MARCH 2026

New Warehouse Manager: Alyssa!

Welcome back to the NH Food Bank, Alyssa! Previously Agency Relations Coordinator of Hillsborough County, Alyssa left the NH Food Bank for a short time before returning to us last month to fill the position as Warehouse Manager.

Alyssa has a background in retail and nonprofit work and is very passionate about our mission here at the food bank. She is excited to help the Partner Agencies we work with in a new capacity and she will be working towards making changes for the better.

We're all excited to work with Alyssa again!

Counting Unique vs. QSR Totals

The NHFB asks for two different sets of numbers from our Partner Agencies and here's a quick breakdown. Both of these sets of numbers are important and are used for different purposes, but ultimately we need them to be able to obtain grants for food purchases.

Monitoring Visit: When your coordinator visits your agency site, we're asking for how many "unique" households and individuals you are serving. This means counting each person and family you are serving only once. In the example below, Stacey's Supper Supply has 7 clients signed up that each have a family they are picking up for. Regardless of how many times they come, this agency is serving 7 households. The total family members in each of those households is 29, so the unique count for individuals served is 29 individuals.

QSR #'s: On the QSR we are asking how many times you served a client food in the given month. If you look below, the agency is open every Thursday and checks off when each client comes in. They then total how many households came in on that day and how many people make up those households that came in. For example, in February, 9 families came in making up 50 people total. The number you would put in for February would be 50.

Age Percentages: From the breakdown of how many people are in each family on the left, we can tell how many people are in each age range. These numbers can be used to calculate your percentages for the QSR for easier access, or you can add up per category for the whole quarter and then divide the totals for each age bracket by the total served to get those percentages served.

% of Food from the NHFB: As a reminder, this question is asking of the total amount of food you served, how much was acquired through the NH Food Bank. This number needs to include Agency Express Orders, Fresh Rescue Retail Pickups, Enabled Food Drives such as NH Tackles Hunger or Stuff a Cruiser and NH Feeding NH Products. We should be able to take the percentage of food you receive from us and calculate how much you distributed total based on those numbers. Ex. If your agency submits that 25% of food came from the NHFB and your agency received 50,000 lbs. of food from us that quarter, you must have distributed 200,000 lbs. of food. If not, check that percentage out more closely.

Agency Drops

The feedback received from these drops has been great and we look forward to continuing throughout the year to better serve our rural agencies that only receive one delivery a month.

Orders for the Madison Drop - 3/18 need to be in by 11th. Orders for the Keene Drop - 3/25 need to be in by the 18th.

Upcoming Drops:

3/18 - Madison

3/25 - Keene

Product Feedback Form

Did you know we have a form that you can fill out if you have:

Missing Product from Order
Damaged Product from Order (Leaking, Broken)
Product Quality Issue (Mold, Spoiled)
Foodborne Illness Concern (Client Illness)
Pest Activity Concern (Insect, Rodent Signs)
General Item Feedback (Likes/Dislikes)

The NH Food Bank wants to make sure we're helping with any of the above concerns. If your agency is missing product, let us make it right. If your product is spoiled when you receive it from us, then let us know. We also use this form for Fresh Rescue Pickups. These forms are then shared with our Operations Team so we can immediately get to work making it right. Check out the form below:

Product Feedback Form

Annual Handbook Signature

For 2026, we will be requiring all Partner Agencies to sign the 2026 Partner Agency Handbook. This will have some updated sections and some clarification on certain topics. We will not be requiring any other documents during this annual signature but we will be asking for some contact information and program information so we can make sure we're up to date.

You do not need to sign the current handbook at this time. We will let you know when the updates are ready!

Safety in the Warehouse

As part of our commitment to keeping everyone safe in our building, there will be some changes coming for our warehouse that will impact tour groups, staff and partner agencies.

As of January 2026, all agency shoppers inside the warehouse are required to wear reflective vests to utilize the shopping area. There will be vests available right inside the agency door and can be returned after shopping is complete.

Thank you for your cooperation in making sure that everyone stays safe!

Agency Relations Team!

Kristie Deneault

Agency Relations Manager

Hudson Wells

Fresh Rescue Coordinator

Stacey Garron

Agency Relations Coordinator

(Cheshire, Sullivan, Merrimack & lower Grafton County)

Jocelyn Cheney

Agency Relations Coordinator

(Belknap, Strafford & Rockingham County)

Marla Soucy

Agency Relations Coordinator

(Hillsborough County)

Christy Langlois

North Country Systems Manager

(Coos, Carroll & Upper Grafton County)

Helpful Links

Product Feedback Form

Partner Agency Handbook

Find Food Map

Agency Express

Meal Connect

Upcoming Classes

New Shopper Orientation

Wednesday, March 11th from 10:00am-12:00pm - Marla

Basic Food Safety Training

SAFE Food Handling For Food Pantries:

Monday, March 9th from 9:00am-11:30am

SAFE Food Handling For Soup Kitchens & Prepared Meals:

Tuesday, March 3rd from 2:00pm-4:00pm

All sessions are 2-2.5 hrs. trainings via Zoom. Dates and times are subject to change based on the availability of UNH Cooperative staff.

If you need to acquire food safety training (non-meal sites) but are unable to attend a live Zoom session, a similar training can be done online at workhub.com/features/training/food-safety or Alison.com/course/food-safety-and-hygiene. Both courses are free. Alison.com charges to print a certificate. To avoid this cost, send your Agency Coordinator a screenshot of the certificate or a screenshot of your “Learner Record” with the date of completion found in your Account Settings.

Food Manager Certificate Courses

Here are some course and test options for the Food Manager Certificate that meet the meal site requirement for any agency that produces meals.

~ Certificates are valid for 5 years ~

Learn2Serve NH Food Safety Manager:

https://www.360training.com/learn2serve/food-safety-manager/New-Hampshire

$121 Course & Exam

Always Food Safe Manager:

https://alwaysfoodsafe.com/en/food-protection-manager/new-hampshire

$126 Course & Exam

ServSafe Food Protection Manager:

https://www.servsafe.com/ServSafe-Manager/Buy-Manager-Products

$179 Course & Exam