Donating Food Through a Share Pantry

You can help your community by hosting or donating to a share pantry. This guide offers best practices for providing safe and quality food to your neighbors who are experiencing hunger.

What is a share pantry?

Share pantries are small food pantries open to anyone. Share pantries are usually unattended. Food donations come from members of a neighborhood, and users are encouraged to take what they need and leave what they can. These are generally unconnected to any other food pantry, and are often found in someone’s front yard, outside of public buildings, or in parks.

A share pantry should have a host. The host is responsible for regularly checking it to make sure the food is safe, quality, and protected from contamination.

What foods are best offered by a share pantry?

Share pantries should only offer:

• Shelf‐stable, unopened, commercially packaged foods
  
  • Examples include rice, pasta, crackers, tomato sauce, canned foods, apple sauce, peanut butter)
    
  • Store these foods in an enclosed area, with tight door seals and overhead protection (Figure 1)
    
• Fresh, whole produce
  
  • Store these foods in an open‐air, covered environment

Donated food needs to be protected from pests and environmental contamination (like rain). We recommend that share pantries be:

• In a highly visible or public area to prevent tampering or vandalism
• At least 6 inches off the ground

Managing a Share Pantry

It is important that the host properly maintains and manages the share pantry. This would include regularly checking for:

• Foods which are suspected of being spoiled, or are otherwise not recommended for sharing through a share pantry
• Maintenance needs (e.g., checking the roof of a share pantry for leaks, cleaning)
• Pests
• Any signs of tampering

Discard any foods which are suspected of having spoiled or been contaminated. Repairs should be made based on its maintenance needs and to keep pests out. The share pantry should be kept clean, especially if any of the foods have leaked or dirtied the shelves.

Share pantries may need to be checked more often during hot and cold weather. When above 90°F, foods can quickly spoil. Some foods in your share pantry may be in packages that aren’t designed to be frozen (i.e., canned goods), and can become damaged. That damage could expose the food inside to contamination.

We recommend having a sign on the share pantry detailing the type(s) of foods people should donate. We also recommend the host of the pantry put their contact information somewhere on the share pantry in case anyone would like to contact them with questions.

Liability Considerations

It is important that share pantry hosts and donors operate with good judgment and diligence to make sure the available food is safe and wholesome.

The Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act and Sections 3.2-5144 and 35.1-14.2 of the Code of Virginia specify criminal and civil exemptions from liability for food donors and organizations which distribute donated foods. However, individuals providing direct donations through share pantries are not specified as being protected by these laws. Further questions about liability related to hosting a share pantry should be referred to a legal professional.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Washington State Department of Health for permission to adapt their resource for this publication.

References