Food Donations In My Area

What To Donate To A Food Bank

While food banks always provide a minimum of three days’ worth of nutritionally balanced, non-perishable tinned and dried foods, what you should donate to a food bank differs depending on where you are – and what food bank you’re donating to.

Typically food banks are looking for donations of food products from supermarkets, such as:

Lots of food banks will also offer essential non-food items , such as toiletries and hygiene products.

However, because the supplies to food banks differ between areas, its important to check with your local food bank what kind of supplies theyre most in need of at the moment. An easy way to do this is to use the search box at the bottom of this page , underneath Items to donate. It will tell you the products and food items that your local food bank is in need of at the moment.

If you are in the position to donate to a local food bank, now is the time to do so, with more people needing their services every day.

Eating Lifeline The Smartest Choice In The Rainier Beach Area

By preparing around 134,000 meals every day, this charity in the Rainier neighborhood provides essential support to people in need in their community. You can contact them on their website. They accept different types of foods, but you can also help them by volunteering, hosting a food drive, or donating funds.

Who Habitat For Humanity Helps

Habitat for Humanity helps individuals and communities in over 70 countries.3 Anyone can apply to live in one of the organizations homes, but applicants are accepted based on financial need.

In addition to paying their mortgages, which come with affordable and realistic financing options, Habitat for Humanity home buyers also agree to help the organization with volunteer work.

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How To Donate To A Food Bank

With the pandemic and the cost of living crisis, food banks are being relied upon more than ever before. If you’re wondering how to help, here’s everything you need to know about food bank donations.

Food banks work with support from the public, who donate non-perishable food at a range of places such as schools, churches, and local businesses, as well as supermarket collection points. Then volunteers sort the produce into emergency food parcels to give to people in need. A large majority of food banks also provide extra services alongside the emergency food parcels, such as toiletries, sanitary products, and baby basics.

According to recent stats published by The Trussel Trust , 95% of people referred to food banks in early 2020 were unable to afford to eat or stay warm and dry. As well as 18% of households referred to food banks were single parents – more than twice the rate in the general population. Trussel Trust added “We know that extremely low income is a key factor driving people to food banks.” Therefore donating to a food bank is needed now more than ever.

Host A Food Drive To End Hunger

Food drives are a great way to unite your company or friends and family to support our community.

Start a Virtual Food Drive

A virtual food drive makes an immediate difference to end hunger in our community. Its an easy and fun way to provide food where its needed most. Learn more and get started now.

Traditional Food Drives

If you would like to hold a traditional food drive for the Food Depository, please collect our most needed items. When your food drive is over, please plan to drop off your food donations at one of the sites below.

Questions? Contact or

Frequently Asked Questions about Traditional Food Drives

Food drive donations must be:

• In the original container with the original product label
• Within the Use by or Best if used by dates
• Free of damage, stains or moisture
• Standard retail food products

How can I promote my food drive?

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Where To Donate Canned Foods

If youve got extra food crowding your pantry, you might be looking for a way to offload it to a worthy cause.

Whether youre moving house, doing some spring cleaning, or looking for a way to help end food insecurity in your community, youve likely turned to Google to find the best canned food donation centers near me or something like that.

In your search, you might have discovered that many food banks and donation centers have phased out the idea of donating canned food in favor of accepting cash. To avoid wasting more of your valuable time, check out this list of the top places to donate canned food in your area.

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Pickupmydonationcombest For Finding Local Charities

PickUpMyDonation.com isnt actually a donation center like The Salvation Army or Habitat for Humanity, and it doesnt pick up your donations and distribute them. Instead, it helps you find local nonprofits and thrift stores that do.

If your donation isnt large enough for a local nonprofit to send a truck , PickUpMyDonation.com can still help. The company will put you in touch with a company like College Hunks Hauling Junk & Movingone of our favorite local moving companiesto pick up your donation and take it to a nearby center.

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How To Volunteer At Food Banks

Food bank volunteers are needed to help out in many different ways at food banks. There is a wide variety of volunteer work, from delivering meals to helping with bookkeeping. If youre searching for ways to give back to your community, here are a few more prevalent ones.

It is important to build separate profiles when signing up to volunteer. Find a food bank that needs volunteers and sign up for their service that works with your schedule. In this manner, you may plan ahead of time and be available when it is most needed. If you want to know when and where you can volunteer, visit their website. There are many options, so keep looking.

Volunteers are needed at food banks to help with various activities, including assembling meal kits, making phone calls to those in need, and running errands. Volunteers could assist with specialized chores like sewing masks, distributing fliers, or creating social support calls. However, the majority of the labor is done in an anonymous capacity. Another option is to show up at an event and provide assistance. If you want to help at a food bank but arent sure youre up to the challenge, check out their website first.

What To Donate To A Food Bank And What To Avoid

So, youre ready to donate food to your local food bank. Thats great! Whether youre starting a food drive or just planning to grab a few extra items for donation while out grocery shopping, there are a couple of things you should know about what you can donate and what food banks wont accept.

What food you CAN donate to your local food bank:

This part is pretty easy. Food banks accept dry and canned food donations. What does that mean? Basically, any food that is shelf-stable or nonperishable you can keep it in your pantry and it wont go bad. And remember, only donate food that hasnt reached its sell-by date yet. Specifically, food banks often need items like:

Thats definitely not an exhaustive list but it covers a lot of what food banks regularly need. Additionally, some food banks accept personal care and household items, since many families struggle to afford these items and they arent covered by other food assistance programs like SNAP.

If youre still stumped about what to donate, just look in your own pantry. Families struggling with hunger often cant afford the staples that we normally have stocked at home. So, check your pantry out and go from there. Even specialty foods like olive oil, dressings, or marinades can be helpful if they dont need to be refrigerated.

What not to donate to a food bank

Where can I donate food near me?

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Can You Donate Expiring Canned Foods

In addition to adhering to best practices such as abstaining from donating perishable items, leftovers, or homemade items, you should also avoid donating anything thats expired. Food banks will most likely check an expiration date before giving it to a family in need, but its better to be safe than sorry. As a general rule, if you wouldnt eat it, dont donate it.

What Do Food Banks Need At Christmas

Festive treats are appreciated as food donations at food banks during the Christmas holidays particularly Christmas pudding, as it often comes with a long-life use by date. The Trussell Trust recommends non-alcoholic puddings.

Chocolate coins and Christmas dinner non-perishables such as tinned pies, vegetables, condiments, and gravy are all appreciated this time of year. Festive treats for those who can’t afford them at this time of year are welcome.

Related features:

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Donate To Your Local Food Bank

Now that you have the knowledge, find a local food bank in your area and go donate!

Start with Google

A simple Google search for food bank near me might give you the answer you need. For example, I grew up with the Hunger Task Force in Wisconsin.

Feeding America Locator Tool

To find a food bank near you, try Feeding Americas easy locator tool. Just click the button below.

Donate Your Sweet Treats

You can also send your sweet treats to organizations that will donate them to others.

Treats for Troops has multiple candy drop-off locations in the Seattle area. Candy can also be shipped directly to Soldiers Angels Treats for Troops, 2895 N.E. Loop 410, Suite 107, San Antonio, Texas, 78218.

Operation Shoebox accepts individually wrapped candies to be sent to troops.

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Food We Cannot Accept

We want to ensure all your donations make it to the tables of those in need, so to prevent waste please avoid donating the following:

• Over the counter medications
• Home baked-goods or food prepared in a home environment
• Personally wrapped meats
• Opened food items, or food not in its original container/packaging
• Candy and snack food items in packaging that can easily be tampered with or contaminated

When donating snacks please keep in mind that a nutritious treat is always preferred.

*The above standards are put in place by Food Banks Canada, and are to be utilized by all food banks and food programs.

The Food Pantries For The Capital District

As a coalition of more than 65 food pantries in Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady Counties we are here to help those in our community who need a hand. In these unprecedented times, The Food Pantries for the Capital District is working diligently to ensure that our local food pantries are prepared in the face of circumstances that are devastating to our most vulnerable community members. You can help!

On May 4th of this year, President Biden announced that the White House will host a Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health this September. This is the first such conference held in over 50 years.

The goal of the Biden-Harris Administration is to end hunger, and to increase healthy eating and physical activity across the United States by 2030as well as decreasing diet-related diseases and their associated social disparities. The White House reached out to key stakeholders for input to inform the national plan on how to achieve this goal.

The Food Pantries Submission to the White House

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What Food Items Can Be Donated

As a rule of thumb, Villarreal says food banks are looking for food pantry staples that most people have in their kitchens such as grains, pastas, canned beans, cereal, and peanut butter. Guerra adds that low-sodium canned vegetables, rice, and canned fruit are also needed.

There are some items that food banks generally donât take as donations such as homemade items, Guerra says. Villarreal advises not donating items in glass containers as they can shatter during transportation or anything thatâs opened, damaged, or unlabeled.

Keep the expiration dates in mind as well. âMany nonperishable items have a shelf life well beyond their sell-by date,â Guerra says. So, Villarreal recommends using your best judgment. If the item is near its expiration date it should be fine to donate, but if itâs well past the date itâs best to toss it.

Depending on the food bank, some also accept other items as donations. Think of things that youâd find at your local grocery store such as feminine hygiene products, toothpaste, soap, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, diapers, pet food, and other household items.

Furniture Bank Networkbest For Donating Home Goods

Furniture Bank Network helps people furnish their homes with comfy and practical secondhand items donated by people within the community. The best part is that recipients get the furniture for free .6

People can get furnishings from their local Furniture Bank only if they are referred to the organization through one of its social service partners. This ensures that the furniture goes to those who need it most.

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Where To Drop Off Food Bank Donations

Jul 8, 2022 |

Many families having trouble putting food on the table get help through food banks. They depend on the publics generosity to replenish their shelves, and there are many ways you may contribute. One way is by donating food items.

Food banks collaborate with other organizations to guarantee that all members of their communities have access to nutritious food. They are responsible for collecting, storing, and delivering food items such as vegetables and canned goods. Food products that dont need to be refrigerated, such as cereal and canned foods, are frequently accepted. The likes of milk, eggs, and bread are among the perishable products that may be donated to certain food banks.

Food bank volunteers and those in need of food assistance may find a home at a food bank, which also acts as a resource center for those seeking additional services. They base their work on the values of client autonomy, confidentiality, and the worth of each individual in the communities they serve.

Best Food Donations For Thanksgiving And Christmas

While many of us will gather around the table for cozy family meals at Thanksgiving and Christmas, those who are hungry have a different experience.

Many food banks partner with farmers, grocery store chains, and restaurants to deliver perishables food such as turkeys, dairy, and fresh fruits and vegetables at the holidays and all year round. These organizations are true heroes that bring a lot of joy and comfort.

If you have one of these occasions in mind, here are some holiday-specific food donations to add to your cart next time youre at the grocery store.

• Instant mashed potatoes

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Make A Thrift Store Donation:

To donate gently used clothing, household, or yard items, please take your items to our donation depot at 109-192 Island Hwy, Parksville. Please call ahead if you have a lot to donate: 248-8154. For drop-off or pick-up of furniture, appliances, and other larger items in good condition, please call 586-0856.

Best Practices For Donating Canned Foods

We all want to be good citizens and do some good with the items were donating. Here are some guidelines to follow:

• Donate the items that the food bank accepts. Read their guidelines first.
• Check expiration dates. If an item is nearing or past expiration, the food bank likely wont accept it.
• Examine packaging for rust, dents, faded or damaged labels, or leaks.
• Check foodbank hours to ensure that you dont make a wasted trip. Remember, Easy Donation PickUp will come to you, so you dont have to worry about that if you donate your canned food to us!
• Avoid donating perishable items. It might seem common sense, but its easy to forget that an item requiring refrigeration will not hold up on a foodbank shelf. This includes anything that needs to be refrigerated.

Dont worry, though. Just because you cant donate fresh food doesnt mean that hungry families dont have access to these items through a food bank. Food banks often coordinate with suppliers such as farmers, restaurants, and retailers to source these items.

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Why Should You Donate To Local Food Banks

“Millions of vulnerable children are losing the healthy meals they depend on as the closes schools nationwide,” Davis said at the beginning of the pandemic. “As of , 39 states had closed schools entirely. When you add in the districts closed in other states it means 41.6 million kids, or 4 out of 5 kids, are out of school.” Even in areas where the schools were still open, many businesses were closed, which meant hourly workers who may have already been struggling to make ends meet were hit hard.

Fortunately, as of July 2022, the health risks posed by the pandemic have lessened over time. However, Davis notes that the need and the financial impact has not abated. âFamilies still face ongoing challenges due to the strained supply chain, rising food and gas prices, and skyrocketing inflation,â she says. âToday, one in six kids face hunger in the U.S.â

According to a recent Feeding America food bank survey, 80 percent of food banks across the country reported an increase or steady demand for food. Food insecurity exists everywhere, says Zuani Villarreal, the senior director of communication for Feeding America. âIt could be your classmate it could be a co-worker it could be your neighbor a fellow church goer that needs help and I think the awareness of that issue should drive people to help,â she says. For this reason, donating to food banks is more important than ever.