University of Cincinnati

Final Project Paper: Matthew 25 Ministries

Josh Colonel

Douglas Morgan

Senior Capstone

Course: AIS-4099003

Tuesday: 5:00 p.m. - 5:55 p.m.

Dr. Kegley

December 1, 2015

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Introduction

The Organization

An organization that makes a difference, an organization that comes to the aid of those affected

by disaster, an organization that helps those in need or living in poverty. This is Matthew 25 Miniseries.

Matthew 25 Ministries is the organization we decided to contribute our time to when trying to decide

which organization to select for performing the volunteer work required as part of our Senior Capstone

Final Project.

Our Role

Our role within Matthew 25 Ministries was that of an individual contributor, someone who was

willing to give their time to support others and the mission of Matthew 25 Ministries. Matthew 25

Ministries is an international humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization who could not achieve

what they do without the help and support of volunteers. According to Matthew 25 Ministries,

volunteers play an essential role within the organization. Every hour of volunteer work donated helps

approximately 150 people in need. Therefore, as a result of this experience we helped 4,500 (2,250

individually) people in need, which is pretty amazing when you think about it.

Volunteers

The sorting and processing of donations, clothing and various goods, is primarily where their

volunteers come into play. Matthew 25 Ministries receives a large volume of donated goods, all of which

must be sorted, counted, packaged, and put on pallets ready for shipment to various parts of the world.

Due to the high volume of donated goods that come through Matthew 25 Ministries, they could not do

what they do and stay operational from a financial perspective without the help of their volunteers.

They are greatly thankful for the time donated by individual volunteers, various corporations, and

organizations. They are always willing to take whatever time you can offer and can always find a job for

you.

Our Focus

So what did we hope to get out of this project? Apart from the satisfaction that one gets from

donating their time and effort to a worthy cause, we were tasked with approaching the Final Project

with a particular focus. Prior to starting the volunteer work and without knowing a lot about the

Matthew 25 Organization, we had decided that our focus would be on operations. We would observe,

review, and analyze everything we were doing and what others around us were doing. We would work

to identify those things that they do well, the things they don’t do well, and the things which we saw as

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a gap. The goal would be to improve the operational efficiency, productivity, and safety of their

organization. Once we started our volunteer time, we soon and quickly started to identify many things

to support our chosen focus. We will elaborate and expand on these things later on in this paper.

Lit Review

Volunteers Needed

Matthew 25 Ministries is an international humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization

which is headquartered in Blue Ash, OH. The organization was formed in 1990 by Reverend Wendell

Mettey after he took a trip to Nicaragua with a group of doctors and witnessed all the poverty and

devastation in the area. The organization’s goal is to help the poorest of the poor and disaster victims

throughout not only the U.S., but the entire world. In order to provide this great service to the world,

volunteers are needed. According to Jody Archer, Director of Public Relations and Community Liaison,

"The volunteers are why we're able to do what we do. We couldn't do what we do without them."

Matthew 25 Ministries has about 4,000 volunteers that come in to their organization each

month to help the cause. Groups come from churches, civic organizations, businesses, schools, and even

mission trips from out of state. Volunteers can be individuals too, or families, or friends. (Gibson,

Cincinnati Enquirer) There is something for everyone to do and help with at Matthew 25 Ministries. Even

people who don’t think they can volunteer can lend their time and services. All new volunteers receive a

tour of the Matthew 25 Ministries Global Village which contains recreated scenes of poverty and

devastation throughout the world. The Global Village is meant to illustrate who and what they are

helping, so volunteers have a better understanding of what their time and effort is going towards.

Corporate Donors/Programs

Matthew 25 Ministries’ main focus is to reuse and repurpose products by major companies. To

promote this, they work closely with corporate donors who can give through initiatives such as their

Green Giving Program. According to the EPA, corporations dispose of billions of tons of waste per year.

Through the Green Giving Program, corporations, such as Cintas and P&G, are working to save and

donate items which can be repurposed, reused, or recycled. These are items that would otherwise end

up within a landfill where nobody can benefit from them. As a result of the Green Giving program,

Matthew 25 Ministries rescues and reuses approximately 15,000,000 pounds of these corporate excess

products each year. (Business Wire)

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Process Improvement

Like any other business or organization these days, success will be determined by how well they

operate and how efficiently they use their resources. Matthew 25 Ministries relies on time, money,

people, and their facilities in order to fulfill their mission. In order to ensure stability and success they

need to continually review their management and production processes to ensure they are getting the

most out of the resources available to them. One such way that a nonprofit can drive improvement is

through the use of Lean methodologies. With Lean, an organization examines what they do and how

they do it. In doing so you analyze the time it takes to complete tasks, the placement of work stations,

along with all other steps and actions in-between. The goal with Lean is to identify waste, or non-value

added steps which can be discarded, and to re-align work in such a way that maximum production

efficiency can be achieved. With the amount of donations that come through Matthew 25 Ministries on

a weekly basis for processing, the more lean and efficient their operation can become; the more

successful they can be, the more donations they can take in, the more people they can help around the

world.

The Mission

The mission of Matthew 25 Ministries is “to fulfill Matthew 25:34-40 of the New Testament by

providing nutritional food to the hungry, clean water to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, affordable

shelter to the homeless, medical care to the ill, and humanitarian supplies to those in need.” (M25M.org)

The organization provides humanitarian aid around the world and assists the poorest and neediest who

are affected by disasters. By rescuing and reusing products from major corporations and manufacturers,

Matthew 25 Ministries provides basic necessities, nutritional supplements, educational materials, micro-

enterprise supplies and disaster relief across the US and worldwide. They also place an emphasis on

education, job creation and providing aid to children. (M25M.org)

The Learning Experience

While volunteering, researching, and observing the organization, there were many things we

learned during our time there. From the moment we entered the building we were able to see and

understand how the organization worked, which allowed us to understand and identify their strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. We also had the opportunity to experience their ‘Global Village

Tour’, which is a tour that helped us grasp and better understand how and why the organization helps

those in need throughout the world. This is a very important aspect of their operation because it helps

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to provide insight and motivation to volunteers who come through their doors. During our time at

Matthew 25 Ministries we gathered an abundance of information that helped us with our focus and

allowed us to identify the positive aspects along with the areas of their operation which are in need of

improvement.

Matthew 25 Ministries does many great things to improve the situation of the poor and needy

around the world, but once you work in their main facility it is apparent that opportunity for

improvement exists within their own operation. The organization has a great mission and does many

great things; however, we observed that some of their processes and procedures were slightly less than

great. In addition to the improvement opportunities we identified, we also identified many positives

about their organization, including, but not limited to, the many events and programs that they run

throughout the year. Although there is room for operational improvement, they still do an exceptional

job of shipping hundreds of thousands of supplies to those in need throughout the world. Due to the

amount of goods that they ship, Matthew 25 Ministries is an organization that definitely makes a

positive impact throughout the world.

Strengths

Sign-in Process

When first arriving at Matthew 25 Ministries to complete your volunteer hours, the first thing

you notice is a large sign over one of the main entrances marked ‘Servant Entrance’, therefore, it is

clearly marked where volunteers should go when they arrive. Within the servant’s entrance, volunteers

gather and wait for their shift to begin. Once the shift begins, the Matthew 25 staff brings you into the

main part of the building and directs you to the sign-in stations. It is easy to find your way to the sign-in

stations because there are large signs along the way which are clearly marked ‘Volunteers this way’ with

an arrow pointing you in the right direction. Once you get to the sign-in stations, additional staff greets

you, gets you quickly signed in, and then allocates you to a staging area for further instruction.

Task Explanation

After signing in, staff members take you to the area where you will be working for the shift and

then provides clear and simple verbal instructions on what it is they expect you to do. If there are any

questions or confusion by any of the volunteers, you are free to speak and ask questions so you can get

a better understanding of what it is you will be doing.

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Working Environment

The working environment at Matthew 25 Ministries is welcoming and friendly. The staff is

courteous and always willing to address any questions or concerns that you might have. Since they are

dealing with volunteers from all walks of life and from all age ranges and experiences, everyone is free

to work at their own pace. Matthew 25 Ministries is happy with your time contribution regardless of

how large or how small it is.

Green Facility

Another positive aspect at Matthew 25 Ministries is the ‘green’ aspects of their facility. Matthew

25 Ministries has a large warehouse; therefore, they consume their fair share of resources. To conserve

on energy usage, they have motion sensors hooked up to all overhead lighting. This is a big plus because

it ensures that energy consumption is occurring when it needs to occur. If someone is not working in a

particular area of the warehouse, the lighting will turn itself off. This also helps the organization to save

on utility costs.

The Global Village

The global village tells the story of why Matthew 25 Ministries does what they do and more

importantly what they do. They start the tour by explaining how they learn about disaster and relief

opportunities that occur throughout the world. After this, the tour then proceeds through various

depictions which outline the types of natural disaster and poverty conditions they encounter as they

bring relief to victims throughout the world. The tour then concludes with a short video which further

explains their mission. The Global Village experience offers volunteers with insight in to how Matthew

25 Ministries makes a difference to the poor and needy around the world, all from a single location out

of Blue Ash, OH.

Events and Fundraising

Matthew 25 Ministries adds a lot of value to the local community and around the world. To

further promote their effort and value, Matthew 25 Ministries has several programs and charity events

which they have been sponsoring over the years. Their Fighting Hunger 5K is now in its 10th year and is

an event which has produced over 485,000 pounds of food that has been distributed to those in need

within the Greater Cincinnati area. In addition to the 5K race, they also facilitate several other programs

which corporations and individuals can partake in, such as Change for Change, Grow Right, Education

Shoeboxes, and the Rainbow Paint Reblending Program.

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Volunteer Contribution

Volunteer Effectiveness

So what exactly did we do with our time at Matthew 25 ministries? We spent most of our

sessions contributing to the process of sorting clothing and other miscellaneous items. We sorted used

clothing to separate adult clothing from children’s clothing and to identify and recycle items that were

far beyond usefulness. We sorted used uniforms that were donated by Cintas, to determine which ones

were usable and which could be discarded. During another session, we helped to process a large

shipment of women’s shoes which, unfortunately, could not be shipped out to those in need. In

processing the women’s shoes we had to separate various types of packaging items so each group of

items could be properly recycled. These are just a few examples of how our time was effectively utilized

at Matthew 25 Ministries.

Volunteer Ineffectiveness

What we did was effective but there were definitely some weaknesses, had they been

addressed, would have greatly improved the effectiveness of the time we provided to the organization.

Therefore, our time was only ineffective in the sense of what we were unable to accomplish due to the

process inefficiencies that we observed while we were at Matthew 25 Ministries. If Matthew 25

Ministries had a more effective and efficient operation, we would have processed more items and

sorted more clothing which means that we could have helped even more people who are need. This

ineffectiveness ties into some of the things which we will touch more upon when we discuss operational

weaknesses in the next section of our paper.

Weakness

Operational

Global Village Tour

The Global Village tour is not offered during the evening volunteer hours, and on Saturday

afternoons when it is offered; new volunteers are not asked if they would like to take the tour until they

are nearing the end of their shift. We view this as a weakness because the Global Village tour does such

a great job of explaining the mission of Matthew 25 Ministries and it seems you would want to present

this information upfront to all new volunteers who are coming in the door.

Task Execution/Productivity

When it comes to tasks that are given to volunteers, it is apparent that there is a lack of

significant planning that occurs prior to the tasks being assigned. The way in which directions are given

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often leads to confusion for volunteers because the staff does not always seem to fully understand the

task either. It seems there is more of a ‘just do it’ mentality with little forethought on how to effectively

execute the task.

The layout of the work stations for a given task is not always ideal either. It is typical for

volunteers to be sorting items out of one bin and have to go across the room or aisle to deposit the

items into another bin. For one of tasks, we had a job where we had to take several baskets of product

over 100 feet in-between stations and in doing so; we had to walk around, over, and in between several

obstacles. This is not an efficient approach when you consider the amount of product that gets

processed in their facility on a daily basis. The current way in which tasks are laid out and executed can

lead to confusion and wasted time, which negatively impacts the effectiveness of the overall operation.

Additionally, during peak volunteer times, there are often too many volunteers allocated for a

given task which slows everyone down and takes away from the productivity potential that is available

to the organization. Also, when a task is completed before a volunteer shift is over, volunteers are rarely

given further instruction and start looking around aimlessly because they are unsure what to do next.

Work Environment

While the working environment is friendly and welcoming, there were some things which we

noticed about the actual environment itself which could have been improved. First, there is a lot of

signage that tells volunteers where to go upon arrival, but we didn’t notice any additional signage for

any other areas of the facility, such as where the dedicated locations for certain types of products are.

Once within the facility, we had to ask for directions to find our way around and we often found that

staff did not even know where everything was located. Secondly, many of the tasks can be mundane and

monotonous at times and the fact that the facility was generally quiet made the time go by much

slower. This leads into the final point; there was not a good concept of time while volunteering because

there were very few clocks within the facility itself. These are just a few of the things which we believe

had a negative impact on overall productivity.

Health

Air Quality

Air quality is an issue at Matthew 25 Ministries, mainly due to all of the dust that is floating

around in the air. Matthew 25 Ministries receives a lot of used clothing donations which arrive in large

cardboard boxes and are often accompanied by a lot of dust. The placing and movement of clothing

which get sorted often stirs up clouds of dust and when walking through portions of the warehouse the

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dust is so bad that you can visually observe it. As a result, allergies often bothered us while sorting

clothing. For people with bad allergies or even upper respiratory issues, this presents a definite concern.

Cleanliness

Another health concern we observed was regarding cleanliness. As mentioned before, Matthew

25 Ministries takes in a large amount of clothing and most clothing is used. Many of the tasks revolve

around sorting through clothes, and while necessary, it is not necessarily a clean task. Many of the areas

and stationary items, such as boxes, pallets, and other items can be very dirty, along with items being

sorted. Even the packaging for new products, such as adult diapers, gets rather dirty before leaving the

facility. At no time were volunteers offered anything to address this cleanliness concern.

Safety

Safety is a big concern in any warehouse or factory environment and this is no exception at

Matthew 25 Ministries. Since most volunteer work is being done in a warehouse, people are also

working alongside fork lift drivers. There are no spotters and blockades that get put up when forklift

drivers are working close by. This could be a dangerous situation especially if you have individuals not

paying attention or working nearby with their headphones on listening to music.

There was also a concern of the amount of workspace one is given while working a particular

task. Often when working at a station you are working in very close quarters with others and in-between

rows of pallets, therefore, you often have to squeeze around others while carrying goods and products.

When a worker is carrying product they have to climb over pallets with baskets of product in hand. This

could potentially create dangerous situations with people running into one another or with people

getting hit with products and other hardware.

Policies and Procedures

When it comes to policies, training and other rules, there are a number of concerns. We

discovered that the staff does not receive adequate training and are just told what they are going to do.

There is also little to no training on workplace conflict and sexual harassment. The staff is given a small

handbook which briefly touches upon these areas. The organization also lacks a reliable vetting process

for new volunteers. When new volunteers arrive, the staff asks the volunteers their name, their address

and why they are volunteering, however, nothing is done to validate their information. This is primarily a

concern only because you do not know whether or not your volunteers could pose a potential threat to

the staff or other volunteers.

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Opportunities for Improvement

Operational

Global Village Tour

It would be very beneficial for new volunteers to go through the global village tour when they

first arrive for their volunteer shift because the Global Village tour does a great job with explaining the

mission of Matthew 25 Ministries. Starting a new volunteer experience with the Global Village tour

would also serve as a good orientation session because it would improve each volunteer’s sense of

purpose and motivation.

Task Execution/Productivity

If Matthew 25 Ministries staff took more time to plan tasks ahead of time, the tasks could be

executed in a more efficient and productive manner. They could layout work stations and areas in such a

way where minimal time and effort are wasted and where all activity is value-added. Good planning

would also help to ensure that an appropriate amount of volunteers are allocated for given tasks and

would ensure that several tasks are identified so as one task is completed, volunteers can easily transfer

to the next task.

Matthew 25 Ministries would greatly benefit from Lean Six Sigma methodologies which are

aimed at production/task layout. Lean Six Sigma’s primary goal is to identify and eliminate non-value

added steps and improves the overall efficiency of the process.

Work Environment

To improve the work environment at Mathew 25 Ministries, additional signage which details the

various areas of the facility, along with signage that helps volunteers to find their way around, would be

very beneficial. To address the issue of quietness and monotony throughout the facility, Matthew 25

Ministries could utilize background music; this could be done via an in-house music system or via a

background music service such as Musak. Background music helps to pass the time when working

routine tasks and can improve worker productivity. This leads to the final opportunity for improving the

work environment; time. Placing more clocks throughout the facility would assist volunteers with

keeping better track of their time.

Health

Air Quality

To help remedy the air quality issue that is caused by the dust found throughout the facility, as a

first step, Matthew 25 Ministries could ensure that dust masks are readily available to its volunteers at

all times. In certain situations, when the dust is bad enough, they may want to even require usage of the

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dust masks. Secondly, Matthew 25 Ministries could invest in an industrial air purification system. The

industrial air purification system would help keep the indoor air healthy and odor free. The healthier the

air, the healthier the staff and volunteers will be, which means the more productive they will be.

Cleanliness

To address the concern of cleanliness that exists for volunteers, Matthew 25 Ministries could

ensure that disposable gloves and hand sanitizer is readily available to its volunteers at all times. Since

donated clothing is typically not new and we don’t know what conditions they came from, disposable

gloves and hand sanitizer would greatly improve the cleanliness concern that exists for volunteers who

are sorting the clothing.

Safety

To address the safety concerns observed at Matthew 25 Ministries, a few things can be done.

When fork lift operators are working in a particular area, there should at all times be a spotter who is

watching to ensure the fork lift operator does not run into anything and who also ensures that any other

workers in the area maintain a safe distance. Strategically placed blockades would also further ensure

that people don’t inadvertently wander into the fork lift operator’s path. To address tight workspace

situations, those who plan out the various tasks could ensure that an adequate amount of workspace is

provided for all volunteers. Providing an adequate amount of work space would lesson any potential

issues which can often arise from working in tight quarters.

Operational Threats

Costs

In reviewing the weaknesses and opportunities that were identified for Matthew 25 Ministries,

one potential threat or prohibiting factor that we identified was always cost. This makes sense because

this is probably the primary prohibiting factor in most businesses when it comes to why a business

chooses whether or not to start a new effort or initiative. Most things require funds and in today’s high

demand world, an excess amount of funds is not a luxury that most businesses have. What many do not

realize is that it often takes additional costs to save costs.

Lack of Volunteers

Since Matthew 25 Ministries is a nonprofit organization, they rely on the donations and time

offered by their many generous donors and volunteers. Matthew 25 Ministries often makes it known

that they could never do what they do if it were not for the help provided by their volunteers. The time

and effort offered up by volunteers has allowed Matthew 25 Ministries to offer aid and assistance to

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more and more people each and every year. In order to offer this aid, they depend on their volunteers

to help process goods and clothing at their facility in Blue Ash, OH. If volunteers stop offering their time,

this will have an immediate and direct impact on what they are able to do as an organization. For this

reason, a lack of volunteers would be the number one threat to the Matthew 25 Ministries organization.

Lack of Corporate Support

Matthew 25 Ministries currently has a number of powerful ties with major companies and if

some of them were to cut their ties, reduce their contributions, or start giving to other similar

organizations, this would also have a negative effect on the Matthew 25 Ministries organization.

Matthew 25 Ministries relies on the donations and time of corporate donors to support a large portion

of their mission, therefore, if this were to be reduced or eliminated, the amount of people in need which

Matthew 25 Ministries helps would also be greatly reduced.

Hazard and OSHA

As noted under the Weakness section of this paper, there are many issues with the overall work

layout, work environment, and work conditions. These issues could potentially lead to the Occupation

Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) being called in to investigate any claims. The potential for

related threats also exist due to the lack of training that occurs for employees working within the

organization.

Recommendation Every organization could use some help and assistance. Every organization can benefit from

someone who has experience and who has walked down the path before, someone who can help you to

overcome your challenges and obstacles, someone who can help you achieve maximum efficiency and

ultimately save time and costs. Therefore, we recommend that Matthew 25 Ministries invest in hiring a

consultant who specializes in Lean Six Sigma and Six Sigma methodologies.

A consultant who specializes in these methodologies would analyze Matthew 25 Ministries

operations and processes in depth and would work to identify unnecessary steps and variation which

currently exist in the process. By working together with the staff and volunteers at Matthew 25

Ministries they would use value stream mapping to analyze the ‘current state’ and then design a ‘future

state’ for the actions and activities which are used to facilitate the execution of their various operational

processes. The goal would be to achieve an efficient and highly effective operation which allows

Matthew 25 Ministries to process more with less, thus allowing them to deliver more help and

assistance to those in need around the world.

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Conclusion

While volunteering at Matthew 25 Ministries it has been a total learning experience from

beginning to end. As a result of our time with the organization and our time spent researching, we now

have a better understanding on the strengths and weaknesses of the non-profit organization. Through

our volunteer experience we have learned about Matthew 25 Ministries’ global impact and how each

company and individual can make a difference through donation and volunteer service. Staying true to

their mission, Matthew 25 Ministries has been successful in making a difference since their organization

was founded in 1990.

In an effort to further improve their success, we evaluated several areas of their operation,

which lead to us identifying a number of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Through our

evaluation, we have especially focused on what needs to be addressed in order to improve the

organization’s ability to help those in need. The recommendations that we have proposed are meant to

assist the organization with achieving their ultimate goal, which is to help the poorest of the poor and

disaster victims throughout the world, by maximizing the humanitarian aid and disaster relief that is

possible.

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Work Cited

Citation 01

Gibson, Chuck. "Matthew 25 Ministries Needs Volunteers." Cincinnati Enquirer Sep 04 2014:

1. ProQuest. 13 Oct. 2015 [http://search.proquest.com/docview/1560083961?accountid=2909]

Citation 02 Sampson, Melissa, and Lockheed Martin. "Nonprofit, Payload Process Improvement through Lean

Management." IIE Annual Conference. Proceedings (2005): 1-6. ProQuest. 13 Oct.

2015 [http://search.proquest.com/docview/192456916?accountid=2909]

Citation 03 "Corporate Donor Cintas Corporation Recognized by Matthew 25 Ministries for Environmental

Stewardship." Business Wire Jun 05 2015 ProQuest. 13 Oct.

2015 [http://search.proquest.com/docview/1686107207?accountid=2909]

Citation 04 3BL Blogs: Sealed Air Named Green Giving Corporation by Matthew: 25 Ministries. Chatham: Newstex,

20 ProQuest. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.

[http://search.proquest.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/docview/1701968100?pq-origsite=summon&acc

ountid=2909]

Citation 05 "Matthew 25 Ministries." Prepares Disaster Relief for Victims of Oklahoma Tornadoes. PR.com. 21 May

2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. [http://www.pr.com/press-release/492628]