Instacart Ramps Up Hunger Relief for Summer

As summer kicks off, so is Instacart’s campaign supporting more than 100 Feeding America partner food banks. Designed to shore up supplies during the season when most children are out of school, the program allows shoppers to donate items that local food banks need through the platform’s Community Carts tool. 

According to Instacart, donations are sent directly to food banks by customers and the company is waiving all fees on Community Carts orders. The Summer Hunger Community Carts campaign began in 2022.

[RELATED: Food Lion Awards Partners Helping Beat Food Insecurity]

“At Instacart, we’re on a mission to ensure every family can access the nutritious food they need, and we know that can be especially challenging for families with children when schools break for summer,” remarked Dani Dudeck, Instacart’s chief corporate affairs officer. “Food banks play such an important role in supporting their communities all year round, and we’re proud to be using Instacart Health technology like Community Carts to help them secure the exact food items they need to support local families during this heightened time of need.”

This is the latest effort by Instacart to improve food security and access. The first online grocery platform to offer digital SNAP EBT payments in all 50 states, Instacart is also taking part in a new federal program that enables eligible households with kids to access extra SNAP funds to feed their families in the summer months. In addition, the company is partnering with the nonprofit No Kid Hungry and Mercy Housing groups on a program to provide more nutritious foods to families living in affordable housing communities and to study the resulting nutrition and health outcomes. 

San Francisco-based Instacart partners with more than 1,500 national, regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from 85,000-plus stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace.