free to reach out and I'll be happy to to iron things out for you further thank you of course any other questions all right all right so moving on we have got food service equipment purchases goodness knows we all need those freezers and fridges and things like that so this is for new food service equipment items essential to emergency feeding Pro program operations including fridges freezers wire shelving ranges ovens steam tables and hand trucks obviously if you're a food pantry you're looking at fridges and freezers you're not looking at range ovens or steam tables or that kind of thing um but still this is a this is a great opportunity if you're looking to expand um your cooler space this is definitely a great way to do it to get funding special conditions regarding the equipment purchases so the equipment would be formly owned by New York State and cannot be disposed of or transferred to another agency without prior approval grantee is responsible for maintenance and repairs and the grant does not cover building alterations wiring Plumbing work or other installation charges things that are not fundable are used or reconditioned equipment this has to be new equipment um the state is actually highly recommending that commercial units are purchased but understanding that sometimes due to spacing um family units are allowed to be purchased as well office equipment air conditionings Heating units or fans are not fundable also wooden or plastic shelving or cabinets or any sort of custommade storage unit or appliances are not covered as well same thing with small electrical appliances or kitchen utensils those are not covered all right so when it comes to getting these um the grants for the equipment we do require two price quotes from different vendors for a comparable unit that must be submitted with the application and the quote should be good for 6 months we do accept screenshots from from websites like Home Depot and Lowe's from the big Distributors the service plan may be covered if submitted with the quotes equipment must be able to be put into immediate service and it is New York State's policy to award the lowest quote that you send over all right um so if you are awarded confirm the vendor quotes after the grant is awarded and then purchase the equipment immediately following the receipt of the grant check you can actually purchase it before you actually get the check in hand as long as it the purchase is made after July 1st so July 1st is the magical date for both hipap and operation support so all the spending we're looking for is to be made on or after July 1st of 2024 all right any questions before we go on in regards to any of those categories and what they cover I know it's a lot of information so I just wanted to check in okay we'll continue on so when you are filling out the application you must apply for hpnp and operation support every year so this is very important if you want to keep getting the line of credit for hpnp you must apply for it each year if you want to keep getting operation support you have to keep reapplying every year all the information requested on pages 1 through five and page 13 of the application must be provided so that's a lot of information just uh contact information and things like that the operation support application is longer and it does have um some short answer questions so we go over that shortly the application must be signed on page 13 by the executive director or the person listed as your 501 C3 so sections d and e these are the short answer kind of things so points will be reducted if answers exceed the space provided and please make sure and this is the biggest help I can I can give please answer the question that is asked so if you're reviewing your application make sure you're just taking a look at your answer and making sure that you are answering the questions that we have asked then Pages six or 12 are the category um category specific pages so just make sure you complete the pages that for the categories that you're asking for so where do I find these applications so electronic versions of the application are available on the website um at this link Carri I think can send the link in the chat as well that link to where the applications yes good um but if you just go to our website Regional foodbank.org Grant applications for 2425 Grant year click on that that'll give you all the applications you're looking for both hpnp and operation support so make sure you save the application to your computer first before completing it then reopen it from your save location and save again when you're when you're completing it so when is it due so same as the hipap application both are due by April 12 2024 so we are preferring it to be sent through electronically for operation support grants you'll send it to OSG Grant Regional food bank.net you can send it by mail as well um as Carrie said sometimes we have applications show up way after the due um so that's why we encourage the electronic one um you'll get an email back from me saying that we've got it in hand okay so late applications will not be accepted so April 12th I'm I'm going to just keep saying it sporadically here April 12th is the due date incomplete applications will not be processed um I am working on the applications and we'll let you know if there's information missing um so be on the lookout for any replies for me especially on the electronic side applications completed with a previous year's application will not be accepted service level and past history of compliance is factored into the review process so as I mentioned these applications are a little bit more in-depth than the hpnp applications because we do ask for some short answer questions so we do get the applications evaluated and they are given a score so really do make sure that you are answering the question and the short answer questions for operation support so a little bit more about the reviewing and scoring so section A is the service levels that is uh 35 possible points section B is about your days and hours of operation that is 10 possible points section c is the provision of nutritious Foods you got four possible points there section D the scope of services the short answer questions that's up to 40 possible points so as you can see that is the most weighted section of this application so if you're really focusing on those questions and giving us great answers then that's going to really boost up your score for the application then section e the budget proposal and the documentation um that is 11 possible points and that's just giving us the information for what you are looking for specifically for the applic uh the application so that's a total 100 possible points those that receive a score of less than 40 will not be funded and money is allocated ing to the total number of approved applications and the score earned by each application I think we have seen a steady increase of people applying for operation support it really is a great opportunity to get some help on certain things um so it definitely doesn't hurt to try um any questions so far as we go I have a question um it's Debbie um so the funding that gets the um say my grant does approve for operation support for transportation where do those funds show up like and how does it get spent what does it get spent as so operation support is different than hipap hpnp does get put directly onto your account operation support comes as a check that gets sent out in the fall okay got it I'll go I'll go over that a little bit in more detail in just a minute but that is the a big difference as well it's not something that is pulled from your account here it is a check that is mailed to you and that's why we need documentation to prove where those funds are okay yeah I couldn't get the connection between okay got it now it's okay it's it's a lot of information that's why we we started doing these workshops just to really try to clear things up um so good question though Debbie hopefully I'll go into more detail in just a second on that okay thanks of course any other questions all right so once the funds have been awarded you are notified via email of your award the approved budget form that I will send to you must be signed and returned by August 15th if you're awarded funding for space then I'll need a current space agreement to be returned with the budget form if you're awarded funding for the equipment updated quotes for comparable equipment from two different vendors must be returned as well if the approved budget form is not signed and returned by the deadline of August 15th you will be placed on hold until the signed form is received and you may forfeit the grant money depending on um the situation so it's important keep an eye out especially um end of June I start sending out those emails for both hipap and operation support so make sure your contact information is always up to date with us and we'll we'll send those out to you so this is what the budget form will look like so as you can see um if you're ordering for space it kind of reminds you about the space and Equipment things that need to be sent over as well um it'll have your program name your ID and the county and then this will actually give you a breakdown of the amount earned for each expense so you see that there's a um an area for Staffing utilities space food service products transportation and equipment that we just went over the second page lists um your understanding that you must comply with the terms of the operation support Grant we'll also confirm the address that your check will be sent to we'll throw that in there so just double check that that's correct and this is just reiterating that documentation would be due by May 31st of next year um your executive director will have to sign for this as well and also just put the name and the email of the person who is handling the operation support Grant I have another question yeah of course if we um submit this stuff online how do you do and this might be more a technical question um with the computer but how do you have the Ed sign it and then submit it electronically do you scan I mean so there's there's two options if you if you open up an adobe it should give you an option to do a digital signature okay or um if that's not working for you what you can do is you can print it have them sign it manually and then just scan it back to us that's fine okay got it thank you you're you're on fire today I love all these questions trying to get all this stuff right absolutely any other questions all right I I have a I have a question about when it asks um the date you began operating um is that the date you first started the program or the date that program gained membership at the food bank so that's when you first started operating as an emergency feeding program okay can be before you became a member at the food bank correct yep okay thank you of course all right we'll go ahead and move on so this is just an example of um uh space agreement um sent to myself just saying that this food pantry is housed in our church and pays a monthly rent of x amount per month um and just have a signature of someone who is managing the actual space agreement so this kind of thing can be sent with the um either the application or the signed budget form um but this is just an example of what can be done it doesn't have to be extensive it can just be very straightforward just showing that there is some um sort of agreement all right this is an example of a quote um for an upright freezer you know screenshots are fine as long as we can see how much much it's going to cost um somewhere on there um also has it's good to have like the model information and stuff too so if we have to look it up as well all right so timelines so Debbie this kind of goes into your question a little bit so this is this is not a line of credit like the hip net Food Grant in the fall of 2024 the check for the full award amount will be mailed to you and checks are written once a year so we well we'll check in with you at the beginning of next year to make sure um if we've seen that it hasn't been deposited we'll check base with you but we'll let you know when the checks have gone out um but it I believe it was in October yeah it should be yeah end of September is what we're looking for but we'll keep you posted once those checks have been sent out the supporting documentation and this is the documentation to prove Pro that the funds have been spent ingly that will be due by May 31st 2025 so right now um if you've got an operation support for this current Grant year I am looking for the documentation um and that's due May 31st of this year um so that's where sometimes it can get a little bit confusing you get the award you can start spending it starting July 1st and then we'll need the documentation by May of the next year do yeah so may I ask you a question Katherine yeah of course do you wish to I I don't know if I've asked you this before and if I did I didn't retain the answer um would you like documentation once the grant that was allocated for OS is spent or do you want us to continue to once that is spent if we're spending more do you want additional receipts to show that I I have Arguments for either way it's a little easier if it's all together on my end however if it's easier for you to keep track of to send it and forget it then that's fine as well what I'll do is I'll just um I'll make notes on my end saying that I'm still looking for X amount um as a remainder so whatever is easier for you as long as you're getting the documentation to me that's kind of what I care about so either way okay so really once that OS Grant is spent that's when you would ideally want those receipts yep as soon as it's gone definitely get that documentation over I don't like sending people into a panic in May when I tell them I haven't seen anything even though this the funds have maybe have been spent a long time ago so as soon as you have it spent send it to me I absolutely love it when I get um documentation completed in the fall it's fantastic okay all right thank you I have a quick followup from Gail's question yeah of course um so I so we just in our documentation we're just listing um and providing the um you know for example if we're doing uh salary for a kitchen staff member we would just need to list um the pay to that employee that amounts to like the total dispersement or the total Grant right we don't need to or do we need to list every sort of pay period and dispersement to that employee within that time frame from June to may I know you mentioned like once the funds is spent so I'm assuming we only have to um account for spending that's you know amounts to the total Grant but is that right or do we need a list like for an employee all of their uh so I only need to see documentation up to your award amount so you don't need to go crazy and send all the hours from July 1 to the end of May oh my gosh um so yeah so as long as you're showing some sort of proof for your award amount then that is what I'm looking which I'll go over documentation a little bit more in depth in just a second here but that's that's what we're looking for thank you so much I appreciate that of course all right so question yes thank you um hi Dustin how are you I'm taking I'm taking over BR Liv Pantry's stuff there were some issues last year um so um in terms of the Operational Support we'd be applying for the utilities um the way we we would show that because the food pantry is not the whole building right so just we would show up we would figure out square footage percentage and and then apply that to the electric bills is that correct yep okay and so documentation showing we would need to figure out how many months worth of that percentage of our electric bills and then so we couldn't just send in the full electric bill right like you would need to send in yeah you could send me the bill um and then I I can do the math as far as on my end um but I'll show you the documentation form so you can break it down so you can show me what you're taking from each one but on the application in the budget form it'll say that agreed percentage of that space so like say it's 10% of that electricity bill is for that pantry so you can send me the full bill but just know that I'm only accepting 10% of that amount as documentation gotcha thank you yeah of course I know it's a lot of information all right all right good questions though people uh definitely keep them coming all right so a lot of documentation questions so here we go let's talk about documentation so for staff cost um well for any of the categories we're going to start off by completing the documentation summary form which I'll show you as we go but for for staff specifically you'll attach the required time cards supported by copies of the bank canell payroll checks or copy of the payroll registers so the percentage of the food service work charged to the operation support Grant is taken from the approved signed budget form so you provide us the percentage of the amount of time that they work in Food Service specifically and we'll take that off of the total amount that they are paid so this is the example of the documentation summary form this is actually the one for the current Grant year so as you can see you've got your basic information on the top then it breaks down the pay date and the amount and down here at the bottom you actually see total pay times the percentage of food service work as we had mentioned that there's specific type of work that is covered for the grant and that'll equal the operation support expenses again the percentage you list on your application it is also listed on your approved budget form all right so for utilities utilities must be incurred after July 1 so we're not going to cover any bills for any electricity for June 30th so any electricity or heating that is July 1st onward is something that can be paid for so again complete the documentation summary form which I'll show you in just a second attach copy of the utility bills supported by copies of bank cancell checks or subsequent Wills that uh bills that show payment of the one before that so sometimes in the top Corner you'll see okay um amount received and then total due um so we can take and accept that because it does show that payment has been made to the company the percentage of utility bills charged to the operation support Grant is taken from the signed approved budget form again like we just talked about so this is the utilities do dou umentation sheet same similar information at the top this will tell you the utility company you can list the billing period the amount and the check number if you paid by check and again down here total paid times the percentage of the utilities used for food service so as Dustin mentioned you know the food pantry might not be the whole bill so we'll just use that percentage of what that food pantry or program covers so question yeah please sorry um so is it reasonable to apply for just one category absolutely so for example if we wanted to apply for rent like the amount we would pay annually in rent is way way way way over $3,000 right so in terms of when it would be time for reporting something like that would it be like a percentage of every single month or like how would you think about the reporting on something like that if we were to get funded for something for you know the cost of rent so it's the percentage taken per month so if you say that the food pantry or program is only like 10% of the building that you're paying rent for so I'll take 10% from that check for that month does that make sense yes but what if the only thing we do is food pantry and so the whole rent is oh so it's 100% of it then we would take the 100% cost okay so then it could be over in less than three months for example very easily I know a lot of a lot of you might pay way more than that in rent so you know and that if you do keep it to one category it does kind of make it easy because you know you send us a copy of one or two checks and you're done okay thank you so much that of course re Milton stubs hello hello I just have a question as as a relates to utilities um we use two buildings uh we use the church and the uh the uh the our Administrative Building also how do we calculate the expenses for utilities so it's not going to be for any administration building it's only for the actual food service location so whichever bill that corresponds to it's going to be whatever percentage of the space in that bill if that makes sense well we use both buildings we have freezers and refrigerators in the administrative building plus that's why we disperse the food the intake and um additional Refrigeration is at the church downstairs so we use both buildings gotcha how many me oh how many electricity meters is it is it just one or two it's got two two that's a good question so that makes it easier too you might Reverend you might have a certain percentage on one meter and a certain percentage a different percentage on the other meter okay how do I calculate that percentage can you help me with that if you do you have any sort of floor plans that you can send to us we can kind of help try to figure that out for you okay yeah we can take that offline absolutely question okay this is what messed us up last year Reverend as another Reverend so yeah it's a really good good question okay any other [Music] questions all right we'll keep it going and please keep interjecting I love these questions these are really really good ones so space again we've got the documentation summary form you can attach paid receipts or Bank cancel checks um and then again this has the percentage of space charged to the operation support Grant from your assigned budget form so this one Jamie this is the one that you would probably end up using um you've got the check number check date and the amount for the check so if you've covered that in the um in only one or two checks then that's absolutely fine um but again it kind of breaks it down at the bottom you've got the total amount that you paid times the space used for food service that we had agreed upon in the uh budget form and what that comes out to all right this is just an example you know maybe you don't have a um this is just an example of kind of a receipt saying that someone had received month um a certain amount for the space agreement goodness my words sorry um so this is something that can classify as a receipt so if your your landlord can write something up like this then we would absolutely accepted all right so Food Service uh paper products and other supplies again we've got the documentation summary form you'll attach paid vendor invoices or Reg register receipts that identify allowable items purchased again these are purchases that are made on or after July 1st what I keep saying that um July 1st is a magical date for starting to spend these things so descriptions may be written in on register tapes for clarification if payment is made by check bank cancel check supporting these purchases are also required so this is the documentation summary form for this one again this will help us break down the amounts for this so invoice dates vendors check numbers and the total charge for operation support items only so you can have a receipt that may have other items on there that not classified for operation support that's absolutely fine but just know that we will only be taking those items that are covered and again this kind of clarifies the items that are covered by this grant as well and another thing to we do not count tax on any of these items so hopefully you've got tax exemptions so taxes hopefully aren't coming out of it but if there is tax on a receipt we will not be counting the tax as well this is just the cost of the items all right Transportation expenses so we went over a little bit about the two options so option one the mileage documentation so we've got a documentation summary form for that you'll attach a mileage log that shows dates destinations odometer readings and mileage traveled this must be signed by the driver and agency supervisor tolls may be included if toll receipts are included so if you have to use a toll to come to our either Warehouse or delivery sites we can cover tolls as well Bank cancel check showing payments made to the driver are also needed so this is the summary form again we've got date paid to check amount and uh check number and the amount this will remind you of the mileage reimbursement rate this is for the current Grant year so next year it'll be for this next Grant year it'll be 67 cents per mile but this will kind of help break it down to show how much you've got going on as well as a sheet that's got those odometer readings as well we do have one if you don't have one um for yourself an example of the mileage form put it in the chat box okay Carrie has put it in the chat box for you guys to use just to kind of help you out this is the updated one with the 67 cents per mile for this upcoming gr year okay um all right so the other Transportation expense this is option two so if you're renting a cargo van or a truck we've got the documentation summary form you'll attach copies of paid receipts or Bank cancel checks and attach the paid rental receipts from a vehicle rental company not ones so usually you get an estimate for how much it's going to cost I'm looking for the one that says it's paid this is the actual payment that you sent in so I I know what the difference is so if you send me the wrong one I I will definitely let you know um but do try to send the correct one it's going to be the one that's shows that um a payment is been received so this is the documentation summary for this this gives you the rental date the destination the rental amount and then if you did pay for gas if you paid for tolls and the total for each trip so if you do purchase gas for the rented truck we can take that as long as you send the receipt um and the same thing with with the tolls as well that's all digital sorry um um good hello I'm sorry good morning this is Tanya I'm calling um I'm asking information with regards of this receipt is it monthly that you want this to be sent to you or weekly so this can be done once you've paid once you've exceeded your your Grant amount or as you go that's completely up to you okay but once you once you've spent the amount you don't have to send me documentation after you've covered the full amount okay yeah thank you of course all right equipment purchases so we've got the documentation form um this will actually ask you for both the model and the serial numbers which I'll show you in just a second but we will need a paid invoice and a copy of the bank cancel check to approve the purchase of the unit so as you can see you got the name of the vendor item model number and serial number the quantity and the cost so the reason why we need the model and serial number is we do keep track of these items that are purchased um we'll send you a letter um of purchase basically saying the model in serial number and just reiterating that it is property of New York State we'll also send you a sticker to put on the unit as well but we do need this information in order to keep up with um with monitoring these we will check for these units on site visits so you might have seen if you already have some of these units you might have seen us kind of look for those stickers so that's what we're looking for so we always keep logs of this information on the back end so we'll be we'll be checking for those with your documentation as I mentioned kind of jumped a gun on myself there um so once the receip for the equipment has been received a sticker will be mailed to you um so you can make sure it's labeled properly properly as property of New York City State site monitors will verify that the equipment is there and if any a Time the equipment is not working properly it is your responsibility to have it so the guideline is 10 years basically you're looking to keep it and keep it up up have upkeep on it for 10 years is kind of the guidelines for the state you must receive authorization from New York State prior to any transfer or disposal of the equipment now sometimes these things do break past the point of no return sometimes Parts aren't available so let me know if something is going wrong and um I might need to have some documentation showing that it is not repairable and things like that so please keep me posted if there's any issues going on with any of this equipment so what happens if my documentation is not submitted on time so your agency will be placed on hold until satisfactory documentation is received I really really hate doing that to you guys because I know that you're you're serving the community and we really don't want to do that but unfortunately as it's a state Grant we have to be very firm on this so please please please get the documentation into us on time you may be required to attend this Workshop in order to be eligible for future grants if we had some difficulty just want to make sure that you're understanding going forward o