Federal workers can donate to food banks through program

For the past 11 years, commissary customers and employees have traditionally set the pace for the Department of Defense donations. In 2019, DeCA collected more than 753,000 pounds of donations, about 73 percent of the over 1 million pounds collected by DOD.

Participating installations help collect items most needed by food pantries and then donate them to area food banks.

Commissary customers and employees have a couple options to participate:

· by purchasing needed food and personal hygiene products for donation while shopping at stateside commissaries, or bringing items from home and dropping them off at donation bins at the store;

· by purchasing prepackaged donation bags available in stateside commissaries for less than $10. The bags include Freedom’s Choice products such as canned meat, pasta meals, popcorn and water.

Once collected, installation officials work with the commissary to deliver donations to local food banks.

Some of the most-needed items include canned vegetables, canned fruits, canned proteins, soups, condiments, snacks, multigrain cereals, 100% juice, grains, paper products and household items, hygiene items.

For more information on this campaign, go to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website: https://fedsfeedfamilies.ocio.usda.gov/.