Bainbridge Island, Washington, U.S.A.-headquartered seafood charity SeaShare has announced its role in a 50,000 pound seafood donation to families displaced by the Eaton and Palisades fires.
"The seafood industry was devastated to see what happened in L.A., and they’ve made a major effort to contribute assistance, including shipping an entire truckload of seafood to many L.A. communities," SeaShare Executive Director Hannah Lindoff said.
The hunger-relief agency, which works directly with seafood companies to deliver millions of servings of seafood to food-insecure Americans each year, worked with Careit, a tech-enabled food donation matching platform, as well as three L.A. nonprofits to get the seafood to L.A. residents.
Careit’s free matching platform and app allow companies to find organizations which need the surplus food they are seeking to donate. Its platform records donation data, allowing companies and hunger-relief agencies to track and quantify their impact.
“The idea for Careit was born from Hurricane Sandy when donations were pouring in from across the country and ended up as secondary disasters for the nonprofits with limited logistics and coordination to offload what they didn’t need," CEO Alyson Schill said. "It’s imperative for us at Careit to bridge the gap between food donors and nonprofits for equitable allocation of food and resources.”
The SeaShare donation was the largest donation of seafood Careit had received since its 2021 founding, and it required considerable support to distribute. The 50,000 pounds of food came directly from SeaShare, while Careit found distribution partners, which included Friends of Anaheim, The Valley Church, and Every Day Action.
By partnering together, the organizations minimized competition for grants, donors, and volunteers, which can sometimes slow the process of food redistribution. The collaboration allowed the organizations to maximize their impact by minimizing redundancies, since the organizations could work together to split up the donation according to their community’s needs.
The Valley Church distributed 9,000 pounds of frozen seafood to victims of the Altadena and Palisades fires.
"From the depths of our hearts, we are appreciative of Careit, Seashare, and Hilofish for their incredible generosity," Pastor Cesar Lopez said. "Together, we are bringing comfort, strength and a reminder that no one is alone.”
