Benefits for Peninsula Food Runners Recipients

Peninsula Food Runners offers its recipients supplemental staff that delivers surplus food to the feeding programs. 

  • The cost of a volunteer in California for 2016 is $28.46 per hour
  • https://www.independentsector.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Value-of-Volunteer-Time-by-State-2001-2016.pdf

Peninsula Food Runners offers its recipients the opportunity to partner to ensure that food is delivered.

  • As a receiver, we ask that you to be a back up food runner in case volunteers do not sign up to support your  food run.  This occurs less than 10% of the time. 

  • As a receiver, you can monitor to see if food run has been picked up by a volunteer.  When a volunteer signs up to bring you food, you will receive an email confirmation with the runner's name and number.  Another way to guarantee that you will receive food is by getting one of your own volunteers to sign up on our system to support your account. When a text alert is send out, anyone (our volunteers, your volunteers or your staff) can assign themselves to support your own food runs.  With this ample support,  you can be sure to receive food that is designated for you. Once again,  our volunteers, your volunteers and your staff...together we can ensure that those in need get the food they need regularly.

  • Please do note that as food runs draw closer to their expiration time, the food runs will become available to all recipients if a volunteer has not stepped up to support it.  The donations may eventually go recipients who are willing pick up the food.  This is our last ditch effort to ensure people get fed and that no food is wasted. 

Peninsula Food Runners offers the volunteers the opportunity to learn about all the feeding programs in the community which in turn creates greater opportunities for civic engagement.

  • Several of our volunteers have cross volunteered with non profits that they have delivered food to.  i.e. this past Christmas, one of our volunteer volunteered serving food at a Samaritan Christmas Dinner.  Another took active role in the administration for a homeless program. Cross volunteering is highly recommended by Peninsula Food Runners among its volunteers.

Peninsula Food Runners offers increase access of nutritional foods to those in need by bringing high quality food consumed by companies.  In some cases, these donated surplus have been certified by nutritional experts for the clients. 

  • Addressing the quality of time families can spend with each other by providing a variety of prepared nutritional meals versus requiring exhausted parents to cook while trying to spend time with their children.
  • Offering a choice of nutritional food versus fast food.
  • Reducing the cost of food among senior clients so that they can spend money on their other needs  (i.e. seniors can buy medicine without having to forgo meals).

Peninsula Food Runners food donations help reduce the cost of food for feeding programs and individuals.

  • A senior client at St. Andrew's Senior Housing once tracked how much money he was saving from the meals that he was receiving from Peninsula food runners.  It turn up to be 20% of his expenses and he was elated to be able to use that savings towards his other needs and wants. 
  • Food donations can be used to complete a meal (i.e. salad, rice or dinner roles can all be used to complete meal)