Boron Elgar said:On 29 Jul 2005 17:53:08 -0700, "Alexis" <[email hidden]>
Quoted message said:
Boron Elgar said:I work in an for a company that often has unused, sealed and
shelf-stable foodstuffs that we offer to food-oriented charities. It
is not easy to give it away.
Really? That's a shame.
We have a soup-kitchen here to whom we quite often donate a LOT of
"leftover" foodstuffs. Fex, at the end of the school year, we
generally have a school-wide cookout, and inevitably we end up with too
many bags of chips, cookies, hot dog buns, and (quite often) hot dogs.
At the end of the day two or three teachers load up their cars with all
the leftovers and head over to Bean's. I've never known them to turn
down *any* food donation. According to their website,
(http://www.beans.ak.org/) over 50% of their food products come from
individual donations (with most of the remainder coming from USDA
surplus items). Additionally, shelf-stable, unused, sealed items are
almost always welcome at our local foodbank or at any number of
shelters and transitional housing organizations.
It's a crying shame that you should ever have trouble donating
foodstuff.
Alexis
Oh, I agree. We had a 50 cases of baby food once. It was sealed, in
packing boxes and we had a helluva time. Then there was about 100 lbs
of dried and sealed pasta in 1lb pkgs and a few cases of jarred pasta
sauce. I could go on....
Granted, this was Manhattan and the goods had to be picked up, we
could not deliver them, but because we were not food distributors or
suppliers, we had to jump through hoops to be allowed to donate.
If you're really interested in donating (for whatever reason -- tax
write off, 'gotta get rid of this stuff because it's taking up space',
benevolence, or any combination thereof <g> -- and you find people
balking because of the issue of "liability" you can pass on to them
information about the 1996 Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act. (Quoting
from http://www.secondharvest.org/site_content.asp?s=365)
On October 1, 1996, then-President Clinton signed this act to
encourage donation of food and
grocery products to non-profit organizations for distribution to
needy individuals. This law:
Protects you from liability when you donate to a non-profit
organization
Protects you from civil and criminal liability should the product
donated in good faith
later cause harm to the needy recipient.
Standardizes donor liability exposure. You or your legal counsel
no longer have to investigate
liability laws in 50 states.
Sets a floor of "gross negligence" or intentional misconduct for
persons who donate grocery
products. According to the new law, gross negligence is defined as
"voluntary and conscious
conduct by a person with knowledge (at the time of conduct) that
the conducts is likely to be
harmful to the health or well-being of another person."
(the full text of the bill is, I believe, at the same URL mentioned
above).
Additionally, America's Second Harvest (one of their local affiliate
organizations) will arrange to pick up your surplus foodstuffs, so you
no longer have to be limited by the "we can't deliver it to the
charity" problem (as I understand it, they work in all 50 states and
their website states that they will pick up from "any location in the
U.S." and provide you with a detailed receipt for tax purposes). Here
is the contact information:
(from http://www.secondharvest.org/site_content.asp?s=102)
When you have distressed or surplus product in any amount, we invite
you to contact Diane Letson at America's Second Harvest:
Phone: 800/771-2303 x145
Fax: 312/263-4357
Email: [email hidden].
When you have distressed, surplus, or first-line fresh produce to
donate in any amount, we invite you to contact Rick Bella, National
Produce Manager, at America's Second Harvest:
Phone: 800/771-2303 x180
Fax: 312/263-4357
Email: [email hidden]
Alexis.
