Where Can I Donate Food & Extra Produce

Where can I donate food? A bit of searching yields a food bank donation list and organizations that will be happy to take your extra garden produce.

By Betsy S. Franz
Updated on June 28, 2023
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iStockphoto.com/Loic Bernard

Where can I donate food? A bit of searching yields a food bank donation list and organizations that will be happy to take your extra garden produce.

When it comes to growing food, most gardeners know that crops tend towards feast or famine. When a gardener is just learning the ins and outs of growing edibles, she may end up with one measly eggplant or a few stunted tomatoes. But once she gets the hang of it, she can end up with extra produce and far more fruit and vegetables than a single person or family can eat.

In these tough economic times, when one of every eight Americans doesn’t have enough food for an active, healthy life, an ideal solution would be to donate homegrown surplus to local food banks and soup kitchens.

That solution has a problem, however. Some food banks and soup kitchens only accept non-perishable food items, and finding the ones that do accept green goods can be difficult and time consuming. Fortunately, resources are available to help match up growers with organizations that can put surplus produce to the best possible use.

Where to donate

The AmpleHarvest.org (www.AmpleHarvest.org; 973-409-4093) campaign is one group working hard to ensure gardeners can find good outlets for their produce. AmpleHarvest.org was created in 2008 specifically to help backyard gardeners share their bounty. Gardeners can search the AmpleHarvest database by entering a ZIP code or city to find all registered pantries within a specified distance. Entries include name, address and other contact information, and also days and hours that donations are accepted.

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