08/08/2026
Ever wondered how our donation process works? 👀
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how your donations get out to our community.
Every donation at the food bank goes through a careful multi-step process that includes weighing, sorting, and evaluating to ensure it can be safely distributed to our community.
Thank you for making this possible.
Transcript:
At the Ferndale Food Bank, your donations make incredible impacts on your community. Have you ever wondered what happens when you first drop them off?
First, food is donated to the food bank through a number of avenues, including local grocery stores, community gardens, local farms, home gardens, community food drives, the Rotary Green Bag program, and from community members.
Once we have received the food, it gets weighed so we can record the amount of donated food we receive each year.
The food is then sorted by volunteers to determine what is and isn’t suitable and safe for human consumption. We follow the guidelines from partners such as Feeding America as well as the state and county food safety regulations.
From there, suitable food either goes straight out to the distribution floor if we are in the middle of a distribution, to home delivery boxes if we are packing them that day, or is organized on the shelves for the next distribution.
Any food that is determined not suitable for human consumption goes to our donated livestock boxes that local farmers pick up to feed their animals every day of the week. Other food that livestock can’t eat gets composted.
The majority of all the produce we provide to folks every week is through donations. This serves over 80,000 visits a year.
If you have excess food, please consider donating to the Ferndale Food Bank.
Donation Hours
Monday - Saturday, 8 AM to 12 PM
Or schedule a special drop-off by calling us at 360-223-0788.
