Facilities That Collect And Distribute Food Donations

Society For The Promotion Of Youth And Masses

Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses is a national NGO, with over 30 years of experience working with the homeless & marginalized population in the areas of Health & Development. SPYM is running over 50 shelter homes for children, adults and senior citizens across Delhi, wherein the shelter users are provided with the services ranging from daily meals, clothes and other basic health care with active support of generous donors. Our mission of serving the resource deprived community further gets strengthened with support and contribution made by the general community and the corporate sector under CSR activities. We source and acquire food & other products . SPYM provides signed commitment to donors for quality check of donated perishable food items and other related liabilities once the food is donated to SPYM and the food items are distributed to needy people directly through our programs.

State: Delhi

How Is Food Transported To Our Partner Agencies

Lowcountry Food Bank has a fleet of trucks, including 15 refrigerated box trucks, four 53 refrigerated trailers, one 38 refrigerated trailer, three tractors and three cargo vans. More than a dozen Lowcountry Food Bank professional drivers traveled 252,000 miles to deliver food in 2020.

Lowcountry Food Bank drivers pick up food from about 68 retail partners three to four times every week. Drivers pick up food from farmers during harvest season January through November.

Limited Liability Protection For Donors

The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996 encourages the donation of food and grocery products to nonprofit organizations for distribution to needy individuals. The Act exempts persons and gleaners who make good faith donations of food to nonprofit organizations that feed the hungry from liability for injuries arising from the consumption of the donated food.

Under the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, the following food donation standards apply:

Persons and gleaners : Persons and gleaners, including qualified direct donors, shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability arising from the nature, age, packaging, or condition of apparently wholesome food that the person or gleaner donates in good faith to a nonprofit organization for ultimate distribution to needy individuals.

Nonprofit organizations: Nonprofit organizations shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability arising from the nature, age, packaging, or condition of apparently wholesome food that the nonprofit organization received as a donation in good faith from a person or gleaner, including a qualified direct donor, for ultimate distribution to needy individuals.

Donations of apparently wholesome food by qualified direct donors must be made in compliance with applicable state and local health, food safety, and food handling laws .

Recommended Reading: Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act

Can Hungry People Get Food At The Regional Food Bank

Not directly. The food collected and warehoused at the Regional Food Bank is distributed to qualified 501 charities that feed the hungry throughout northeastern New York organizations such as food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters. These charities, called member agencies, receive the food from the Regional Food Bank and give it to those in need.

Ideas For Increasing Food Donations In Your Community

• Leverage your existing relationships with food banks and kitchens to donate food after events.
• Enlist groups that meet within your facilities to assist in collection or distribution of donated food.
• Reach out to your local grocers, restaurants, venues and/or schools to suggest that they could donate wholesome food that will be wasted.
• Create a schedule for pick-up of donated food on a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis.
• Use donated food to feed the hungry or elderly of your community or for events held at your facility.
• Create a schedule of deliveries to shelters and food banks for donated food that cannot be used in your facility.

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Goodwillbest For Donating Clothing And Appliances

Like Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill resells donated furniture and other household items to fund its charitable objectives. It sells these items on the Goodwill website and in thrift stores across the country and uses its earnings to provide career training and employment assistance to underemployed individuals.

Goodwill also offers discounts and vouchers to the people enrolled in its training programs, allowing them to affordably furnish their homes and buy clothes for their families.

Tell Me More About These Member Agencies

To be members of the Food Bank, agencies must be not-for-profit, 501 organizations serving people in need. They must serve free meals or provide free food packages, and have proper facilities for storage, cooking, and food handling. The Food Bank monitors these agencies on a regular basis to assure they handle food in a safe, sanitary manner. Emergency feeding programs which are members of the Food Bank provide monthly statistics on the number of people they serve.

Recommended Reading: Can You Donate Frozen Food

Helping India Feeding India

Helping India, Feeding India is a Not-For-Profit Organisation started at Hazaribag in 2016 which aims to eradicate starvation, food wastage, malnutrition. With 136 volunteers spread across 8 chapter, Helping India, Feeding India collects surplus food from restaurants, banquet halls, parties, events etc. and has fed more than 3350 meals. Skill development and capacity building Jharkhand’s tribal group BIRHOR by providing them food and education is also a key focus.

State: Jharkhand

Recruit And Manage Volunteers

Ask your family, friends, colleagues, neighbors and faith group members to help make the food drive a success. Check with local community organizations, libraries, schools, senior citizen centers, places of worship, etc. that may already have a pool of volunteers for their own purposes. Email is a great way to keep the volunteers informed. Post the food drive on Create the Good by visiting CreatetheGood.org and selecting “Find Volunteers” from the top menu to recruit more volunteers or to promote the drive.

Develop a roster of all the volunteers. Be sure to get each persons full name and contact information so you can keep everyone informed during the planning stage.

Host a meeting three to five weeks prior to the food drive so the volunteers understand the goal of the food drive, what is required of them, the timeline of the drive, and background on the selected organization you are supporting. Provide a take-away sheet with the information from the meeting.

Develop a schedule for the volunteers so that you have sufficient support throughout the day. Keep in mind, peak hours will need more volunteers than the early and later hours of the event. Communicate the schedule to all the volunteers two weeks prior to the food drive so there is time for rescheduling if needed.

Suggested tasks for volunteers include:

For more tips on project management, see the Nuts and Bolts Guide for Organizers at http://www.createthegood.org/toolkit/nuts-bolts-project-organizers.

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Pick A Local Group That Needs Food

Consider both the obvious and the less obvious . If you want suggestions on food organizations in need, start by contacting your local food bank. Youll find them listed online at www.feedingamerica.org

Food banks and pantries are all different, so before you start planning, be sure to reach out to learn the best way to meet their needs.

Food banks are warehouses that collect large quantities of food to distribute to local food pantries, soup kitchens, etc. The food bank itself may be interested in benefiting from your drive. Or, they may suggest a local food organization in your neighborhood.

Once youve determined what organization will benefit from your drive, use the questions in the Tips for Meeting an Organization’s Needs section below to talk with them about your idea and how best to shape it to meet their needs.

Local food organizations often are in short supply of age-appropriate food and/or culturally-appropriate foods. Use the Sample Food List in the “Supplemental Materials” section and consider narrowing your requests for donations to these special areas to best meet the needs of the people being served.

If no local organization needs support, consider making a donation to AARP Foundation’s Fight Hunger Campaign at www.aarp.org/hunger to help those who are hungry.

Nongovernmental Food Assistance Programs

There is a great need for food assistance in the United States and this need is not fully met by federal programs. Consequently, a wide range of nonprofit volunteer organizations have stepped up to fill the gap. These organizations secure funding from a network of federal, state, and local grants, seek donations from individuals and corporations, and rely on volunteers to carry out most of the activities. An important legislative act that assisted the growth in nongovernmental food assistance programs was the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act. This act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996, and protects donors from criminal liability when donating food to a nonprofit organization if the food should cause illness or harm. It includes a provision that says providing food close to the recommended date of sale is not grounds for gross negligence.

Many faith-based organizations provide meals and food assistance to low-income families. These organizations may partner with USDA nutrition assistance programs or other federal, state, and local organizations for part or all of the funding. They may provide food to day care facilities, food banks, pantries and soup kitchens, schools, after-school programs, homeless shelters, health clinics, and summer activity programs.

Haley Swartz, … Roni A. Neff, in, 2018

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Whats The Difference Between A Food Bank And A Food Pantry

Food banks are nonprofit organizations that collect, purchase, and rescue donated food to feed food-insecure individuals through the food banks community partners and agencies. The Food Bank is a distribution center where the food is gathered, sorted, inspected for safety, and then made available to agencies, community partners or food pantries. Food pantries are the partner agencies and churches that distribute food directly to their communities.

Good Samaritan Act Provides Liability Protection For Food Donations

Food donations to help those in need have been an important part of Americas safety net during the challenges posed by COVID-19. Did you know that the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996 provides limited liability protection for people who make good faith donations of food and grocery products to nonprofits that feed the hungry? The act also provides limited liability protection, both civil and criminal, for those who distribute food and groceries, such as food banks.

If you have not heard about this act, you are not alone. This lack of awareness of the Good Samaritan Act prompted Congress in the 2018 Farm Bill to call for USDA to raise awareness of the liability protection afforded by the act. As USDAs Food Loss and Waste Liaison, I am leading outreach efforts to let businesses involved with food donations from farm-to-fork know about this limited liability protection.

In order to receive protection under the act, a person or gleaner must donate in good faithapparently wholesome food or apparently fit grocery products to a nonprofit organization for ultimate distribution to needy individuals. It does not cover direct donations to needy individuals or families. The act also provides protection against civil and criminal liability to the nonprofit organizations that receive such donated items in good faith.

So, what does this really mean? Lets take one bite at a time.

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How Does Lowcountry Food Bank Get Food To The People Who Need It

Once Lowcountry Food Bank receives, inspects, and sorts food at either of our three regional distribution centers , our nearly 300 agencies distribute food to those who experience hunger. Agencies include faith-based food pantries, on-site feeding programs, residential facilities, and direct-service, non-profit organizations. Agencies are responsible for 86% of total pounds of food we distribute, including fresh produce. Some agencies pick up food at the Lowcountry Food Bank for their distribution, or we may deliver food to them.

Table : Who Is Covered Under The Good Samaritan Act For Food Donations

All fifty states and the District of Columbia have additional food donation statues that limit food donors liabilitythese currently vary widely, such as by who , and what foods and food products are covered. The Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel has interpreted the Act as preempting state laws that provide less liability protection to donors. In simple language, this means that under the DOJs interpretation, state laws may provide greater protection against liability, but not less. The Good Samaritan Act serves as a floor or minimum bar for states food donation statutes.

Read more USDA blogs on the topic of food waste.

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How Second Harvest Heartland Works

A food bank acts as a wholesaler, sourcing large amounts of food and making it available to smaller, local food shelves and food pantries, so they can provide free groceries and healthy meals to our neighbors experiencing hunger and food insecurity.

• Were part of the Feeding America network of more than 200 food banks around the country. Our partnership helps amplify our impact and extend our reach.

Find Food Recipient Organizations

The following sites contain tools that allow users to search for food banks, pantries, soup kitchens and shelters that may be interested in accepting wholesome, excess food:

• Feeding Americas Find Your Local Foodbank has a map of Feeding America member food banks. Some of these food banks might have a minimum donation size requirement. Feeding America also operates the Meal Connect app , which connects donors to local food banks.
• Sustainable Americas Food Rescue Locator is a directory of organizations that rescue, glean, transport, prepare, and distribute food to the needy in their communities.
• AmpleHarvest.org allows you to search food pantries by zip code and shows the search results on an interactive map.
• Hunger Free America operates the USDAs National Hunger Clearinghouse, where people can seek food assistance.

The following organizations are examples of food donation organizations that provide a mechanism for entities to donate wholesome, excess food to those in need:

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Resource Guide On Food Scrap Compost Facility Training For Region 5 States And Operators

This information resource guide was developed to discuss compost facility training needs and opportunities in EPA Region 5 states. This report:

• Summarizes current EPA Region 5 state regulations relating to food scrap composting and requirements for operator training
• Identifies and describes key components of compost training resources available to EPA Region 5 state agency personnel and compost operators, especially those that accept food waste
• Provides a summary of interviews with EPA Region 5 compost operators regarding their experiences with available operator training and
• Identifies key components that address the compost operational issues faced in EPA Region 5.

Tips For Generating Publicity

Be creative but also be sure to provide key information:

• Suggested foods for contribution
• Date, time and location of the event
• Brief information on the organization that will receive the food
• Look at other food drive flyers to get ideas

Distribute the Flyer Consider the same sources used for recruiting volunteers and public places frequented by people including grocery stores, coffee shops, libraries, etc.

Word of Mouth Goes a Long Way Spread the word to your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. Talk to them in person or use email or social media to get the word out. Ask them to spread the word as well. Approach everyone with a friendly, positive attitude. Explain that it will be a fun event focused on a great cause. Use message boards both online and the old-fashioned way.

Reach the Largest Audience Use your local newspapers, magazines, community guides, websites, radio stations and television and cable access channels to help spread the word about your food drive. The local media often welcome information about community events, and many radio and TV stations and news outlets offer online forms to simplify event promotion. Also try to get the details in school and faith based newsletters or announcements.

Email basic details of the event using plain text without any fancy graphics. Put the events date in the subject line. The email should include:

The best days to send media announcements are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Also Check: Food Bank Of Contra Costa County

Wasted Food Programs And Resources Across The United States

EPA compiled a list of national resources that can help you find information in your community about recycling, pollution prevention, food rescue, food donation and composting.

Food loss and waste is a growing problem in our modern society. The amount of food Americans throw away each year is staggering. In 2018 alone, EPA estimates that about 63 million tons of wasted food were generated in the commercial, institutional, and residential sectors, with about 32 percent being managed by animal feed, bio-based materials/biochemical processing, codigestion/anaerobic digestion, composting, donation, land application, and sewer/wastewater treatment. EPA estimates that more food reaches landfills and incinerators that any other single material in our everyday trash, constituting 24 percent of the amount landfilled and 22 percent of the amount combusted with energy recovery.

There are growing efforts both to prevent wasted food from occurring in the first place and to divert if from landfills and incinerators. Choose your state or EPA region from the map below or scroll down to find information about state and/or EPA regional wasted food prevention and diversion efforts.