One key to ensuring everyone has equal access to food might just be technology. Afterall, technology has already revolutionized how we work, communicate, and live. As more organizations work to solve food insecurity, Lemontree is showing how technology can be a powerful ally in the effort. The nonprofit improves access to food assistance by using technology to think and act innovatively. Studies show that more people are experiencing food insecurity than in previous decades, making Lemontree’s work essential. Their approach demonstrates how human compassion and cutting-edge technology can join forces to nourish communities. Read the Q&A with Lemontree’s executive director Kasumi Quinlan to learn how the organization is reimagining the future of food assistance, one innovative solution at a time.

 

What is Lemontree’s mission?

We’re on a mission to tackle food insecurity in the US by harnessing the power of technology and empathy. We believe that accessing food assistance should be an easy, reliable, and dignified experience for everyone.

 

Lemontree has scaled quickly as an organization to meet a pressing need. What has been the key to your growth?

There are a few pieces that tie in with each other: technology, experimentation, and listening. This combination is more typical of a startup mindset, but it has let us grow to serve thousands of people daily across eleven regions.

First off, technology has been a key driver of growth. We have two incredible engineers on staff, Samuel Cole and Chinazo Onwukaike, who are constantly building things that make Lemontree bigger and better! When Lemontree started, we weren’t much better than Google–we were just doing the research for people who contacted us. Now, we have our own sophisticated data infrastructure that is constantly being updated and can be categorized by a user’s needs, like distance or schedule, which makes the whole process faster and more effective.

Tech-driven solutions are especially powerful when paired with iteration: trying, failing, and learning. We saw a gap in the system–people didn’t know how to navigate food assistance–but we didn’t have the answers immediately. Hearing directly from neighbors experiencing food insecurity is what led us to start the helpline, and it has informed every decision we’ve made since then. Listening isn’t just an ethical imperative; it’s the key to experimentation. You have to try lots of things to see what’s impactful and what’s scalable and then make a judgment call on when something is or isn’t working.

For example, we’ve tried different outreach strategies. Flyering was key to our early growth–it started off as a small experiment, and it turned out to be a great way to reach people. We started running regular volunteer events to put up flyers, but the logistics became very difficult. It was a worthwhile experiment, but we knew we had to find alternatives to continue scaling. We started running Facebook ads and found that it was an incredibly efficient and effective way to reach clients. Paid digital marketing was critical to our growth, but it’s only one way of reaching people, so we’ll continue experimenting!

 

How do you use technology to reduce hunger and food insecurity and achieve your mission?

Nonprofits are not known for being tech-forward, but Lemontree has always placed an emphasis on leveraging technology to increase our impact. Consumer technology has made hailing a cab or ordering dinner to your front door so easy, but the experience of accessing food assistance hasn’t changed much since the whole system was established. Of course, that’s because there’s money to be made from ride-hailing or meal delivery, but don’t our lower-income neighbors deserve convenience more than anyone?

We’ve used technology to become more efficient, more personalized, and more useful to the clients we serve. We’ve built most of our software in-house, from how we refer users to food pantries to the system we use to keep our database updated, and that’s all thanks to our fabulous engineering team! We believe that technology, when used responsibly, can bring the same value to the nonprofit sector. It’s one of the reasons we’ve grown to serve 10,000 clients every day, compared to 3,000 a year ago.

 

How do hunger and food insecurity affect various population groups (e.g., rural populations, different races, the LGBTQIA+ community, people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness) differently? 

Food insecurity disproportionately impacts populations and communities that are already marginalized. Last year, food insecurity rates among Black and Hispanic Americans were more than twice as high as for white Americans, affecting nearly 40 percent of people at or below the poverty threshold. This only gets worse when you layer in factors like location, ability or sexual orientation, especially because that can influence what kind of resources a person has access to.

For example, let’s imagine a queer-identifying person who has been kicked out of their home. Not only have they lost their support system, purely because of their sexual or gender orientation, but the only food pantries they can find are run by churches, which is quite common. Most of these programs have no religious aspect and are open to all, but you can understand why this person might not feel comfortable relying on this option, although they desperately need the help.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the complicated topic of food access–you’ll hear a lot of folks in this sector say that food insecurity is a policy choice–and it’s exactly why Lemontree exists. Food is a human right, regardless of who you are. No one deserves to go hungry.

 

How do you reach people who might not have technology readily available, for example, people who are experiencing homelessness?

Though we place a lot of value on technology to drive our work, you only need a cell phone to get help from Lemontree. Cell phones are actually a great way to reach folks, even those who have less access to technology. Ninety-seven percent of Americans own a cell phone, including 94% of people with a household income of less than $30,000.

There are certainly individuals experiencing hunger and food insecurity who don’t use cell phones, but that person usually needs a lot more support than what Lemontree is able to provide. Our focus is on any person experiencing food insecurity, not just the poorest percentile of the country. There’s a common misconception that people experiencing homelessness are the only ones who need help finding food, but one in six Americans used food assistance last year, many of whom are housed and employed.

 

What are common myths about hunger and food insecurity?

First, food insecurity is visible, or that it’s an experience that only certain people go through. A lot of folks assume that you’d know if someone was food-insecure or that if you have a job, you’ll be able to cover those basic needs. But food insecurity is all around us: it could be affecting your bus driver, your child’s teacher, your retired neighbor. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your job is–anyone can slip into food insecurity thanks to a medical emergency, a natural disaster, or just the rising costs of food.

The second, most pernicious misconception to me is that you have to be in desperate “need”–which is really hard to define. There’s always someone who’s worse off than you. But if you had to skip a meal to pay for gas? Or you have to shop at the dollar store because you can’t afford anything else? Food insecurity is defined as access to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members, at all times. If you can’t meet that basic need without sacrificing something else, you should be able to lean on food assistance to ensure that you can. 

 

What are you most excited about for the future of Lemontree?

I’m really excited about how we can help support the broader food assistance system. One of our founding values is listening to our clients. Everything we’ve built is for the end user. We’ve learned so much about what our neighbors need, what they want, and how current approaches fall short. Every time we refer a client to food, we ask for feedback: What kind of food did you get? How long did you wait? Would you recommend this resource?

This feedback is so interesting and valuable, and it has so much potential to give stakeholders across the supply chain–funders, food pantries, and government agencies–a clear, data-driven understanding of how to improve their impact. We’re only as good as the resources we’re referring people to, and we know that food pantries are usually stretched thin. As Lemontree continues to grow, I’m excited for the opportunity to contribute to longer-term systems change that supports food providers on the front lines.

 

Where can readers follow Lemontree’s work and impact?

Check out The Feed, where we showcase feedback from our clients–photos of the food they receive, and stories about their experiences. It’s the best part of our website!

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