Where to donate extra produce from your backyard or community garden

You don’t have to resort to throwing zucchinis through open car windows this year, and piles of cucumbers don’t have to clandestinely appear on your neighbors’ porches overnight.

Sioux Falls-area gardeners with backyard or community plots can donate their extra produce to several organizations feeding people in need or animals instead.

“It does no good to let the food spoil,” said Justin Heckel, co-director of the Union Gospel Mission’s men’s center. “When you donate extra produce, it’s helping people who otherwise wouldn’t be getting fresh food, so you’re giving it to people who need it.”

Donations included in food boxes at the Union Gospel Mission help families stretch their paychecks a little further, Heckel said, adding that grocery inflation has made it harder for families to afford healthy food this year.

Here are some organizations that accept produce donations. While Feeding South Dakota formerly accepted fresh produce, it no longer takes such donations.

The Banquet

Call ahead to The Banquet at 900 E. Eighth St. or at 710 N. Marion Road to drop off produce on weekdays. Employees help bring produce into the building and will write you a “thank you” receipt.

Smaller donations usually are placed in baskets so guests can take one or two items home with them, while larger donations are incorporated with meals, said Tamera Jerke-Liesinger, executive director.

Performance Foodservice serves supper at The Banquet on Aug. 1.

“Fresh vegetables are always a treat,” Jerke-Liesinger said. “So many of our guests would rather eat a fresh tomato than a sugary treat because they’re not able to access food like that very often.”

Bishop Dudley Hospitality House

The Bishop Dudley Hospitality House at 101 N. Indiana Ave. accepts donations from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 8 to 10 p.m. daily. You can fill out a donor slip during drop-off to help the organization keep track of what it receives.

The emergency shelter incorporates the produce into a salad, vegetable tray or meal and “uses everything that is donated,” said Madeline Shields, executive director.

“It really helps the bottom line,” Shields said. “All of those food donations save money, staff time for ordering and actually purchasing the food.”

The organization serves about 120 meals a day, so a large truckload of donations can be too much. In addition to backyard produce, the shelter also accepts leftover food from business events such as parties or retreats.

Faith Temple Food Giveaway

After the Sioux Empire Fair is over, the Faith Temple Food Giveaway will resume its weekly Friday giveaways from 4 to 6 p.m., and backyard produce is a welcome addition to the included food items, organizer Jeff Hayes said.

Donors simply drop off their items at the Nordstrom-Johnson Building on the W.H. Lyons Fairgrounds on Fridays before 4 p.m. Nearly 1,200 boxes of food were given to people in need at the last food giveaway in July.

Volunteers at the Faith Temple Food Giveaway sort donated potatoes into boxes to give to people who attend the giveaway.

“Typically, when several people bring things from their backyards, we end up with quite a lot of produce,” Hayes said. “Anything and everything we get we give it away as soon as possible because we realize people are hungry now and need food.”

Finny Mini Farm and Sanctuary

While not an organization that feeds people in need, the Finny Mini Farm & Sanctuary is an animal petting zoo near Tea that accepts a range of garden produce and food scraps to feed its animals. The zoo includes chickens, goats, pigs, donkeys and more.

Lucy the donkey eats a cucumber grown from the Finny Mini Farm and Sanctuary’s garden.

In addition to produce and food scraps, the sanctuary also accepts grass clippings, shrub trimmings, Christmas trees and Halloween pumpkins.

Food to You

Food to You is a mobile food pantry that stops at several churches in the area on a weekly basis. While large food donations are too difficult for the organization to handle, it does accept small donations so people using the service can pick what they want from what’s available.

Drop off donations at East Side Lutheran Church at 1300 E. 10th St. on Thursdays.

“If you grow it, somebody can eat it,” coordinator Todd Smith said.

St. Francis House

The St. Francis House at 210 N. Sherman Ave. accepts donations every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The organization, which helps transition people who are homeless, tries to use donated produce as soon as possible by incorporating it into meals.

Union Gospel Mission

Call ahead to the Union Gospel Mission at 605-334-6732, and drop off produce on the west side of the building at 220 N. Weber Ave. with the dock door.

The homeless shelter incorporates donated produce into meals or includes larger donations in food boxes that are handed out to families.