Who can receive donated food?
Non-profit food assistance/social service organizations that provide food–including shelf stable, fresh, frozen, or prepared–to people in need of supplemental food in Montgomery County. The recipient organization must have a Federal Tax ID number or EIN.
How will CFR honor existing relationships with food donors?
When donors schedule a food donation, they can select a food assistance organization that is already in the CFR network if desired. If you are a recipient organization, tell your food donors to select your organization when they create a food run.
Can recipients sign up their donors?
No, donors must create their own login and profile. Donors can learn how
here.
What’s the sequence of match-making and scheduling a food run?
When a donor schedules a food donation run, ChowMatch software tool automatically matches a recipient organization based on both profiles. Then an email request is sent to all volunteers within the vicinity of the donor. The first volunteer to claim the run gets it. Then the run is scheduled and an email confirmation is sent to the donor, recipient, and volunteer with the run details and contact information.
What if a recipient organization can’t receive food for a period of time?
IMPORTANT! All active recipients will automatically be matched to receive donations according to their profile. If a recipient is temporarily unable to receive donations, they must change their profile to “inactive” status until they can resume receiving donations. Recipients can adjust their profile at any time. Go to Recipient>My Recipient Account>Edit Profile> click on status menu.
Can recipients indicate they don’t want a particular food type?
Yes, recipients check off food categories they can receive. However, recipients cannot specify individual foods. The recipients need to know that by eliminating categories, they reduce opportunities for receiving donations.
If no volunteer claims a run, can an organization pick it up themselves?
Yes! The recipient organization’s staff and volunteers can sign up as volunteer food runners. They will be able to see if a food run is claimed by a volunteer, and if not, they can claim the food run and pick it up themselves.
What happens on the rare occasion that a volunteer doesn’t pick up the donation?
The donor is advised to chill or freeze and store the donation until the next day, and post it again as a new donation. The donor can also choose to take it to the recipient themselves.
How is the amount of food that is donated recorded?
Food donations are entered by food donors when they schedule a food run. For regular, repeated runs with similar quantities and types of foods, donation information is entered one time and the information is automatically aggregated for each run. If food is donated as a one-time run, food donors post the types of food and quantities of each. Food run information is aggregated. IMPORTANT: Donors or Recipients should update the amount of food donated if it differs from what was posted to accurately capture the amount of rescued food.
Can CFR members obtain information about how much food they donated or received?
CFR administrators and donors can run aggregated reports and CFR recipients can request reports from the CFR administrator.
What do I need to do after receiving food?
Login to your account, click on the down arrow under Recipient> My Food Runs> click on the listed food run. Go to Recipient>my food runs> select the specific run
- Click on the checkmark icon. Electronically sign that the food has been handled according to CFR safe food handling practices.
- Click on the star icon. Rate your food run experience. Your feedback will improve the food run experience for everyone and helps CFR improve the system overall.
- Click on the pencil icon Update the amount of food that was actually donated if it differs from the amount you posted. This information is used to accurately report the total amount of food that is being donated.
Tip: If you receive a regular weekly food run, you only need to sign and rate your first run. You will need to update the amount of food donated if it differs from the estimated amount the donor initially entered.
- Retain the Food Safety Tracking Form received from the volunteer food runner you signed in case there is a food safety issue.
Do you have information about the benefits of being a food recipient organization?
Yes! Download our
brochure to learn more.
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