Join us in delivering good this Hunger Action Month
Over 72 billion pounds of food go to waste each year. At the same time, one in eight people in the U.S. faces hunger. At DoorDash, it’s our mission to change that.
Last month, we asked our customers why they support Project DASH, our initiative connecting surplus food from restaurants to local nonprofits.
September is Hunger Action Month. How can you join in?
Volunteer or give to your local food bank.
Over half of all food programs rely entirely on volunteers. At the SF-Marin Food Bank, where DoorDash employees contributed their time on September 4th, volunteers provide work equivalent to 70 full-time employees each year.
We were reminded of how impressively networked the fight against hunger is, something you might never see unless you visit. Food banks, often large warehouses like the SF-Marin Food Bank in SF’s Dogpatch neighborhood, play a critical role as a receiving and storage place for millions of pounds of donated wholesome produce and shelf-stable food. This food is sorted and distributed to a network of nonprofits like food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community organizations that provide food directly to low-income people. The 200 food banks in Feeding America’s® network and their associated 60,000 food pantries coordinate 4.3 billion meals each year.
How you can help:
- Find your local food bank. Donate time, food, or money.
- Volunteer. Bring a group!
- Organize a canned food drive. For even more impact, raise money for your local food bank. Each dollar donated to a food bank helps provide multiple meals to people in need.
- Contact your elected officials and tell them to support anti-hunger efforts.
Get informed about hunger in your community.
Nutrition is a basic human need and mealtime is one of the most culturally significant moments in our day. Hunger touches so many aspects of our society. Chronic health problems result from a lack of adequate nutrition. Hunger is closely linked with poverty and disproportionately affects ethnic minorities and rural communities. Kids that go to school hungry can struggle to keep up — and one-third of people facing hunger in America are children.
On the flip side of the same coin is the problem of food waste. Over 1/5th of landfill volume is food waste. Globally, 5.4 million square miles of land is used to produce food that no one eats. The food we have isn’t getting to those who need it most. By raising awareness of hunger and the systemic factors that drive it, we can work towards the goals of making our cities more livable and our society healthier.
How you can learn more:
- Hunger in your community is often invisible. Check out the Map the Meal Gap tool for insight into how hunger affects your specific area.
- Stay informed with the latest research on hunger in America.
- Movie buff? Watch Jeff Bridge’s A Place at the Table or Anthony Bourdain’s Wasted! The Story of Food Waste. Only have 10 minutes? Here’s a Vox feature on the food waste issue.
- Hear the hidden stories of hunger in America from StoryCorps.
Join us in Delivering Good.
With Project DASH, we’re working with partners like Feeding America to provide the logistical means for restaurants and businesses to donate food directly to hunger relief organizations.
To continue supporting the work of these organizations across the country, we’re donating one meal through Feeding America for every new subscription to DashPass this month.* The Cheesecake Factory and Grand Lux Cafe have joined us in delivering good: for every order in September on DoorDash, they’re donating a meal to match.*
Nominate your local food bank!
Email projectdash@doordash.com with the subject line “Food Bank Nomination” by September 30, 2018 and nominate your local food bank for the chance to receive a $1,000 donation from DoorDash.
The food bank must be a Feeding America member found on this list: www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank. Tell us which food bank you would like to nominate and how you’ve seen or experienced the positive impact your local food bank has in your community. Be sure to include your name and phone number. Two recipients will be selected based on how well the submission demonstrates impact on a specific community. If yours is one of the selected submissions, you’ll also get $100 in DoorDash credit. See full rules here.
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*Leveraging Feeding America’s ability to source and transport donated food at scale, every $1 donated helps provide 10 meals for families facing hunger through its network of food banks. See full DashPass meal donation terms here, and full Cheesecake Factory and Grand Lux Cafe meal donation terms here.
