How Our Program Works

​

• ​​A business or school contacts us with a minimum of 10 servings (or 10 pounds) of excess fresh food to donate in food-safe, disposable containers. They specify a day and timerange for pick-up in Marin. We take any type of food: Prepared food, fresh produce, dairy, eggs, meat, packaged goods, baked goods -- it's all good.
• Considering the type of food, quantity of food, and pick-up day/time, we find the best match for the donation among our many recipient partners. We always know who needs what and when! We confirm the pick-up with the donor, and an ExtraFood volunteer signs up online to pick up and deliver the food (or we dispatch our staff driver in our refrigerated truck or van).
• The volunteer (or staff driver) picks up the donation, if necessary loading it into a sealed industrial-grade food delivery bag with ice packs -- the same tools used by Whistlestop's Meals on Wheels program. The volunteer then drives directly to the recipient, with no stops or detours, and always in under 30 minutes. That's it!

A Great Complement to the Food Bank

Says Paul Ash, former Executive Director of the SF-Marin Food Bank, "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)

Food Safety: Our #1 Priority

ExtraFood takes many precautions to ensure food safety including training our volunteers in food-handling practices, transporting prepared and perishable food in industrial-grade food delivery bags with ice packs, delivering immediately and directly after pickup to our recipients, and always delivering in under 30 minutes -- and often in 15 minutes or less, because we strive to match donations with local recipients.

The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act

To encourage food donations, Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed into law the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act in 1996, which protects all businesses, organizations, and individuals from legal liability when donating food to nonprofit organizations. Learn more.