A new home delivery pilot program is underway at the Food Bank of Delaware.
The Food Bank of Delaware is partnering with Amazon and DoorDash to get food to families in need.
“I guess one of the silver linings of the pandemic is that we were able to start these new partnerships with Amazon and DoorDash to home deliveries to some of our communities most vulnerable - they might have no transportation or they may disabled and homebound," said Kim Turner, communications director for the Food Bank.
Amazon home delivery is for Delawareans without transportation or unable to leave home to visit local food pantries. Amazon and Amazon Flex drivers can deliver non-perishable food boxes weekly.
DoorDash delivery is only for people who live within a 15-mile radius of the Food Banks’ Newark facility or the Lutheran Community Services St. Stephen’s food pantry in Wilmington.
Both services are free. Families facing food insecurity can visit the Food Bank's website and sign up.
Turner says these efforts supplement the mobile food pantries the organization has held since the pandemic started:
“We’re very grateful to both of them for stepping up to provide this much needed service," said Turner. "Over the years, we’ve always wanted to provide home delivery services to people, but we just didn’t have the resources or capacity to do that. So these partnerships enable us to provide this much needed service.”
The delivery service is limited to non-perishables and people cannot currently choose their food. But Turner notes they hope to expand the program in the future so people can choose their items.
The Food Bank has held more than 50 drive-thru mobile food pantries during the pandemic. Two more are being held this week - one on Wednesday, Jan. 19 at Dover Downs and a second on Friday, Jan. 21 at Del Tech's Stanton Campus in Newark.
A third will be held on Monday, Jan. 24 at Crossroad Community Church in Georgetown; this event had to be cancelled this past Monday due to forecasted inclement weather.
Turner says the Food Bank typically distributes eight to 10-million pounds of food every fiscal year. In 2020, the agency distributed more than 15-million pounds of food.
