(24) Questions about Volunteering

Q: I'd like to volunteer with City Harvest. Could they use my help?
A: Absolutely! Volunteers are the lifeblood of City Harvest. More than 1,800 volunteers help City Harvest collect food from greenmarkets and large events, assist drivers on trucks and perform office duties. Find out how you can become a City Harvest volunteer and lend your time to this great cause.

Q: How can I start a food rescue program like City Harvest in my community?
A: We've put together a short guide to starting your own food rescue program.

(23) City Harvest : Questions about donations

Q: What food is acceptable to donate to City Harvest?
A: City Harvest can safely accept:

• Food from a regulated food company.
• Whole fresh produce without significant decay
• Chopped fresh produce packed separately in food-grade packaging
• Prepared foods chilled to 40° F that have not been served or placed on a buffet
• Chilled perishable packaged foods such as juice and cheese in their original packaging
• Frozen or fresh meat, poultry and fish
• Dairy products 40°F to expiration date
• Shelled eggs
• Frozen foods in original packaging
• Baked goods (day-old bread, bagels, and other bakery items)
• Canned and packaged goods in original packaging

Get more information about our food donation guidelines.

Q: What food is not acceptable to donate to City Harvest?
A: City Harvest is unable to accept:

• Food that is not from a regulated food company.
• Home prepared food
• Stale bread or baked goods
• Foods that have been served or put on a buffet table
• Foods that have been previously reheated
• Foods that have been kept in the temperature danger zone for more than 2 hours
• Foods with damaged or compromised packaging, resulting in the loss of a sanitary barrier protection
• Produce with significant decay
• Frozen foods with freezer burn
• Sushi or any seafood intended for raw consumption
• Open, punctured, bulging or seriously damaged canned goods
• Any food containing alcohol

Get more information about our food donation guidelines.

Q: Does City Harvest accept leftovers?
A: City Harvest cannot accept food that has been served, or food deemed unsafe by our drivers and food safety staff. We collect good, unused, wholesome food that would otherwise be wasted from regulated food businesses such as restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets, wholesalers and local greenmarkets. We do not accept prepared food from private citizens. Find out what food we can accept.

Q: What about food safety?
A: Handling food safely is of paramount concern to City Harvest.
To learn more about City Harvest's Food Safety Guidelines for donations, please click here.

Q: Does City Harvest accept all kinds of food?A: Yes, we accept fresh food, refrigerated and frozen food, dried foods, food in boxes, cans, and bottles, baby food and formula. The only food that City Harvest cannot accept is food that has been served or deemed unsafe by our staff.

Q: How can I package my donation?
A: We supply clear, food-grade bags. If you can provide your own packaging for donations that require more than a plastic bag you help City Harvest use its resources most effectively. But we don't want packaging to get in the way of your good intentions. Call us.

Q: I'm throwing a catered event. Will City Harvest be able to pick up any excess food?
A: Yes, we can pick up the chilled leftovers the next day. We get many useful donations from catered events such as weddings, conferences, and office parties.

Q: Will City Harvest pick up from private residences?
A: City Harvest accepts food drive donations from private individuals year-round.

Q: I'm usually very busy. Does donating to City Harvest take a lot of time?
A: In the time it takes to throw away excess food, you could package it for donation to City Harvest instead. We do all the paperwork, and our drivers will give you a receipt for your donation, as well as a year-end report covering all your donations. Donating to City Harvest is an easy, efficient way to be generous.

Q: I'd like to donate food, but I'm concerned about liability. Will I be held responsible if someone falls ill after eating food I donated?
A: You are protected from liability. Federal and New York State Good Samaritan Laws limit liability for food donations. Read the laws. For more information on running a food driver click here.

More importantly, City Harvest's staff and drivers are trained in industry-standard food handling guidelines, and have the authority to refuse food that does not meet quality standards.

(22) Food Banks Canada Hunger Awareness Day Video 2011

Make a Change, Make a Difference on Hunger Awareness Day!

(21) How you can donate to City Harvest.

http://www.cityharvest.org/donate-funds




Learn more about City Harvest -- http://www.cityharvest.org/

Check out our latest PSA shot entirely on an iPhone highlighting the amount of food wasted in New York City every day. Visit Cityharvest.org to learn how you can help us fight hunger in New York City



Find out how real donors are helping City Harvest rescue food for New York's hungry.



In New York City, an organization is going great work to alleviate hunger.



For the 20th year, NASFT Fancy Food Show exhibitors donated their remaining specialty products to City Harvest, a leading anti-hunger organization. This years donation was an amazing 204,100 pounds--that is enough to fill five tractor trailers. As a result, high-quality food reached 200 agencies in all five boroughs of New York City.

(20) Questions about City Harvest

Q: What does City Harvest do?
A: City Harvest is the nation's oldest food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding hungry people in New York City. City Harvest picks up excess food from places such as restaurants, grocers, manufacturers and wholesalers, and greenmarkets, and delivers the food to soup kitchens, food pantries, day care and senior citizen centers, homeless shelters and other places that serve those in need. This year, City Harvest will rescue more than 30 million pounds of excess food from food establishments throughout the city and across the country.

Q: Is City Harvest a national organization?A: Although we accept food donations from anywhere in the U.S., City Harvest distributes food only to the five boroughs of New York City. We do, however, partner with people and organizations elsewhere to encourage food rescue in local communities. Today, more than 25 years after our founding, there are food rescue organizations around the globe, with 150 in the U.S. and Canada alone.

Q: Where does funding for City Harvest come from?A: 98% of City Harvest's funding comes from private sources, although we do receive small yearly grants from different federal, state and municipal sources.
Learn how you can donate to City Harvest.

Q: Is City Harvest approved by the Better Business Bureau?A: Yes! City Harvest meets all Better Business Bureau Charity Standards.

Q: How are you different from Meals on Wheels or local food banks?A: City Harvest is the only food rescue program in New York City. We focus on collecting prepared and perishable food that would be wasted. We then transport this donated food immediately, safely and free of charge to soup kitchens and other emergency food programs throughout the city.

Food banks, by comparison, as a rule receive bulk donations of non-perishable items such as dried and canned foods. They store these donations in warehouses until member agencies can collect their monthly allotment.

Meals on Wheels programs buy food, prepare meals and deliver them to the homebound elderly. In contrast, City Harvest serves people of all ages and walks of life who are in need, such as children, the elderly, homeless and disabled, people with HIV/AIDS, and others.

Q: City Harvest is a great idea. Do other countries have anything like it?A: While City Harvest distributes food only to the five boroughs of New York City, we are a model for the rest of the world. We have helped launch food rescue programs in Germany, England, India, South Africa, Brazil, Israel, and elsewhere. Visitors from all five continents have come to study our work and take back ideas for solving their own hunger problems.

Q: Does City Harvest serve people with special dietary needs?A: City Harvest launched a Kosher initiative to respond to the growing need for emergency food for people who observe kashrut dietary laws. We try to work with all of our agencies to make sure the food they receive is appropriate for the population they serve. Given the great diversity in our city, we know that there are thousands of people who would rather go hungry than eat food that goes against their moral or religious beliefs. And given the great diversity of available food in NYC, we know that this doesn't have to happen.

(19) How to start a food rescue program like City Harvest in my community?

START YOUR OWN CITY HARVEST

The first steps toward starting a food rescue program in your community include the following:

Assess your community's need for the program

• Are there hungry people? Who are they? Where do they live?
• Are there established programs that feed the hungry, e.g. soup kitchens, homeless shelters, senior citizen centers? Where are they? Do they have enough food? Can they use extra food, especially if it's already prepared or not in top condition (e.g. stale bread)?
• Is there much food wasted? By whom or what kind of food establishments?
• Does your community have any laws that will protect food donors from liability if donated food makes someone ill?
• Is anyone else doing this, or something like it? Do they want help? If not, are they doing it well? Can you compete for support and funds? Should you even try, or will it polarize your community?

Identify support for starting such a program

• Are there people willing to volunteer to pick up food and deliver it to where it's needed?
• Is anyone willing to take on the tasks of identifying potential food donors, of handling telephone calls, of arranging the schedules for pick-up and delivery of food donations? Does anyone in your community have experience with transportation that they'd be willing to share?
• Are any restaurants or food wholesalers or supermarkets or other food establishments willing to sign on at the beginning? Are they willing to let you use their name to try to bring in other food donors?
• Do you have a local health department or authority willing to work with you to set up safe food handling practices?
• Are there any people with money who would like to help start this, by contributing costs for telephone, postage, supplies and other essential items?
• Do you need support from government authorities? Are they willing to provide financial as well as political support? Make a plan for starting the program
• What do you want to call your program? Does any other group in the country have that name?
• What geographic area will you serve? Can that expand over time, or will it be limited?
• Decide how much food you can handle the first six months, first year, second year, etc. How fast do you want to grow? Where would you like to be in five years?
• Do you want to incorporate or not? Do you want to have non-profit status? Is there a volunteer lawyer in your community willing to help you do this work?
• Do you want to be an all-volunteer program, have a small staff with mostly volunteers, or have an entirely paid staff? How will you develop along those lines? How will you train volunteers and/or staff? How will you raise funds? Who will run the operations, do the fundraising, and perform other tasks?
• How do you want to run the organization? Do you want a small governing board, an advisory council, an administrator, or some combination of these? How will you make sure the community supports this program? In what ways can the community get involved?
• In what ways will you keep food donors involved and feeling "ownership" of the program?
• Where can you raise funds to support the program? Are there any prominent people in the community who will sign on as advisors or governing board members who will take most responsibility for raising money?
• Is anyone in your community willing to provide you with free advertising space and advertising designs?
• Print this out to share with supporters to get their comments and suggestions, and to form the basis for any fundraising appeals.

Getting Food Donations

City Harvest arranges for food donations in a variety of ways. First is word of mouth - a current food donor tells someone else who then calls us when they have extra food. We also solicit new food donors, by targeting a certain group - meat wholesalers, top-notch restaurants, bakeries, hotels - and sending them a food donor kit, and later following up with a phone call. City Harvest also advertises its service, usually by getting free ad space in trade publications that will be seen by food merchants of various types. The most common reasons for people to donate food are that they hate to waste food and they want to feed hungry people. Many food donors are reassured by the fact that New York State has a Good Samaritan Law, which protects from liability those making "good faith" donations of food for the benefit of the poor and needy. When a potential donor cites their fear of being sued if someone gets sick, we can give them a copy of the law, which often results in us getting donations. There is also a national Good Samaritan law.

Describing our safe food handling practices is another way to reassure potential food donors. Staff is trained to handle food safely, we have refrigerated trucks to keep food properly chilled, and we make sure recipient agencies have Health Department-approved facilities. Increasingly, food donors want to make sure that we handle their food in such a way as to reduce any possible chance that their food will result in someone getting sick.

Ease of donation is another way to get food donors. We have simple guidelines for food packaging that can be given to staff to follow, and our drivers are in and out of an establishment quickly. City Harvest provides a limited amount of packaging for food donors, including large food-grade plastic bags and aluminum trays with lids.

Each donor gets a receipt, as well. If they are able to claim a tax deduction for their food donation, this receipt is their proof of donation. City Harvest does not place a dollar value on the food donated; that is up to each individual donor.

Where to go for more help

Feeding America is a network of food rescue programs and food banks throughout the U.S. and Canada that helps improve program operations and assists in the creation of new food rescue programs. Feeding America can provide more in-depth information about starting a program in your community