Abstract: Food banks work to address the problem of food insecurity for low-income and underrepresented populations. The food bank acquires food and distributes it to their partner agencies, who, in ton, distribute the food to their clients. In previous work, we performed a service gap analysis by mapping the location of clients relative to the food bank’s partner agencies. We identified service gaps which the food bank addressed by adding additional mobile food pantries in high-need, low-resourced areas. We extend that work by developing an optimization model to maximize the number of unique time windows where clients can access food. In this paper, we present the model formulation and demonstrate its usefulness through a small test case.
Have trouble accessing an IISE presentation? Login to your account at IISE Conference Archives and click "Search Archives"
If you are interested in the Sustainable Development division of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), become a member today!