You may be wondering
- Who are the hungry?
What we do about it!
Where does the food come from?
Why do companies donate food to a Food Bank?
Who are the hungry?
The hungry today are likely to be hard working families, single parents with children, seniors on fixed incomes. Many are new to food pantries or social agencies; they never expected to face the difficult choices of either paying for housing or medicine or buying food to eat.
There are thousands of people in Maine who work hard but are still living at the poverty level. They absolutely depend on emergency food supplies to survive. People with a disabilities, the unemployed and the homeless often have no other resource when they are in need.
These are children, elderly, working poor. Others face medical or other crisis and have suddenly been thrown into poverty. They simply need good neighbors to help get them through these hard times.
What we do about it!
Now in our 25th year of operation, GSFB provides millions of pounds of food obtained from food manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, farmers, individuals and government sources. With distribution centers in both Auburn and Brewer, Good Shepherd Food-Bank distributes food to every county in Maine through more than 540 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and other assistance programs.
Our primary activity is to support our member agencies by providing quality, nutritious food. We also help by building public awareness and raising the funds required to get the food to those who need it.
GSFB enables our agencies to do significantly more on their limited operating budgets and to extend greater service to local communities throughout Maine. Over and over again, we hear it from our agencies, "Without Good Shepherd Food-Bank, we couldn't do what we do."
Where does the food come from?
Donated food is received from a variety of sources:
Local grocery chains including Hannaford and Shaws provide food that is overstocked, items too close to its freshness date to sell in time, damaged packages and dented cans, all of it still high quality and nutritious.Hannaford Bros. Co. Donates 50% of the total
Each working day, we receive a trailer truckload of dry foods. Items include anything you might find in the dry section of their supermarkets.We receive regular donations from Hannaford's dairy and produce department and from their frozen foods department.
Other food retailers are also getting involved!
- Walmart
Shaws
Wild Oats
Maine's food industry is donating to help feed those in need throughout our state. These donors include:
- Sysco
Barber Foods
and many other smaller but essential sources.
Americas Second Harvest
Twelve years ago, Good Shepherd Food-Bank began its partnership with America's Second Harvest (A2H), the Nation's Food Bank Network. Based in Chicago. A2H Network is the country's largest domestic hunger relief organization serving more than 200 member food banks in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico and is a significant source of much needed food for Maine, sending truckloads each month from various national food donors.
America's Second Harvest helps us to secure donated product from large corporations all across the country. Financial contributions are used to purchase, at a significant discount, the necessary items that are not supplied through donation. Last, but certainly not least, we depend heavily on the support and generosity of local businesses and individuals for both financial and product donations.
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Why do companies donate food to a Food Bank?
Food and nonfood products come from many sources: supermarkets, wholesalers, and distributors, food producers and even private gardens. Besides outright gifts from some companies, they donate for a variety of reasons:- Dented cans
Broken case lots
Torn or damaged labels
Holiday surplus
Crushed or torn boxes
Processing errors with respect to color or consistency
Overproduction
Wrong size or weight
Code dates expired (or about to)
Less than full cases with glass products
Most companies prefer not to deal with the hundreds of requests each year from nonprofit organizations.
Dealing with a single organization such as a food bank allows them to donate the food and let someone else be responsible for the distribution. Food banks have been formed to channel the food between food donors and the various nonprofit organizations serving the needy and providing a service which would otherwise be unavailable.
Another reason companies prefer dealing with an organization like a food bank is that they get to see the process by which their product is handled and be assured that high standards are being used to separate those items which are fit for consumption from those which are not. This guarantees that a donor's interests are being protected.
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