Free food donation app provided 108 million meals worth $260 million to feed those in need
LOS ANGELES, CA – Careit, a Los Angeles-based free food donation and rescue app that connects businesses to nonprofits to combat hunger, is celebrating rescuing more than 130 million pounds of food in the U.S. from more than 30,000 donations from 12,000 organizations since its national launch in 2023. Well-known businesses, restaurants, cities and grocers who have joined Careit to combat food waste and donate surplus food to nonprofits across the nation include Amazon, BJ’s Restaurants, Food 4 Less, Compass Foods, Google, Vallarta Supermarkets, Red Robin, City of Los Angeles, Sizzler Restaurants, AMC Movie Theaters, Cost Less Food Company, BevMo! (GoPuff subsidiary), Levy Restaurants (Compass Foods subsidiary), Popeye’s and Bristol Farms.
How Careit Achieved this Celebratory Milestone
Rescuing surplus food and diverting it from landfills and trash takes a collaborative effort. Careit, with the help of its business partners, was able to save 130 million pounds of food in the last two years by:
- Offering technology for municipalities that want to increase more donations
- Dispelling local myths to local businesses that food donations aren’t legal by educating them on current and new state policies
- Providing corporations with an innovative app to ensure all of their locations have a food donation recovery program in place
- Empowering nonprofit organizations to mobilize their communities of volunteers
- Being a one-stop compliance tool for jurisdictional entities tasked with enforcing set food donation compliance policies
“When launching Careit in 2021, I myself was on food stamps and understand what it’s like to go without needed resources from the same nonprofits and their clients we help receive donations on our app. Careit was designed to lift up emergency relief organizations, and to see where the app started with minimal funding to the exponential growth we’re experiencing today is welcomed proof that our food donation business model is working and building positive momentum,” says Alyson Schill, Careit CEO and Co-founder.
Closing the Gap in the Fight Against Food Waste
In the United States, 31% of all food goes unsold or uneaten — and most of that goes to waste. According to ReFed, only 12% of the 14.5 million tons that could be donated actually does get donated.
Careit has worked diligently over the past few years to reduce food waste. See the impact numbers below from the 130 million pounds of food rescued by Careit’s nonprofit partners:
In addition, Careit also enables corporations to track their food donation efforts for new food waste policy compliance, environmental social good (ESG) campaign efforts and tax-deductible charitable contribution tracking. This helps businesses save time and staff costs of record-keeping for donations with Careit’s innovative platform for data and impact tracking.
Ways to Share it with Careit
Careit uses smart algorithms and Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to empower local nonprofits and communities with equal access to the surplus of resources donated by restaurants, caterers, food distributors, corporations, grocery stores and more. The Careit app can be downloaded on all iOS and Android devices. View the simple process here.
Unlike other food donation technology, Careit is not proprietary for any nonprofit and doesn’t require food donors to sign exclusivity contracts. App users can optionally pay subscription fees to access advanced features such as multi-location data reporting to help with tax deductions and record-keeping for food rescues and donations.
Organizations interested in learning more about Careit and joining the fight against food waste can visit careit.com.
ABOUT CAREIT
Founded in 2021, Careit is a free app to match commercial food donors to the country’s most inclusive network of nonprofits. Businesses sign up to simplify food donations, track their impact and track tax-deductible contributions. Careit has assisted more than 10,000 edible food donors to connect with over 3,000 nonprofit food recovery organizations and service providers through its platform. To learn more, visit careit.com.
