Means Database

Community Meal Program - In response to COVID-19, we began a Community Meal Program in 9 cities. We paid local small businesses (restaurants and caterers with 4 or fewer total locations) between $6-8 a meal to make catering orders specifically to be donated to pre-selected nearby emergency food providers. $3.2 million of the $4.6 million received in 2020 were received in the last two weeks of the year from Grubhub to support this program operation into the first six months of 2021, with much of that impact to be more formally documented in next years 990. In 2020 this meal program resulted in 173,000 meals being purchased and delivered across all of the cities, a total that has risen to 484,251 as of May 5, 2021 as funded by the $3.2M provided in late December. Core Food Recovery Program - Our core program at MEANS Database is our food recovery program, wherein food businesses with extra food can post a donation, and our system automatically emails and texts nearby emergency food providers. Our outreach team works to grow our network of donors and recipients, and our tech team works to maintain our website, expand its functionality, and improve accessibility features to best serve our users. This program is completely free for both food donors and recipient organizations to use. Redistribution of Funds to other food recovery and food justice orgs - In response to COVID-19 and the events of 2020, we redistributed funds in amounts of $25-$100 each to local grassroots organizations providing educational programming, food security relief, and other essential services to Black communities, especially those particularly impacted by police violence in 2020. These organizations are all doing incredible community-strengthening work that goes beyond our scope as an organization, but still aligns with our mission of providing food for free to community members in need. In addition to this, we also supported many organizations serving Native populations in the southwest United States, who were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. MEANS purchased various materials including hygiene products, PPE, clothing, firewood, and building materials to assist in COVID-19 relief efforts.