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We are a member agency
of the
Centre County United Way

Guidelines for Food Donations

There are many misconceptions about what foods we distribute and how. We receive many items that we simply can not use. These include large cans, foods that have passed their “Best if used by” date, opened items, and home canned products.

Institution sized packages such as #10 cans:

We pack bags for client distribution that include a variety of canned goods and dry non-perishables like pasta. Since each bag has 6 or more canned items, we can not utilize large cans (the #10 can holds about a gallon). We share these with other agencies, like the low income Park Forest Day Nursery, that can use them. Other oversized items like rice or pasta we do repackage, but it is better to have small packages that include cooking instructions.

Dated Items:

Please check the "Best if used by" date on all items. We cannot distribute items that are past the stated date. Those items end up being discarded. We do check each item for the appropriate date prior to distributing them to our clients.

We also cannot distribute items that are damaged, such as severely dented cans or torn boxes.

Opened items:

Occasionally we receive opened items, like a half used bag of rice or pasta. These, unfortunately, have to go directly into our trash.

Home canned goods:

At times we receive donations of home canned goods. We can not utilize these. They may be the best quality canned goods around, but we have no way of knowing the procedures nor usually the date of home canned items.

Other items we cannot accept:

Due to food safety issues, we cannot accept donations of bread and pastries that are not pre-packaged. We have a regular donation of bread and pastries from Giant and Weis. Their donation is more than adequate, and complies with food safety guidelines.

Many well meaning people see wasted food resources and want to see them utilized, which we appreciate. By observing the above guidelines, we will reduce waste and therefore, costs.