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Community Food Projects Program Feeding Philadelphia

Guest Author
Jenn Ladd, Writer, Sharing Excess

When Darnell Thomas took a job at Sharing Excess, Philadelphia’s largest food-rescue organization, he was so excited to help people, he came out of retirement. After a successful career running a printing business and an adjacent nonprofit, Thomas gravitated toward Sharing Excess’ mission: to fight food waste and food insecurity at the same time, saving perfectly good surplus food and redistributing it to organizations who serve those in need.  

Thomas was able to join Sharing Excess thanks to funding provided by USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program, which provided the organization the opportunity to further expand their wholesale and retail collection and distribution network. 

Thomas drives Sharing Excess’ box truck, retrieving donated food wherever it comes, taking it to the nonprofit’s headquarters to be sorted and recorded, then delivering it all over the region, dropping off pallets of perfectly good, sorted surplus to food pantries, community organizations, hospitals and more. “If food is needed, we take it there,” Thomas says. 

“This project demonstrates Community Food Projects goals in action as community partners alleviate food insecurity by getting surplus wholesome food to individuals that need it the most, while reducing food loss and waste,” said Lydia Kaume, national program leader with NIFA’s Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition. “These grants provide organizations such as Sharing Excess a voice and agency in the food system through increased food and nutrition security and stimulation of the local economies.” 

While Thomas has logged thousands of miles for Sharing Excess — moving over three million pounds of food in just two years, enough to feed half a million hungry people — he never imagined he’d wind up feeding his own neighbors, too. 

Just months into the job, Thomas got a call from one of his colleagues, who asked, “Do you think your organization wants to give food away?” Thomas’ small nonprofit specialized in free printing for other nonprofits, but he was game to add something new, so he said sure.  

“I'm thinking we're probably going to get a couple cases of food or whatever, so we sent out a few texts,” Thomas remembered. When Sharing Excess’ van pulled up to Thomas’ house, he was floored. “This van was filled from the front to the back, the top to the bottom.” After unloading, Thomas and his family blasted a message their community on all channels: “There's free food here and we need y'all to come.” Before they knew it, there was a line down the block. 

Thomas was surprised again when he shared the success story with his co-workers days later. “Would you like to do it on a regular basis?” they asked him. 

Since then, Thomas’ food distribution has become a staple for his Southwest Philly neighborhood, running rain or shine, every week without fail thanks to Sharing Excess, which is uniquely positioned to provide food to a grassroots organization like Thomas’. 

Now called Denise’s Pantry, the giveaway exemplifies the full circle of Sharing Excess’ work. Much like its approach to rescuing food wherever it’s at risk of going to waste, Sharing Excess taps into existing community leaders to find and meet need wherever it exists, nationwide. 

Denise’s Pantry is just one example of the more than 750 community organizations to which Sharing Excess provides food. That’s how it’s managed to feed more than three million people across the country in five years with over 50 million pounds of rescued surplus.  

“Without Sharing Excess, none of this would have been possible,” Thomas said. “They are a true blessing.”    

Farm Bill Priority Areas
Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health
U.S. States and Territories
Pennsylvania

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