While America has more than 50 million people (including 1 in 4 children under the age of 6) who are hungry or are at real risk of being hungry ("food insecure people"), more than 40 million Americans grow food in home gardens - often more than they can use, preserve or give to friends.
It doesn't have to be this way.
Whether you deliberately planted an extra row of food or just harvested more zucchini (or any other fruit, vegetables, herbs or nuts) than you can possibly use, AmpleHarvest.org provides a quick and easy way to find a local food pantry* eager for your excess garden produce.
Created by a CNN Hero, AmpleHarvest.org enables locally grown and freshly harvested produce that might otherwise have gone to waste to be donated to the needy in the local community. You can also use it for store bought items (food, toiletries, paper goods, etc.) that you'd like to donate to a local food pantry.
Once you found a food pantry in your neighborhood, please make note of preferred delivery days/times as well as any other requests posted by the food pantry.
Not only does donating excess garden produce help the needy in your community, it also helps the environment (see www.AmpleHarvest.org/epa to
AmpleHarvest.org has more than 3,500 food pantries across all 50 states already registered, with more signing up daily. If you know of a food pantry in your community, please visit www.AmpleHarvest.org/addpantries to learn how you can help your local food pantry register.
To find a local food pantry, select "Search for a Pantry". Press "Search", select how many miles you are willing to travel to donate the food, enter your zip-code and press "Done".
Zoom in or out as needed and press on the pin of the pantry most convenient to you. When the name and address appears, press again to see the details provided by the food pantry.
We *love* pictures and videos of donations. Send them to [email protected]
Learn more about AmpleHarvest.org by visiting www.AmpleHarvest.org/faq or visiting www.AmpleHarvest.org/videos
* the term food pantry may be called a food shelf, food cupboard, food closet or food bank in your part of the country.