One day in 2007, Gary Oppenheimer did a good thing by donating the excess from his garden to a food pantry. When he realized how little fresh food was available to those depending on food pantries, he registered domain name ampleharvest.org and had the website built. Now gardeners who grow more than they’ll eat can use the site to arrange to donate to food pantries in their areas. There are almost 2000 food pantries registered on ampleharvest.org.
The cheapest food in this country is processed and canned food. It’s not healthy to subsist on such a diet, but it’s all some can afford. This project reduces how much food is wasted while providing fresh food for those in need.
If your backyard bounty is too much for your family, consider donating some of the excess to a food pantry near you. You’ll feel good about it and so will they.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We often take our excess to people who really don’t need or care about it and take it out of obligation. I will keep our food pantry in mind.
You’re welcome! I think most of us generally assume that food pantries take only non-perishables because there’s usually a proxy taking our food to them, so it has to last. Every food drive I’ve donated to requires non-perishables, so it never occurred to me that they could take fresh produce. It seems things change if they get it directly.
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