If you have a lot of a single grocery item (e.g. canned beans), don’t assume that you can’t donate it

I used to do volunteer work at a local church that ran a food pantry for people that were struggling. It was the sort of experience that changed me as a person. It really bothered me that there were so many people that didn’t have money for food enough to make ends meet.<br><br>The one thing that struck me about this was that there are so many people that donate food to food pantries, but a lot of it ends up wasted. For example, people will donate the food that is near expiry or that they don’t like themselves. It’s hard to tell if this food is still good, so the food pantry typically throws it out. They also tend to donate all of their food at once, e.g. one person will donate two boxes of cereal. The food pantry didn’t have enough recipients for this food, and expired or perished before they could get enough. They also had a hard time storing this food because it just wouldn’t fit. More often than not, the food pantries would just throw out this food. This made me really sad, because it was obvious that the food was coming from a place of kindness. I don’t think a lot of people realize that when they donate their unwanted food, it is often thrown out.<br><br>When I had leftovers in bulk (e.g. canned beans), I would always give them to the food pantry. However, they would typically always turn me down, and explain that the food pantry was limited on storage space, and preferred smaller portions of food that could be distributed. This meant that if I had a lot of food to donate, they would only accept one or two items. They were happy to take these items, but they were not happy to take too much food, because storing it was hard. When they did have room for it, they would tell me. They would rather have one can of beans every few weeks than 5 cans of beans once a month.<br><br>I thought that this was really stupid, and that they should be happy to take whatever food I was willing to give, as long as I was willing to give it. A few months ago, we had some professional cleaning done at the church, which uncovered some of the old donations that had been given months prior. A lot of the food was expired, moldy, or infested with insects. The food pantry director estimated that nearly 2/3 of the donations were thrown out because of this. She told me that food typically had a 3 month window between receiving it and distributing it, and that many of the donations were expired upon receiving them, or expired before they could distribute it. She also told me that the food pantry had to throw out donations because they didn’t have enough storage space. <br><br>These discoveries were eye-opening for me. I had assumed that the food pantries had enough space and resources to take as much food as they were given. I also didn’t realize that donated food could be wasted. It was sad to see so much food wasted, as well as so much kindness wasted. Many people that donate food are donating food that they would otherwise eat. I felt that it was a shame that this food didn’t make its way to people that really needed it.<br><br>I started saving money on groceries by buying canned beans in bulk and cooking them myself. However, I’ve been really busy lately and haven’t had as much time to cook. I still had a lot of beans left over, and realized that it was going to be a long time until I can get around to eating them. I reached out to the food pantry at church, and they told me that they were currently out of room for the bulk beans. They wished me luck in donating them. I didn’t want to just throw the food away, and knew that it would be a long time until I could get around to eating it. <br><br>This just reinforced my earlier discovery that people often donate food that they would otherwise eat. I had bought the beans to save money, and was really surprised at how much money they saved me. I didn’t realize how much money I spent per year on beans until I stopped buying them. I felt that if I was saving this money by buying a staple item in bulk and cooking it for myself, that this would also be a great way for people that were struggling to save money. I had assumed that the food pantries would want donations of staple foods in bulk (e.g. pasta, rice, beans), because it was saving me so much money. However, the food pantry director told me that the food pantries never have enough room for this food. She suggested that I find an individual that was struggling, and give them the food instead. I was skeptical that I could find someone in need that would want the food, but was willing to try.<br><br>I made a lot of different attempts at donating the food. I posted on my social media with no luck. I asked around in my town and had no luck. I posted on Chambers and reached out to local Chambers users with no luck. Finally, I posted on Craigslist, and got a few messages from people who were interested in receiving the food. I narrowed it down to someone who was looking for food donations for a thanksgiving dinner that they were holding for people in the community that were struggling to get by. I was skeptical that this was legitimate, and looked them up to try to verify it. When I was looking them up, it turned out that they were a real person that had a lot of other volunteer or community work under their belt. They had even received an award for a volunteer recognition that was given by our state governor. This really put my mind at ease, and I reached out telling them that I would be happy to donate the food. It turned out that they were also looking for canned beans as one of the main ingredients for their side dishes. <br><br>The food drive went really well, and the beans were well received. However, I am the sort of person that sets high expectations and then looks for flaws. I had assumed that this was an organized, well-oiled event. I assumed that everyone donating the food had been verified, and that everyone receiving the food had been verified. In reality, they had a lot of first time volunteers, including multiple teenagers that were trying to get volunteer hours. There was also some confusion over the RSVP list, and a few people showed up that weren’t on the list. I was skeptical that all of the people receiving the food were really in need. However, I was told that they had volunteer recognition awards for the people receiving the food, because they also volunteered their time to help with the food drives.<br><br>Overall, this was a great experience for me, and I’m really happy that I got to help people. I feel that it’s really sad that food was being wasted when there are people that don’t have enough money to eat. I know that a lot of people donate food out of kindness, and don’t want to see their food (or their kindness) go to waste. I would encourage others to donate food to individual people that are in need, rather than donating to food pantries. Even if you only have a single item to donate, try posting on Craigslist and reaching out to local people. There are plenty of people that need help accessing food, and it’s possible to make a real difference in people’s lives with your food donations.