What happens to an apple that falls off a shelf in a grocery store? It might be a little bruised, no longer as shiny as its neighbors. Suddenly, it may not be the first choice of a shopper who spots a more polished piece of fruit. Yet inside, it’s perfectly good to eat.
Across the country, millions of pounds of food just like that apple goes to waste every year even though those groceries are safe to eat and nutritious. This is where the Capital Area Food Bank’s Partner Direct program steps in to ensure that food instead get to the people in our community who need it.
Partner Direct is a program that connects our network of nonprofit partner organizations directly with nearby grocery stores. On a weekly schedule, partners pick up shelf-stable groceries, frozen protein items and fresh produce — like that apple — before it ever has a chance to be discarded.
It’s more than just the story of leftover food. It’s the story of how a community gets fed, how grocery store employees and neighborhood organizations form relationships, and how we work together to reduce food waste while feeding more people.
One of the partner organizations that picks up food each week through Partner Direct is Purity Baptist Church, located in Northeast D.C. Their food ministry team, led by Robert Henry, drives to a local Giant grocery store every Monday. By Thursday, the food that Robert and his team have picked up — produce, dairy, meat, and more — has been sorted and distributed to up to 70 neighbors at their pantry.
“We are friends first and foremost,” Robert says of the Giant store team, “and they’re also providing a need that we recognize in our neighborhood.” He shared that some of their clients live in areas where getting to a full grocery store like Giant isn’t easy or convenient. By providing fruits, vegetables, meats, and more, Robert and his team help bridge the gap and make nutritious food more accessible to their neighbors.
These partnerships are built one connection at a time, with the help of team members like Eleni Shepard, CAFB’s senior manager of food sourcing. She works behind the scenes to match partner organizations with nearby grocery stores to ensure that as much food as possible is making it to the tables of those in need.
“We are working with stores to make sure nearly every department that can donate is donating,” Eleni says. “So folks are getting a wide range of nutritious foods.”
And it’s having a huge impact.
In 2024 alone, our Partner Direct program diverted 16 million pounds of food from going to waste. That food came from over 375 stores and went directly to more than 90 partners, who then distributed it to our neighbors across the region.
“This food is given at zero cost to the food bank and to our clients,” Eleni says. “It’s a tremendous amount of food, and it really helps make sure that we’re able to better meet the need in our area.”
The program is also helping the planet. Because partners are using their own vans to pick up donations locally, we’re cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions and food bank fuel usage.
It’s a group effort, from store receivers trained to sort donations, to local volunteers loading up vans, to the coordinators forging connections across the region. Together, they’re not only getting good food to the plates of families across the region, they’re also helping reduce waste and protect the planet.