The Basics
Our drivers pick up excess food from food donors 7 days a week, 5:30am to 2pm. We establish regular schedules with most food donors and/or do one-time pickups as needed. If you need a pickup outside of this timeframe, we can discuss and are often able to accommodate.
We accept almost all forms of quality excess food:
fresh, frozen, prepared, raw, dry, etc.
Our food donors include wholesale distributors, grocery stores,
restaurants, hotels, farms, and more.
Read about your protection from liability and food safety below!
Take Action
We do our best to respond within 24 hours and ask for at least this much advance notice for any of the pickup request options below.
If you have a catered event planned (especially on a weekend) and think you might have excess, please provide us with as much advance notice as possible.
First-time food donors:
Fill out our one-time intake form
to be added to our system. It's long, but we promise you only need to do this once! Feel free to email [email protected] or call our office at (808) 537-6945 if you run into questions.
Returning food donors:
If you're already in our system, you can fill out our short "Contact Us" form any time you need a pickup.
Request a
Community Harvest:
We'll send supervised volunteers to harvest your backyard fruit trees, gardens, farms, etc. We'll then immediately redistribute it to our network of partners feeding the hungry.
An easy way to support Aloha Harvest’s mission is to host a food collection drive. Aloha Harvest will help pick up the collected items free of charge and then distribute the items to our community partners who work to nourish and strengthen the community of O’ahu. We can provide you a tax-deductible donation receipt upon request.
Our team can also provide promotional materials to aid you in your group’s collection efforts. Mahalo in advance for helping support our mission, we look forward to collaborating!
Why Partner?
Aloha Harvest is the largest nonprofit doing this work in the state of Hawaiʻi, acting as an essential collaborator with local food banks and social service agencies. In Hawaiʻi, 48% of families are food insecure, yet 237,000 tons of food is wasted annually.
Since Aloha Harvest’s founding in 1999, we have rescued over 35 million pounds of quality food and gotten it into stomachs instead of landfills.
In 2023, Aloha Harvest redistributed over 3 million lbs. of food from 397 food donors and delivered it to 140 recipient agencies that help feed our community’s most vulnerable. These recipient agencies include homeless shelters, social services, food pantries, veterans services, and more.
By partnering with us, you help to ease both food insecurity and environmental footprint. Less food in landfills = less greenhouse gas emissions.
You’ll also receive food donation receipts that you can submit for tax credits.
Food Safety
Aloha Harvest was planned using Department of Health
guidelines in order to uphold a system for the sanitary and efficient handling of food. We require all our drivers to successfully complete the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health Food Handler Certification Class. Our vehicles are refrigerated to ensure food maintains safe temperatures during transport. Our vehicles are sanitized, inside and out, on a biweekly basis by a professional cleaner.
Protection from Liability
Federal - Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996 (42 USC § 1791)
(c) Liability for damages from donated food and grocery products.
(1) Liability of a person or gleaner.
A person or gleaner shall not be subject to civil or criminal arising from the nature, age, packaging, or condition of apparently wholesome food or an apparently fit grocery product that the person or gleaner donates in good faith to a nonprofit organization for the ultimate distribution of needy individuals.
State - Hawaiʻi Good Samaritan Donation of Food Act (HRS 145D §-1, §-2, §-3, §-4, §-5)
[§145D-2] Exceptions to liability. (a) Any donor of food products, who in good faith donates the food for the use or distribution by a charitable, religious, or nonprofit organization to needy persons shall not be liable for any civil damages or criminal penalties for any injuries or illnesses including, but not limited to injuries or illnesses resulting from the nature, age, condition, packaging, or handling of donated food products, except for such damages as may result from the donor’s negligence or wanton acts or omissions.