Community Servings is a Boston-area nonprofit that home-delivers medically-tailored meals to clients who are battling a critical illness. More than 2,200 meals are prepared each day in their commercial kitchen in Jamaica Plain, providing clients throughout Massachusetts the nutrition they need during their diagnosis.

Finding Nearby Food Donations

Chefs at Community Servings make everything from scratch in the kitchen, even down to the soup stocks. That means onions, carrots, and celery make up a large part of many recipes in the kitchen and are in high demand for food sourcing.

So when alerts came through the platform for hundreds of pounds of vidalia onions and baby carrots, the Community Servings team was quick to claim 500 pounds of the highly sought after valuable produce. The vidalia onions claimed through Spoiler Alert were incorporated into soups, roasted with grains and other vegetables, and braised with meats.

Source: Community Servings

“The baby carrots were packed with hummus into small containers that provided a protein and vegetable serving for our clients,” said Leigh Kalbacker, Senior Program Manager for Community Servings.

Quality of produce is critical given the community the organization serves. “All of the donations that we have received have been true to their advertised posting on Spoiler Alert,” added Kalbacker. “The products have been good quality and the online platform is really easy to use! Spoiler Alert plays a crucial role in connecting excess food to organizations that can put it to good use.”

Source: Community Servings

Redistributing Surplus Food Among Nonprofits

The Spoiler Alert experience can often be dual-sided for nonprofits, where they serve as both a food recipient as well as a food supplier occasionally. In addition to sourcing 500 pounds of fresh vegetables recently, Community Servings found themselves in the role of a food donor when they experienced an excess of eggplants.

“We work with local farms during the growing season who donate their seconds and excess produce to us,” said Kalbacker. “Occasionally, we’ll receive an amazing abundance from our farm partners that we don’t have room to store or time to process. In that case, we want the items to still go to use, and Spoiler Alert was the perfect way for us to make that connection.”

The organization was able to post their 300 pounds of surplus eggplants to the platform and redistribute their extra product to other local nonprofits in the area.

Pie in the Sky

For those looking to support the work Community Servings during this upcoming holiday season, they are currently running their “Pie in the Sky” campaign. For 24 years, Greater Boston’s restaurants, bakeries, caterers, and hotels have donated thousands of pies to Community Servings, which they sell to people in the community. Each pie costs $30, which provides a week’s worth of nutritious, home-delivered meals to a client.

“When you support Community Servings through Pie in the Sky, your contribution goes to our neighbors in greatest need – homebound individuals and families struggling with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other life-threatening illnesses and who are too sick to shop or cook for themselves,” said Kalbacker.

Visit www.pieinthesky.org to buy your pie or donate by Nov. 19th!