Donors submit product to the network.
Your local Feeding America food bank coordinates logistics in real-time.
Donations are offered to matching agencies based on capacity and availability. First matching agency is given the opportunity to pick up the donation.
Just wanted to let you know how much I love MealConnect. I'm able to print what I'm submitting each week and get a print out of the monthly amount. WHAT A GREAT SYSTEM! Thanks a lot!
MealConnect facilitates the easy, safe and quick donation of food from grocery stores, convenience stores and foodservice locations to member food pantries or meal programs. Sourcing more food to meet the need in a community often necessitates enabling a food bank’s member food pantries and meal programs to pick up food directly from donors, but managing these relationships can be both difficult and time-consuming for a food bank.
MealConnect enables food banks to easily oversee the relationships, improve data management and eliminate barriers to food rescue. When a food pantry located a couple miles away from the donor can pick up the product, it saves valuable food bank resources and the need for expensive transportation. Through MealConnect, food that previously might have gone to waste— such as a small load of lean meat from a local butcher—is recovered by one of the food bank’s member food pantries or meal programs and is immediately directed to families in need.
We’re not in it for the money. MealConnect is part of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization. Our network is made up of thousands of non-profits that respond locally to your donation posts. These partner food banks and food pantries all adhere to industry-standard food safe handling guidelines and are audited regularly to ensure they do things the right way.
Yup! As a food donor, you’ll never have to pay to use MealConnect.
The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act does a great job protecting companies from liability when donating wholesome food to a nonprofit organization. The Feeding America network works with hundreds of thousands of donors – big and small - who understand they don’t need to worry when making donations in their community. MealConnect can help raise awareness about this and that will encourage even more food businesses to begin donating their unsold consumable product.
The Feeding America network of food banks and their partner agencies serves more than 46 million people each year. We have a responsibility to ensure that every person who comes to us for help is provided food that is safe to feed their families. That is why all our nonprofits are vetted and routinely audited for compliance to our high service standards. We are committed to improving the lives of the people we serve.
Feeding America is the nation’s largest hunger relief organization, and we are fortunate to have relationships with both national and independent food companies. Our network accommodates donations from large retailers to small family-owned restaurants. If you have food to donate, MealConnect is for you - now you don’t need a dedicated staff member to start helping people facing hunger in your community.
The Feeding America network was created more than 40 years ago, and now donors who use MealConnect can leverage the safety standards and best practices that has allowed us to feed more than 46 million Americans last year. MealConnect resources for independent food businesses include donation guidelines, a tax benefit calculator and more – not to mention the ability to conveniently partner with your local Feeding America food bank.
We designed MealConnect to make it as easy as possible for a food business to donate their extra, wholesome food product to people facing hunger – and to save money doing it. We pride ourselves on listening to our users. They are the ones who can teach us how to improve it, so just like your favorite apps, we’ll keep refining our technology to ensure it removes inconveniences associated with donating food.
Let us know what’s on your mind at info-mealconnect@feedingamerica.org