I held my first food drive in a series of very occasional food drives today. It was amazing and rewarding! It also gave me some great insights into vacationers and food donations.
The upshot: In two hours on a Saturday morning at checkout time at the Reef Club condos (which has many short-term rental units) in Indian Rocks Beach, I collected about 35 bags of unopened food and beverages, including perishables. (Thank you to the wonderful volunteers at St. Jerome’s Lifeline Food Pantry in Largo for allowing perishables, which they usually don’t.) Donations included produce, snack foods, sodas, cheese, hot dogs, bacon, eggs, bread, condiments, and so much more. Not everyone checks out on the same day, so these departing travelers were random.
The downside: All those donations came from about a dozen people. That’s an average of 3 bags per person! That opened my eyes in a very real way to the tremendous amount of food thrown out *EVERY DAY* in our area’s thousands of short-term rentals. Indian Rocks Beach alone has more than 1,200 short-term rentals, and we’re just a small community in a much larger coastal area. To say that I made a dent in that would be laughable, but it also wasn’t nothing.
Here are my observations:
* Most vacationers, despite me having fliers all over the building for 5 days, didn’t know I’d be there. I stationed myself between the elevators and the parking lot where they couldn’t miss me.
* Everyone, to a person, was THRILLED to donate. They were thankful, appreciative, complimentary and said what a GREAT IDEA this was.
* Other guests I spoke to who were not departing today were disappointed to hear that this was a one-time effort. I told them how close the IRB pantry was (7 short blocks away!), how they can donate 24/7 and how my website (QR code in view) has all the info on donating food and items. I’m pretty sure they won’t make the effort. Not because they don’t care but because they’re on vacation and it’s not their habit.
* Two big bags of food came directly from one of the cleaners. I keep hearing “leave your food for the cleaner.” Here’s are my two stock answers: Cleaners typically don’t want all that food nor do they have a place to keep it, and pantries are set up to distribute food to those most in need. In my mind “leave it for the cleaner” is a copout.
Here’s what I believe has to happen to address food waste in short-term rentals:
* Work with pantries to have them accept more perishable goods. I know this is more difficult, but it’s also possible and important.
* Vacationers will donate food only if it is super-duper easy for them. For instance, I had fliers up about today’s drive at an even bigger condo just a one-minute walk away and posted it wide on a huge Facebook group tourists and property owners and managers see. No one outside of the Reef Club came. (I didn’t expect them to, but I was curious.) I hope to do my next action at that bigger condo next month!
* Owners, property managers and rental platforms must have a real desire to see this happen and do what they can to facilitate it. The process can even start at the beginning — at the city’s rental business licensing stage. But that would only work in a community that has truly committed to low waste.
* Condos can help tremendously by having food donation bins in their lobbies. Many of our rentals are individual homes, but we also have many condo rentals with common areas. That means someone will need to get the food to the pantry.
* As for the single-family homes that are rentals, a “block captain” could facilitate food donations by having a bin on their property. That means getting the word out and getting the food to the pantry.
* Some vacationers will seek out food donation sources, but not many. Still, they could ask the owners/managers what their food waste policies are. The more that “recycling, repurposing and donating” becomes a demand of travelers, the likelier that owners will meet this demand.
* Food pantries, if they have enough volunteers, could hold the same kind of drives I held. Another option is to have a very visible drive on a main thoroughfare (ours is Gulf Boulevard) at strategic checkout times and advertise the heck out of it (that’s what an NC nonprofit does). Of course, all these options need more people helping out. I’ve tried to keep the Vacation Donations model “volunteer-lite” out of necessity, but it takes a village to really tackle food waste!
Do you have other ideas? I’d love to hear them!
On behalf of St. Jerome Lifeline Food Pantry in Largo, we thank you for your efforts and the recent generous food donations to our pantry from Reef Club condominiums in IRB. In recent months, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of families coming to us for food assistance and the Vacation Donations concept is a great untapped resource in our area. Many thanks!
Fred Bach
Director St Jerome Lifeline
Thank you, Fred! In return, thank all of you for allowing perishables for my drives and for being a fantastic partner. I’m excited to see where all this goes! On a personal note, my mother, who arranged flowers for St. Jerome altar for many, many years, would be so proud. 🙂
Thank you this is a wonderful thing! My suggestion is to create little cards that perhaps condo cleaners could leave guests regarding how to donate whether food or monetarily. Also, timeshare resorts have a board of directors, maybe seek them out to encourage and reinforce the importance your non-profit in the community they vacation. Hearts to you all!
Thanks Anna! I am slowly in the process of connecting with condo boards. I think it’s really going to come down to the owners and property managers to give this info at check-in and checkout and facilitate it happening with ease. Cleaners are not in touch with guests at all, but it’s the same idea. Someone there on the scene needs to be the one to assist! Really appreciate your feedback.
If you need volunteers to pick up donations or help with delivering to pantries etc please let me know. Liz 636-226-5328
Thanks Liz! It’s really a one-person effort. What I really need are people to hold 2-hr food drives on their own on a Saturday morning. I’m happy to help arrange it and do fliers, but since there is only one of me, the more I can multiply these efforts, the better. So if you’re up for that, great! I’ll be in touch next week to see if that’s the case!
I think these bullets are amazing ideas!
* Condos can help tremendously by having food donation bins in their lobbies. Many of our rentals are individual homes, but we also have many condo rentals with common areas. That means someone will need to get the food to the pantry.
* As for the single-family homes that are rentals, a “block captain” could facilitate food donations by having a bin on their property. That means getting the word out and getting the food to the pantry.
Thank you, Julie-ann! And they’re applicable everywhere, not just IRB. One of my goals is to start a movement!
Food INSECURITY. Oops.
Just so you know that you’re not falling on deaf ears. We left Indian rocks Beach three weeks ago after a wonderful two weeks stay. I had seen a post about your efforts on Facebook, and we donated four bags of non-perishables to the food pantry at the church. Thank you so much for doing this. We live in an area with great food and security so I know what amazing work this is.
Thank you Joan! Warms my heart!