Community Garden Donations
Help us grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs — whether it’s in your own garden, at one of our Garden Share sites, or with our partners.
Grow a Row
When your garden is overflowing with more produce than you can keep up with, donate your extra fruits and veggies to our food bank, and we’ll get ‘em into the hands of your very own neighbors — neighbors who could use a little extra help this season. No donation is too small!
How to Donate: Leave donations on our outdoor farm stand (located at our main entrance) Mondays-Fridays, 8:00 AM-4:00 PM. If you need help unloading, pull up to Dock Door 3 (on the east side of our building), Mondays-Fridays, 8:00 AM-3:00 PM.
Register Your Garden: We’ll happily accept your donations whether you’ve registered or not, but if you’re planning to “grow a row” for Community Food Share, we’d love to know! You can also sign up through the Fresh Food Connect app to track your garden donations to Community Food Share throughout the harvest season.
Garden Share Sites
Did you know that Community Food Share has been growing food locally since the 1990s? This year, we’re digging in at three new locations:
McKenzie Farm: We’re cultivating a 16,000 sq. ft. plot on this 80-acre farm in Boulder, a project that’s sponsored by Burgess Group | Compass.
CUCC: A 2,500 sq. ft. plot on the grounds of Community United Church of Christ in Boulder.
Boulder Public Library: A 1,400 sq. ft. edible garden, located at and supported by the Boulder Public Library.
Earth’s Table
Earth’s Table is a volunteer-run organization that maintains gardens in Boulder, Lafayette, and Longmont. 100% of the produce they grow is donated to hunger-relief charities, including Community Food Share, and we’re incredibly grateful for their longtime support.
Gleaning
We started our gleaning initiative in 1982, and it was the first of its kind in Colorado. Local farmers call Community Food Share when there’s extra produce in their fields, our volunteers harvest it, and we distribute the just-picked fruits and vegetables through our programs and Partner Agencies.
Gleaning helps us source fresh, local produce for our participants — and it’s one way that we help prevent food waste, because we typically harvest crops that would otherwise go unharvested.
Join us in the fields
If you are interested in helping glean food on our behalf, email us or call (303) 652-3663 to be notified when gleaning opportunities become available.
Volunteer with UpRoot
UpRoot is a Colorado non-profit that helps divert surplus agriculture from farms to food banks like ours. Sign up for UpRoot’s volunteer list to hear about more gleaning opportunities near you.
Other Farm Partnerships
Purchasing and donations from local farms: Colorado farmers supply us with fresh, local agricultural products, including fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, and grains through donations and purchasing.
Animal feed partnerships: Sometimes, food donations come to us with some misfits: bread is stale, spinach is past its prime, or potatoes have grown a few too many “eyes”. Instead of sending these inedible food scraps to compost or the landfill, we have arrangements with local livestock farmers and animal sanctuaries to use it as animal feed. Last year, we repurposed 368,000 pounds of unusable or expired produce, dairy, and bakery items! Interested in partnering with us for animal feed? Visit this page to learn more.
Are you a farmer interested in partnering with Community Food Share?
Visit our “Food Industry Donors” webpage or contact our Manager of Food Resources and Compliance at (303) 652-3663 ext. 233 for more information.
Donations made to Community Food Share are tax deductible as allowed by law.
The beautiful photography on this page was generously donated by Ali Vagnini.