SUPPORT EXTRAFOOD’S EFFORTS IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19

ExtraFood continues to rescue excess fresh food and deliver freshly-prepared meals for the people most in need in Marin County during this crisis.

Thank you for supporting our work to bring food to our community's most vulnerable people 365 days a year.

We've delivered 3,800,975 pounds of food to 128 sites in Marin, keeping 311,037 pounds of methane from warming our planet & reaching 8,000 people every month.

You can help. We make it easy!

Community Spotlight

• Food Donors
• Volunteers
• Recipients

Restoration Hardware Rooftop and Sausalito Yacht Club

The initial days of the ”shelter in place” seem so long ago now… Remember what the “old normal” was like? Normal was browsing in stores at your local shopping center or eating out with friends or family in neighborhood restaurants.

Restoration Hardware in the Village Shopping Center was one of the restaurants you might have visited by now. They had been planning a Grand Opening for their new 60,000 square foot retail gallery space, equipped with its own rooftop restaurant, when the first days of the pandemic hit. The restaurant cancelled their big launch date and a frantic call was placed to ExtraFood to pick up their food. Around 1,000 pounds to be exact!! ExtraFood volunteers loaded it all up and delivered it to New Beginnings Center.

Sausalito Yacht Club was another organization we received a call from during that time - when businesses were forced to make quick decisions to shut their doors and figure out what to do with all their food. Cessa, one of ExtraFood’s staff drivers, loaded her car as the yacht club staff emptied their refrigerator. 620 pounds of primarily vegetables were recovered. Huge kudos to SYC, Commodore Tom, and Pamela, their General Manager, for knowing to call upon ExtraFood in a crisis to bring their food to people who need it - and prevent it from being wasted!

We are grateful to the other businesses who reached out to us in those early COVID-19 days to rescue and deliver their food including Mayflower Pub, Whole Health Marketing and Iron Springs Brewery and Pub.

See more Food Donors »

National Charity Leage of Southern Marin

Although there have been quite a few changes, the Farmers’ Markets are considered essential right now in Marin - essential to those looking for healthy produce, essential for our wonderful farmers and vendors who rely on on shoppers, and essential for ExtraFood to deliver to recipients in need.

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers that have stepped up to ensure ExtraFood can still participate in recovering healthy fresh food donations from the markets. We want to highlight one group that has been very active in ensuring our Farmers’ Markets have enough volunteers each week - the National Charity League of Southern Marin.

ExtraFood partnered with NCL in the Fall of 2019 when they became the regular volunteer team for every first Sunday of the month at the Civic Center Farmers’ Market. NCL brought a strong group of mother/daughter volunteers, as shown above in the photo, and recovered over 800 pounds of fresh produce at the market on April 7th!

We truly appreciate their partnership and willingness to help our community access healthy food during this challenging time.

See more Volunteers »

Gilead House & Beso Bistro and Wine Bar

Beso Bistro and Wine Bar, located in the Hamilton Field area of Novato, has been a food donor to ExtraFood for 4 1/2 years. Michele, the owner, has a huge, caring heart. Michele knew from the very beginning that her restaurant would be a perfect fit for our Community Meals program, and she was eager to get involved. Michele knew exactly where she wanted to focus- a nonprofit that serves low income women and children. Gilead House was the perfect fit and the rest is a beautiful story of a long relationship built on and kindness and cooking!.

This year, Michelle was presented with the Small Business of the Year Award from the Novato Chamber of Commerce. Michelle credits ExtraFood for providing her the opportunity to connect with vulnerable people in her local community and help them with what she does best - cooking healthy meals! She has even cooked the residents of Gilead House special dinners for holidays such as Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and continues to provide meals to the Gilead House moms and their children during these challenging times. (Photo is off her most recent donation)

Beso Bistro’s impact in numbers reveals Michelle’s ongoing dedication and commitment; she has provided almost 2000 meals to date! A big shout out to our very dedicated volunteer, Curt, who has picked up and delivered Michelle’s meals since the beginning of our partnership!

See more Recipients »

What Our Partners Are Saying About ExtraFood.org

• "At the College of Marin, we know that it takes more than books and classes to succeed in college. It is estimated that a third of our students are food-insecure, and we have homeless students taking PE classes to use the showers. We have come to realize that basic needs take a major toll on our students and can inhibit their ability to learn. We started a “pop-up food pantry” in December 2016 with ExtraFood to address some of those needs on campus. ExtraFood provides fresh, high-quality produce and baked goods rescued from Marin County grocery stores, and students take what they need — no questions asked. This is literally a lifeline for some of our most vulnerable students. We could not be more proud to be part of the ExtraFood network!"

  — Anna Pilloton, Director of School and Community Partnerships, College of Marin - Kentfield

• "When I started working for Novato Unified School District in 2002 there was no locally-grown produce being offered to the students in our schools. That's an injustice. Today, we offer plenty of locally-grown produce to our kids, but not all the food is used. We had been throwing away perfectly good, healthful food at the end of the day – produce and prepared food – instead of providing it to families in the community who could benefit from it. That's an injustice. Thanks to our local farmers and ExtraFood.org, both of these injustices have been resolved in our efforts to improve the culture of wellness in our schools and community."

  — Miguel Villarreal, Director of Food and Nutritional Services, Novato USD

• “ExtraFood is a key partner in our business. They help streamline our operations by making the donating process easy.”

  — Megan Mokri, Co-Founder, Byte Foods - San Rafael

• "We are proud to support the important work that ExtraFood.org does for our Marin community. They make it so easy for us to donate our extra food to those in need. ExtraFood is a heroic partner allowing our community to put our values into action. No person should go hungry."

  — Moji Javid, Director of Synagogue Engagement, Congregation Rodef Sholom

• "My team and I are thrilled at the opportunity to help our community. If it were not for the team at ExtraFood.org, I'm not sure how we would be able to donate food in this volume and manner. This is a great partnership among businesses, volunteers, and organizations to help feed the vulnerable residents of Marin County and reduce the amount of wasted food items that end up in landfills."

  — Mike Montross, Director of Nutrition Services, Marin General Hospital

• “[Because of ExtraFood's deliveries] I’m finding myself eating a more nutritious diet and a diet that has more variety to it, anything from salads to complete dinner meals that appear to be custom made....What I found is as people get older, they tend not to prepare healthy foods for themselves because it is an extra effort. Some of the more complex meals we receive from ExtraFood…instead of just eating a sandwich, people are receiving full meals that are very tasty and made from scratch. All the individuals who I know who receive ExtraFood look forward to it because it tastes so good and has nutrition. It’s high-end food which makes people feel they are receiving something of quality."

  — Michael Harris, Novato

• "The school lunches from ExtraFood have been very helpful in providing some great fresh food for our homeless clients. For someone who has nothing to eat for dinner or lunch to receive a simple meal at the end of the day is a small but very meaningful moment."

  — Shaun Marshall, Manager, Facilities & Client Services, Ritter Center

• “I like volunteering for ExtraFood because you can see who you’re helping.”
  

  — Volunteer Miller R., age 15

• "Thank you ExtraFood.org volunteers. The food you are bringing us feeds seniors and young families in West Marin from Muir Beach, into the San Geronimo Valley and up to the Sonoma County line. West Marin is an affordable food desert surrounded by farms producing the best of Marin's food and the most needy are often forgotten. Thank you for including these seniors and families in the bounty Marin's food culture offers."

  — Chloe Cook, San Geronimo Community Presbyterian Church and ex-West Marin Senior Services

• "Thank you so much. This is so critically helpful! Your impressively organized and mission-driven system is key to the wellbeing of all people in the community who struggle with food security."

  — Mary Kay Sweeney, Executive Director, Homeward Bound of Marin - Novato

• "Beyond the wonderful food that you provide, my children are encouraged by the fact that somewhere out in the world there are people who want to ensure they have fresh, healthy food. This feeling of being cared for is so powerful and I thank you so much for all that you do."

  — Sally Matsuishi, Next Generation Scholars - San Rafael

• "ExtraFood.org has helped us achieve our mission of feeding people instead of waste bins in Marin County. Their support makes it easy to save our excess, wholesome food from going to waste and we couldn't be more grateful for their partnership."

  — Claire Cummings, Waste Programs Manager, Bon Appétit Management Company

• "The farmers at the Marin Civic Center farmers market are so grateful to ExtraFood.org for giving them a simple way to get their healthful, excess produce to those in need."

  — Brigitte Moran, former CEO, Agricultural Institute of Marin - San Rafael

• “Donating food helps breathe life into the community, and ExtraFood makes it easy for us. I don’t have to deal with the guilt of throwing things away that people really need.”

  — Eddie Reduta, Dairy Manager, Nugget Markets - Corte Madera

• “You have blessed us beyond measure and have transformed the experience for our food pantry clients.”

  — Yaker K., Food Pantry Coordinator, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church - Marin City

• "Putting focus on diverting waste saves us money through cutting back on having waste hauled away."

  — Kanoa Aipia, Store Director, Nugget Markets - Corte Madera

• “Kids come [to the church's pantry supplied by ExtraFood] when their parents aren’t home and they don’t have food in the house. People with babies who live on food stamps come for milk. Seniors who need food at the end of the month when their government benefit checks run out come for a bag of groceries.”

  — Leticia Jones, People's Inter-Cities Fellowship - Marin City

• "Every Thursday, ExtraFood delivers high quality fruits and vegetables from the Marin County Farmers Market to St. Vincent de Paul’s Dining Room in San Rafael. While most of this produce is used in the meals we prepare daily (approximately 200 lunches daily), we often have excess fruits and vegetables that we put on our Dining Room shelves for our patrons to take as needed. As fresh fruits and vegetables are essential to a healthy diet, the weekly Farmers Market provides beneficial nutrients to these most vulnerable clients.”

  — Vicki Masseria, Director of Finance and Operations, St. Vincent de Paul Society - San Rafael

• "Thank you God are the first words I speak each time that I am blessed with the bounty and abundance of food every Monday from the very generous donors, ExtraFood and Marin General Hospital. It’s a blessing, a really true blessing. I give back by distributing this bounty to my neighbors and friends at Warner Creek. Each one is so happy when I make the delivery. They thank me profusely as though I am providing this. Thank you again and again from my friends and me at Warner Creek.”

  — Zipporah, Resident, Warner Creek Senior Housing - Novato

• "It’s a great complement to a food bank in any location to have a group [ExtraFood.org] that picks up things that aren’t cost-effective for us to pick up. When somebody calls us and says they have some oranges, we ask where to send the tractor-trailer." (Marin Independent-Journal, 7/3/14)

  — Paul Ash, Executive Director, SF-Marin Food Bank