Commercial Food Donations

Hundreds of local farmers, manufacturers, grocers, and wholesalers are saving money and eliminating waste while helping to nourish our community. Last year we received nearly 4 million pounds of food from local businesses to help feed more than 240,000 people in need each month.

Food Donation = Business Solutions

By donating your unsalable, surplus, distressed, or close-to-code-date food directly to Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, your company receives many benefits:

• Save money on dumping and disposal fees
• Receive a tax deduction-consult with your tax advisor
• Increase warehouse space or save on storage charges
• Expand company visibility through partnership opportunities
• Reduce waste and increase sustainability

Protecting Our Partners

Millions of pounds of food and groceries go to waste each year. To encourage companies and organizations to donate healthy food that would otherwise go to waste, the government instituted the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act to protect donors from criminal and civil liability:

• Protects donors from liability when donating to a non-profit organization
• Protects donors from civil and criminal liability should the product donated in good faith later cause harm to the recipient
• Standardizes donor liability exposure; donors and their legal counsel do not need to investigate liability laws in 50 states

For more information, please refer to the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act.

 

How Food Donation Works:

1. Donations can be delivered directly to one of our two warehouse locations in San Jose or San Carlos. We also have the capacity to schedule a pick-up with our own fleet of temperature controlled trucks driven by professional drivers.
2. Donations are weighed in and stored in our freezer, cooler, or dry storage where it is made immediately available to our agency partners and direct service programs.  Our trained staff closely monitors our inventory and disposes of products which are no longer safe for consumption.
3. We deliver food to every zip code of our service area from Daly City to Gilroy, and from the ocean to the bay. We distribute food efficiently through our unique direct service programs and our network of over 300 partner nonprofit agencies.  Partner agencies include shelters, pantries, soup kitchens, children’s programs, senior meal sites, and residential programs.

Donor Information

Please be prepared to provide the following information prior to donating:

1. Company name, mailing address, contact name, and phone number
2. Reason for donation (surplus, approaching code date, inventory, salvage, quality control)
3. Product description and storage requirements (dry, refrigerated, frozen, fresh)
4. Packaging details (case and package size)
5. Number of units, pounds, cases, pallets
6. Is the product labeled with a list of ingredients
7. Code date information (date printed on the individual package or carton)

 

How do I become a Donor?

For more information, contact:

Rosanna Holbrook
Food Resources Representative
Office: 408.694.0043
Email: rholbrook@shfb.org

 

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