Post

Yes I have a friend who volunteers at our local food bank. She said cash is the best donation.

Thanks, good to know!

This is true. My wife is a program manager for a food bank, and the monetary donations go much further, with the added benefit of not having to sort through donations to see what is outdated.

If I had known that before making a monetary donation on Friday, I probably would have.

A certain percentage do.

Idea: when I need green beans anyway, what if I could buy a can from them for 50¢ instead of Walmart for 76¢, and they could replace the one they sold me plus give away two cans of green beans?

Big Wednesday energy here

Too stringy & sour

if you don't preserve them they go bad pretty quickly

Also, they might not need a can of green beans. With money donations, they can buy what they need most.

Can they buy 6 cans for a dollar?

Of course. That's still a big drop from the usual $1 a can for vegetables, though.

meanwhile we apparently gained one "trillionaire" recently #ideas

Yes, this. I've been giving money to my local food bank for a long time.

food panic posts this time last year:

Money's better if you have it to give.

youtu.be/XbYInILDj6Q?...

Wish that explanation was part of original post

This is why I sent cash.

Really something we all should think about 🤔

yesss i wish people knew this about food banks. almost all of them accept money, and they can do way more with it than they can with a can of food!

My food bank lists wanted items every month. I grew up poor so I’m really good at playing the grocery game. I put aside a fixed amount every week when I shop & purchase the deals. This is a good way to keep giving throughout the year.

That's a great way to explain it

this post still gettin' attention after all this time, i'm glad folks are still gettin' the word out. the world is tough rn but it's never hopeless. you can do an incredible amount of good for your community just by takin' up a monthly donation for your local food bank!

I've been getting this message out for years. It's so important!

This is 100% accurate and correct, BTW. Source: have volunteered at a food bank a couple times.

Before you donate goods, check with your local food hub. Remember that it isn’t just a can of food or a bag of flour. They have to sort your donation, which requires staff or volunteer time. Money, if you can afford it, can be donated with a few clicks and they can access it immediately.

This is why it drives me crazy when food banks set up at retail outlets wanting you to buy and immediately donate cans. It just benefits the retail outlet. Food banks should be buying at wholesale prices to maximize the Good they do.

I work for a food bank. We can get food WAY cheaper than you can at the store, and get it to where it's most needed. And not just pantry, lots of fresh produce, dairy, eggs, meat, frozen food. And food that would otherwise go to waste (think truckloads of day-old bread from retailers).

Cynic that I am, I know it feels wonderful to give supplies, but I’ve long believed that giving cash to charities enables them to have much more flexibility in meeting needs.

Excellent point and bears repeating over and over. I've worked at an org. that got in-kind donations and it requires staff time to sort through the stuff, get rid of unsafe/unusable items, then get everything put away. It's a lot more efficient to let the pantry use your $ to buy in bulk.

I volunteer at a food pantry, and it's CRAZY what they can do with a $!!

I bring goods to the local food banks. I get that "give us money" pitch. One of the food banks puts quite a bit of the monetary donations into salaries for admins. I will continue to find brand names on sale, and to deliver a flat or two. Am discouraged by the misuse of so much donor dollars.

Americans. Democrats. Republicans. Charity founders. Fundraisers. Every single one of them. Always on the make. America. 🤣🤣🤣

Thank you for this reminder. Just set up a recurring donation to mine.

Or they could give away 6 cans of carrots because people have already given them enough green beans and poor people can't live on green beans alone.

nobody's stopping you. :3

Moreover, you'll hurt your back carrying a case of canned green beans, but a $20 bill is light as a feather.

Thank you for a great piece of info.

Tldr bulk purchases is way more efficient, way more than most people know

Food banks can buy in bulk, at a discount.

6 cans of out-of-date food donated by Grocery Outlet.

it’s not just about 1:1 product to consumers food banks have shrink too, and dollar donations help cover shelf space, refrigeration, admin, etc a can of green beans coming in the front door doesn’t do as much to defray the moldy produce, stale bread and freezer burnt ham hocks going out the back

3/ are requesting products vs cash, please think about healthy meal items for kids, inc. ready-to-eat stuff like tuna pouches & dairy items like yogurt. I know someone who's been living on chips from a pantry, b/c the chicken nuggets & fish sticks they usually have for families are going *fast.*

my friends donated food to our local pantry, and i said that maybe it was better to just donate money. my friend replied, "i don't know where the money goes. if i donate money it could go right into the ceo's bank account for all i know." i think a lot of people feel that way about giving money.

Always donate cash!