Left to right: Matt Talbot Director of Marketing and Communication Susie Wilson and Executive Director Alynn Sampson talk in the dining room on April 10, 2026. (Brittany Wren, Stingray Writing)
At the Community Health Endowment (CHE), we believe that bold ideas can come from anywhere — especially from those on the front lines of serving our community every day. That’s why we launched the Community Health Ideas Challenge, an opportunity designed to elevate creative local solutions that improve health in unexpected ways.
We are thrilled to introduce the winner of the Community Health Ideas Challenge and one of our five standout finalists: Matt Talbot Kitchen & Outreach and their innovative proposal for refrigerated smart lockers.
Chasing the Clock
The smart locker project is fueled by the real stories of the families Matt Talbot serves, many of whom are simply caught in the "time crunch" of the working poor. Executive Director Alynn Sampson recalls a single working mother of several young children who is a regular guest at the Fresh Choice Pantry.
This mother works a demanding schedule, leaving her with only one small window to get groceries: Thursday evenings from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. For this mother, that 90-minute window is a race against the clock. If a child gets sick, a bus runs late, or an employer asks her to stay an extra twenty minutes, her family loses access to fresh milk, meat, and produce for the week.
Pictured: Matt Talbot’s Fresh Choice Pantry supplies families twice per calendar month with fresh groceries like meat, produce, and dairy products, as well as pantry staples. April 10, 2026. (Brittany Wren, Stingray Writing)
Even when she makes it on time, the stress of the "agency schedule" remains. She feels like she’s always chasing a closing door.
The smart lockers would change her life by giving her back her time. Instead of a frantic Thursday sprint, she could place her order online after the kids are in bed and pick it up right after work the next day, at 6:00 PM or 8:00 PM or whenever her schedule allows. It transforms food from a source of weekly stress into a reliable foundation for her home.
The New Idea: On-Demand Nutrition
To help families like the single mother, Matt Talbot’s proposal seeks to modernize food access by shifting to a flexible, on-demand model. They propose installing refrigerated smart lockers outside Hope House at First Plymouth Church in the Near South neighborhood.
"Access, dignity, and flexibility — this is how we remove barriers and support healthier lives." — Alynn Sampson, Executive Director, Matt Talbot Kitchen & Outreach
Pictured: Matt Talbot Executive Director Alynn Sampson talks about the refrigerated smart locker idea on April 10, 2026. (Brittany Wren, Stingray Writing)
How It Works
The process is designed to be as simple and familiar as an Amazon locker pickup:
Order Online: Guests select nutritious items, including fresh produce, dairy, meat, and shelf-stable essentials.
Secure Access: Once staff fulfill the order, the user receives a secure access code via email or text.
Pickup on Your Schedule: The user retrieves their groceries within 48 hours — allowing a working parent to pick up fresh vegetables after a late-night shift or before the kids wake up.
Why It Matters: Privacy and Health Equity
Traditional food pantries can sometimes carry a stigma or require families to work harder to meet their basic needs. This model offers anonymity and autonomy. By placing the lockers at Hope House, Matt Talbot is targeting a high-need area with a 0.83 social vulnerability index identified by Place Matters 6.0 data, ensuring that "chasing the clock" is no longer a barrier to health.
Pictured: A screenshot of the social vulnerability index of the areas surrounding First Plymouth Church. Accessed April 21, 2026, from Place Matters 6.0 Interactive Maps, lincolnne.maps.arcgis.com.
Beyond the Challenge: A Sanctuary for Lincoln’s Families
For more than 30 years, Matt Talbot has been much more than a kitchen; it is a place of refuge for those navigating the hardest chapters of their lives. On any given day, Matt Talbot provides:
Dignity through Nutrition: Guests receive hot, prepared meals twice daily at lunch and supper. Between meals, the dining room offers immediate relief with donated pastries, milk, and snacks.
Hygiene & Connection: Clean, private facilities for showers and laundry, plus a safe space to charge phones and stay connected to employers, family, and helpful resources.
A Place to Belong: A warm, welcoming space where individuals can get their mail and hang out, escaping the elements in a space where they truly belong.
The “Hope Lives Here” Vision
This smart locker project isn't happening in a vacuum. Hunger relief is a key piece of Matt Talbot’s "Hope Lives Here" campaign — a $2.5 million initiative to strengthen Lincoln’s safety net. As the number of served meals and emergency food boxes has surged by 59% since 2021, Matt Talbot recognizes the need to continue evolving to meet the crisis head-on. Not only does this include the smart lockers, but also consistent, high-quality foods in its fresh choice pantry, hot meals, and uninterrupted services.
A Call to Innovation
Matt Talbot’s smart locker project will be available later this year. It’s a prime example of taking a successful model and scaling it to meet Lincoln's modern needs. As CHE President & CEO Kate Bolz puts it, the Community Health Ideas Challenge is about giving our partners "permission to dream and to think outside the box."
Stay tuned as we continue to feature our Ideas Challenge finalists!
To learn more about the daily mission and the Hope Lives Here campaign, visit mtko.org. For more information on the Community Health Ideas Challenge and other CHE initiatives, visit chelincoln.org.
