Emily Grant from MEANS Database: Food Rescue and Donation
MEANS (Matching Excess And Needs for Stability) Database (website) is an online platform connecting those with excess food, like grocery stores, events, and restaurants, with nearby emergency food providers who serve those in need. MEANS Database has two major goals: to reduce food waste, and reroute that food to feed people facing food insecurity.
MEANS Database is a free service for the businesses donating the food, and the organizations receiving the food.
MEANS has been working in the food security space for six years, and is dedicated to improving communication between emergency feeding systems like pantries and soup kitchens along with the donors who stock them. In order to make this happen, they have partnered with nonprofits, companies, and other organizations. They are currently active in 45 states, and have recovered more than 22,000,000 pounds of food since their inception.
MUSE is honored to speak to Emily Grant, the Florida Program Manager for MEANS Database.
Hi Emily. Thanks for taking the time to chat with MUSE. How did MEANS Database begin?
MEANS was founded by Maria Rose Belding and Grant Nelson. Maria Rose volunteered at local food pantries in high school and college, and saw that there would be an excess of some types of food and not enough of other types, so she and Grant came together to solve this problem. They made a website, and built a platform to make it easier for food businesses to donate excess food and nonprofits to receive the excess.
The idea is to have a communication platform to make it really easy for organizations and events that have too much of something, to be able to post a donation, and match with a local organization that needs it. In addition to events, we work with hotels and schools to get the excess food to nearby nonprofits that feed folks in need. We do our best to keep everything local.
In the past six to eight months, we’ve gotten into bulk donations, meaning up to 40,000 pounds of excess food that typically comes from warehouse spaces. So we have two avenues: smaller donations, which would be from a catering company, school, farm, etc, to bulk donations of anything upwards of 40,000 pounds.
The organization has grown a lot since 2015. I was just looking at the data, we've rescued over 9.9 million pounds of food in Florida since 2021. And a big part of that is because we've gotten into bulk donations. The organization started with two college students, and now we have six full time staff, and eight part-time staff spread throughout the country.
This is a great example of using technology for good. How does the platform work to connect the organizations that have excess food, with organizations that will take the food? It sounds like complicated coding.
From the user experience, it is rather simple – but, yes! Lots of coding on the back end. Our platform makes it easy for food businesses to sign up and post when they have excess food. The address where the food is located triggers an email or text message to be sent to local nonprofits in the area that might be interested in the donation. From there, the nonprofit logs into their account and claims the item. An automatic email is sent out to connect both parties – including the exact address and contact information. Nonprofit organizations can even request transportation support, where we find a driver to deliver the food. This makes it really easy for catering companies to post their excess food after an event.
When an agency creates their account, they can adjust their preferences so they only receive notifications that fit the needs of their organization. For example, if they only want notifications for fruits and vegetables, they can exclude all the other types of donations, and will only receive notifications that fit the criteria.
They can even adjust for the amount of food they can take, maybe they can only handle up to 5,000 pounds of food. So they wouldn't get a notification if it's 10,000 pounds of tomatoes. It’s more efficient because they're getting notifications that make the most sense for them. They can even change the location radius, so if they can't drive more than 20 miles they won’t get notifications beyond that.
And if needed, we can help secure a driver to deliver. We know that both the nonprofits and catering companies are likely short-staffed and may not always have someone to pick up the food or drop it off. We can help with that.
So it sounds like there’s two options for food transfer. One is for the two parties to manage the transfer themselves. But the other option is for MEANS Database to assist in the transfer if possible. How does that work?
Our staff sees all the notifications. I primarily focus on Florida, although we operate nationally, so I'm keeping an eye out for all the Florida notifications. I'll see if they check the box that says “transportation requested.” It's a nudge for me to find a driver in the area if they’ve requested delivery support.
We have a set amount of funding to assist with the transportation. We continuously write grants to assist where we know we want to support transportation. As you probably know, caterers and planners are busy and could be exhausted by the end of an event, right? We're really there to take care of that last piece. And companies don't always have the extra funds to pay a staff member to drop off. Likewise, a nonprofit may not have the resources for the pick up. So we go in, and see if we can help with that last mile piece, so to speak.
Event donations are often last minute. We don’t know how much food might be left over after the event. What are some events you’ve experienced that have had last minute donations, and how was that handled?
We've supported a couple of festivals and large events, and in both cases – whether last minute or with advance planning, we got everything donated. For example, some festivals know they will have excess food, but might not know the type of food or quantity. That is totally fine! If they give me a couple of weeks notice, I can make sure we can get a driver. So that's the best case scenario, we've got time, and we can plan for that – we don’t need to know the total amount until the pick up day.
The other scenario is when a catering company wasn’t planning on having excess and at the last minute they do. We supported a festival in southeast Florida that had pallets and pallets of canned water. I got a picture of what was left and since it was in Palm Beach, in a very populated area, it made it easy for us to start making phone calls, and we got that taken care of. If it’s a rural area, that can be a bit more challenging. But we have a solid network of more than 3,000 users across the country, so the odds are good that we’ll get a taker.
This summer, we are rescuing food from a large hotel in Bonita Springs, Florida,and there are three conferences that we know about this summer. We know the dates, which allows us to schedule the driver, and contact the nonprofit who's interested in receiving the food. We also know that it will be prepared food, versus whole vegetables, so we can make sure that that's a good fit for the receiving organization.
What are some other challenges?
Concerts, festivals, and events can end at 9pm or later. This can be a huge challenge, because there's often no storage space to keep the food overnight, and nonprofits might not be open for receiving, even if we have a driver available. So that can be really tricky, especially if it’s last minute. A lot of cities are starting to have more community fridges, which is fantastic because we can put it in the fridge at any time.
What can the donating organization do to be prepared?
Oftentimes catering companies don’t know how to package the food for donation. What I suggest is to put it in Ziploc baggies, and date it and label it. Or you can use recyclable aluminum pans and tops. It’s a good idea for catering companies to purchase these items in advance, and have them at the event. And this is tax deductible, so if a catering company is going to donate $500 worth of food, they can certainly tack on extra for the material costs and labor.
How can organizations like MUSE help amplify your voice? What are you looking for in terms of ways to expand? How can the event industry help MEANS Database?
We are very open to new partners and expanding. I want to reiterate that there's no cost to either party. I think the message I’d like to amplify is that for an event to be more sustainable, food rescue is a low hanging fruit. You post, and we take care of the rest.
What about planners that have never done food donation before? It can seem daunting.
Our team is happy to schedule a 20-30 minute call to answer questions, and chat through logistics. We operate in all 50 states and a bit in Canada as well. There's no cost, and there's no commitment, all you really need to do is just sign up, and you can post your donation. That's where that one-on-one call can be really helpful. Like, “Tell me about the event. Where's this taking place? What time of day?” All the things in advance that we can do, will help make it smooth and easy for everyone.
It’s nice that you can do some hand holding in the beginning.
It’s so easy to get started. Just go to our website and click the “Sign Up” button on the top right of our website. Put in your name, email address and cell phone number. If you’re just going to donate (and not receive food), you don’t need to put in the Tax ID number.
Once you’ve signed up, you can post a donation. And if you have a photo of the items, that’s even better! Who doesn’t love a visual? People love to see what you're talking about. And describe if it's perishable or non perishable. Each time you make a post, if you put in the fair market value, it will go on an Excel sheet available for tax purposes. The Excel spreadsheet keeps track of your donations, so that at the end of the year, you can send it to your accountant for a tax deduction.
And make sure to list what time the food will be available for pick up, and how long the food will be good for. Once the form is complete, you check the box that protects catering companies from liability. We want to know that you are donating in good faith. So in other words, if you know the food is bad, please don't donate it, throw it away, or compost it. This needs to be food that you yourself would eat. The liability protection is covered under the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act, which is a federal law that protects businesses when they make a food donation.
Are there other perks to using your platform?
We’ve started to calculate the CO2 offset. When you log into your account, you can download an excel spreadsheet of all your donations. It will show the date of the donation, type of food, total weight, fair market value and more. This is incredibly helpful to motivate your team and share with leadership. You will also always work with a real person. Although our website has a lot of automation, any time you call or email us, you are working with one of our staff members. We develop great relationships and will make sure you feel taken care of.
Do you have a “sweet spot” with food amount or type?
Give me a few days heads up that you have donated food coming down the pipeline. That's my sweet spot. Big or small, we will take it. If it's under 40 pounds, we won't be able to pay for transportation because it's too expensive pound for pound. But, still post it! An organization nearby might be happy to pick that up. The biggest help is definitely a heads up.
And if someone wants to have that 15-30 minute phone call with you or someone from your team, how do they set that up?
Anyone can email us at hello@meansdatabase.org and they’ll be connected to their regional Program Manager, or they can call or text us at 202-449-1507.
We're passionate, and our service is free. Reach out to us. We are a small team, we’ll get back to you quickly. We've got a great platform that we're continuously improving. We want to make it as easy as possible for food to get to people in need.
Website: MEANS Database
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