Dio9sys

Reminder that straight money donations to food pantries goes further than food donations!

Not that food donations are inherently bad, mind you. If you have spare canned goods, or your garden was extra productive, or things like that they'll still accept it!

But, if you donate straight money, most food banks have someone whose entire job is using those donations to get the best deals on food as possible. Lots of buying in bulk or getting deals straight from food producers. Your $1 donation can be stretched to a solid $5 worth of food in the right hands

Oct 28 at 5:29pmWeb
Show threadRich Puchalsky ⩜⃝Oct 28

@Dio9sys

My garden was extra productive (of squash): I don't think that there are any food pantries nearby that will actually take it. They all want canned goods if you're going to donate food at all.

Show threadDio9sysOct 28
@richpuchalsky Yeah, that is the hard thing with produce. I've found Food Not Bombs is pretty amenable to garden produce, as are some farmer's markets if you come with veg and say you want to donate it to people who can't afford groceries
Show threadGeorge 🍦🚲 🥾 ✌️🌎 🌌Oct 28
@richpuchalsky @Dio9sys We have a few food pantry distribution points that are cabinets for nonperishables and a refrigerator portion on one side. People leave all types of produce. We used to take lettuces, kales, collards, carrots, and of course there were always lots of tomatoes and squashes.
Show threadPaul LalondeOct 28
@Dio9sys We rotate our emergency food supplies annually - well before canned and dry goods expire, and they go to the food bank along with a sizeable cash donation. I'm surprised that I haven't seen food banks use the "refresh your emergency supplies" mechanism to collect.
Show threadDio9sysOct 28
@Flux In Utah, which has a pretty strong culture of emergency food storage, the food pantry near me actually had to put out a PSA asking people to please check the expiry date on their food storage items 😅 they kept donating stuff that was like 2 years expired and the pantry had to start throwing stuff out
Show threadD R TateOct 29
@Dio9sys
WELL SAID
Show threadTiffanyNBastowOct 29
@Dio9sys Great tip! Cash to food banks stretches further—$1 can buy ~$5 in food via bulk deals. Food donations still welcome if you’ve got extras! #FoodBank #charity