Careit: Transforming Food Donation  Careit, a food donation and rescue software, is working to empower nonprofits and communities across the United States by providing equal access to surplus food and resources. Through a free matching marketplace, Careit connects businesses and institutions with excess food to local nonprofit organizations addressing food insecurity.

“We have seen an uptick in food insecurity in the past year, so now we’re opening up to new types of food to come into this starving food system,” Alyson Schill, Co-Founder and CEO of Careit, tells Food Tank. “That’s happening across the U.S. right now and it’s enabling more nonprofit organizations to source relationships between donors that they previously didn’t even know about.”

Careit operates through a mobile app, where businesses can create profiles and share details about surplus food they have. Nonprofit organizations with a Careit account then receive timely notifications when a donation in their area is posted or assigned to them. Upon notification, the organization has the option to either accept or decline that donation. If it is rejected, the donation becomes available again for other potential partners. Once a match is made, both parties can use the app’s chat features to confirm the donation, record details including the weight and temperature of the food and coordinate the logistics for pickup.

“Our focus is to create an ease of use with the technological features that Careit can offer businesses that previously haven’t had the ability to donate as frequently or ever before and allow them to actually start a food donation program or expand a food donation program they previously had,” Schill tells Food Tank.

Schill says Careit is also helping grocery stores increase the amount of food they can deliver to the community through donations. Grocery stores typically have a relationship with a food bank that is connected to a variety of smaller, local organizations.

Read the full article about food surplus by Liza Greene at Food Tank.