Major Established or Developing Non-governmental Types of
Food Donation for the Hungry, Homeless and Food Insecure
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Retrieval of millions of pounds of edible-but-unmarketable
food from food stores which was being thrown away in refuse
bins -- dented canned foods, frozen food, broken bags of
rice, sugar, etc. This was the type of food the late John
van Hengel first recovered for distribution to organizations
that feed the needy when he formed the first food bank at
St. Mary’s Church in Phoenix, Arizona in 1967. Van
Hengel went on to found America’s Second Harvest,
the network of more than 200 food banks in existence in
our country today.
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Retrieval of millions of pounds of prepared and perishable
foods from restaurants, banquet halls, etc. which had previously
been thrown away. Food bank refrigerated trucks now collect
this food for distribution to organizations that feed the
needy. Before the food bank began this program, it was estimated
that one fifth of this type of prepared and perishable food
in America was discarded.
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USA Harvest, www.usaharvest.com,
founded by Stan Curtis in 1989.
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The award winning “Patricke Peartree” program
of encouraging individuals and organizations to create edible
landscaped yards and properties with donation orchards and
gardens and give their harvests to food banks is developing
as another major source of food for the needy. As America
battles against obesity, especially among our poor, fresh
produce is a very important weapon in the fight. Patricke
Peartree is quickly becoming the primary voice for donation
orchards and gardening.
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Various other types of food procurement, including food
drives, etc., also provide significant amounts of food for
the needy.
