when you shop our virtual food drive $150 is enough to purchase over $1,350 worth of groceries

Making Food Bank Cents and Sense

Top 10 Reasons why your food bank needs cash over cans:

  • You don’t have to go to the grocery store or clean out your pantry.
  • That $1.49 you spend on a can of corn will purchase nearly 7 cans when Gleaners buys in bulk.
  • It’s better for the environment and for the hungry – every mile driven by our trucks costs 15 meals for the hungry. Keeping our trucks running efficient routes to deliver food to pantries cuts down on emissions and saves money. A win-win!
  • Meals actually mean meals. When we purchase food in bulk, we buy items to allow a family to make and share a meal together. We’re able to purchase items for a well-balanced meal, at a far lower cost than retail – your $1 to Gleaners buys 9 times what you can purchase at the store!
  • Nutrition counts! We are able to provide food with a higher nutritional value when we leverage our buying power and purchase in bulk. Low sodium vegetables; fruit packed in juice, rather than syrup; tuna packed in water, not oil.
  • Fresh fruits and vegetables improve health and well-being. You can’t donate a bag of apples to a food drive, but you CAN donate money to buy apples through our Virtual Food Drive.
  • We can feed the hungry, rather than be food inspectors. Every donated item that comes to Gleaners has to be inspected for damage and dates, sorted into bins, inventoried and stored.
  • We buy what people want, rather than distributing what people DON’T want. Our pantries understand hunger relief needs.
  • Almost half the food donated to Gleaners is damaged or beyond its useful date. But we still have to inspect and sort it. That’s inefficient.
  • It’s fun, easy and super impactful to host a virtual food drive!