As grocery prices remain high, and as families are feeling the pinch of the SNAP benefit decrease, the increased demand for healthy food donations continues to rise. Philabundance is seeing this elevated need across the nine-county region we serve first-hand, and in turn, our overall supply is being distributed to neighbors in need much more quickly. 

Now more than ever, Philabundance is relying on individual and corporate food drives to restock and replenish its warehouse shelves and refrigerators with additional nutritious food items. Each year, food drives generate more than one million pounds of food for the people that Philabundance serves. This critically needed food is essential to the work that we do, and we need your assistance to carry out our mission to feed our neighbors in need.  

There are several ways you can get involved: 

Host a Traditional Food Drive 

Hosting a food drive is a fun, hands-on way to give back and help solve hunger – within your families, groups of friends, workplaces, community and religious organizations, and neighborhoods – the ideas are endless!  The great news is, traditional food drives are simple to set up and promote, just follow these basic steps:

1. Register your food drive here. This form will allow us to enter your drive into our database and ensure that we provide you with the best service possible. If you need help, please don’t hesitate to email fooddrives@philabundance.org.
 

2. Collect nutritious, high-priority food. The next time you’re grocery shopping, please consider purchasing some extra canned and dry goods. Here is a list of the Top Ten Most Needed Items for your reference. At this time, Philabundance is unable to provide food collection boxes, so we encourage you to reuse boxes or bins you may already have.

3. To increase the impact of your food drive, supplement it with a fundraiser by directing donors to our website donation page.

4. After your event or campaign, here are your options for drop-off or pickup:

• To request a pick up, email fooddrives@philabundance.org. *Our minimum requirement for pickups is 500 lbs. (eg., 17 copy paper boxes). 
• Located in the Philadelphia area? You can schedule your pickup with Food Connect. Click here for details.  
• If you’re outside of Philadelphia and unable to drop off your donation, use our Find Food Map to locate an agency near you. *Please contact the agency prior to drop-off to ensure they can accept the products and to find out drop-off days and times.  
• We are happy to accept your donations at our warehouse located at 302 W. Berks St, Phila., 19122 Please email fooddrives@philabundance.org to set up your appointment available Monday – Friday between 8AM – 2PM. 

Host a Virtual Food Drive  

For those who are unable to host an in-person food drive, there’s the virtual food drive option which is also an economical and impactful way to give to communities facing hunger. For people who cannot drive to the store, purchase food to donate, and then drop those items off at a donation location, a virtual food drive happens entirely online. To learn how to set one up, participants can visit the Philabundance virtual food drive portal to get started making a bigger impact for our neighbors in need.  

Retail Food Rescue 

In 1984, Philabundance was founded by an idealist named Pamela Rainey Lawler who saw perfectly good food going to waste, and, at the same time, saw people going hungry. What began as a small food rescue organization operating out of Pam’s Subaru, it has progressed 30+ years later into an innovative, impactful and collaborative organization distributing millions of pounds of food a year.  

In order to rescue the 40% of food that goes to waste annually, Philabundance’s Grocers Against Hunger (GAH) program connects local, regional, and national grocery retailers with Philabundance Community Partners in the areas we serve to help feed their communities in need. Stringent industry food quality guidelines call for stores to discard items even though they are nutritious and completely safe to eat. Philabundance steps in before that happens.   

Currently, close to 360 retailers participate on a weekly basis to donate to Philabundance and our vast network of member agencies. In 2022 alone, we rescued more than 17 million pounds of food! Please review our donation guidelines here.