Want to donate food to Triangle food banks? How to have it delivered for free
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Instacart waives delivery and service fees for Community Carts donation orders.
- Triangle residents can donate to food banks like Inter‑Faith Food Shuttle this summer.
- More North Carolina students may face hunger over the summer, without free school meals.
You probably know Instacart as the service that can save you a trip to the grocery store. But you may not know that Instacart also has a philanthropic side.
As food insecurity rises this summer, Instacart is offering a way to make donating to more than 300 food banks across the country, including a handful in North Carolina, more convenient.
The Summer Hunger Community Carts campaign allows shoppers to buy and donate exactly what food banks — including Inter-Faith Food Shuttle — need, while waiving the delivery and service fees usually tacked onto your bills.
“I think the biggest advantage for people who are donating is just the convenience,” Kimberly Burrows, chief development officer for Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, told The News & Observer in a video interview. “You don’t have to go to the store, and you don’t have to pick something up.”
This isn’t the first time Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, which works with more than 200 partner agencies across Wake, Orange, Durham, Chatham, Nash, Edgecombe and Johnston counties, has been involved with the Instacart program.
But as members of the Feeding America network, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle and Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina can benefit from the Instacart initiative.
“The Instacart program is one more thing that helps us bridge that gap and ensure that children aren’t hungry this summer, and that they can truly focus on being kids instead of wondering where their next meal comes from,” Burrows said.
Hunger in the Triangle
One in five children in North Carolina is facing hunger, according to Feeding America. And overall, one in seven North Carolina residents doesn’t have enough to eat.
During the school year, kids who need it can get free breakfast and lunch on campus. And programs like Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Backpack Buddies provide bags of food for kids to eat over the weekend. But those programs may not continue over summer break.
Students can still access free meals when school isn’t in session. It’s just not as simple as showing up to campus.
Wake County students, for example, have to visit designated parks, community centers, churches and other sites across Fuquay-Varina, Raleigh, Wake Forest, Wendell, Willow Spring and Zebulon to pick up food. But most places only serve lunch, and only during particular weekdays during parts of June, July and August.
Besides the food availability issues that summer brings, some families in North Carolina are facing challenges caused by new legislation. Passed last summer, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed who can access the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Many people who were previously receiving benefits — including people between ages 55 and 64, parents of school-aged children 14 years and older, former foster youth, veterans and people experiencing homelessness — now need to complete more steps to continue receiving assistance. That includes showing proof that they are working or are in approved job training, according to Feeding America.
The law also makes some people who were previously eligible for benefits, including legal residents who are not U.S. citizens, ineligible for assistance.
And on top of that, costs are on the rise, employers are laying off workers, and families are having to make tough decisions about how to spend their money, Burrows said.
“Gas prices are up. Food prices are up,” Burrows said. “That means a dollar goes a lot less, and so families are having to make do with less.”
How to order food delivery donations to food banks
To purchase food to be delivered to a Triangle-area food bank, visit instacart.com/store/hub/community_carts and select the food bank you want to donate to.
A new page will open on your browser, and you can add items you want to purchase to your cart.
You won’t have to pay delivery or service fees, but you’ll still be charged taxes.
You can also tip the Instacart shopper and driver, who will deliver the order to the food bank. Instacart shoppers are independent contractors and are paid for every order they fulfill, including the Community Carts donation orders, Instacart told The N&O in an email.
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle has warehouses in Durham and Raleigh, so there are multiple links for the organization, but shoppers can know that the shelf-stable food they donate will go where it’s needed, Burrows said.
“We want to make sure that we ensure people’s dignity. We want to make sure that they have choice,” Burrows said. “And so we try to stock our pantries with culturally appropriate foods so that families can get what they’re used to eating. Children can have things that they like.”
This story was originally published June 12, 2026 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Want to donate food to Triangle food banks? How to have it delivered for free."
