Donate Food

Donate Food

Ways to Give: Food & Essential Items

While we are a small team, the generosity of Clarington East is what keeps our shelves full. There are several ways you can contribute physical goods to support our 170+ households.

1. Private Donations

We gratefully accept non-perishable food, diapers, formula, cleaning products, and toiletries. Please check our for our most urgent needs.

  • Where: 250 Mill St. S, Newcastle (Entrance is on Edward St., between Mill and Church).

  • When: To ensure a volunteer is available to assist you, please drop off during these preferred windows:

    • Tuesdays: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. or 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

    • Thursdays: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

  • By Appointment: If these times do not work, please call 905-987-1418 or email claringtoneastfoodbank@gmail.com to schedule a drop-off.

2. Community Donation Bins

For your convenience, you can drop off non-perishable items at our marked bins located at:

  • Newcastle Foodland

  • Newcastle No Frills

3. Food Drives vs. Fund Drives

We have recently updated our policy regarding community food drives. While we have cherished these events for years, we are now encouraging Fund Drives over traditional Food Drives for four vital reasons:

  • Better Buying Power: Through industry partnerships, we can often turn $1 into $2 worth of food. We can buy fresh milk, eggs, and meat that food drives cannot provide.

  • Reduced Waste: On average, 30% of food drive donations arrive spoiled, damaged, or expired. We cannot safely distribute these to our neighbors.

  • Storage Limits: We have limited warehouse space and cannot always store a massive influx of a single item at once.

  • Volunteer Labor: Sorting and checking every single donated can is incredibly labor-intensive for our small volunteer team.

Our New Policy: We are limiting the number of food drives held each month to spread them out across the calendar year. Exceptions are made for school-organized drives for educational purposes.

Planning an Event?

If your organization, street, or business would like to help, please visit our page How To Organize a Food Drive . We will work with you to ensure your event is a success for the community and manageable for the food bank!