PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Oregon Metro reports that 5,000 pounds of food in the Portland area are dumped into landfills each year. Across the U.S., Feeding America says that 119 billion pounds of food are thrown away annually.
Careit — an app that serves as an online marketplace for food donations — is working to curb this food waste and, therefore, fight against hunger.
The Careit app was officially launched in 2021, by CEO Alyson Schill and her co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Ben Arledge. Schill hails from the small town of Cashmere, Washington, but has spent some time working in Taiwan, New York and now Los Angeles.
While working for GrowNYC’s Office of Recycling during a hurricane, the founder says local nonprofits received an outpour of donations from across the country. She noticed that some nonprofits were receiving items that didn’t meet their varying needs, like food instead of clothing or clothing instead of food.
Schill came across a similar problem after relocating to Los Angeles to join anti-hunger nonprofit Food Forward in 2013. By 2015, she had already brainstormed the Careit app — but becoming the CEO wasn’t part of her plan.
“I started asking someone else to do it, actually, because I didn’t imagine myself as an app producer,” Schill said. “And nobody wanted to do it. So I just said, ‘Okay, this is my calling. I’m gonna make it happen because I know this needs to happen.’”
In 2019, she and Arledge developed prototypes for the app. Two years later, Careit was launched with a select few Los Angeles organizations. And by March 2023, the app became available in all 50 states.
Any business or 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization can download the CareIt app or go to the website to create a free account. Then, they can post the surplus food or goods that they want to donate on the app.
After a donation is posted, it can be pre-assigned to a business or organization that has already received resources from the donor, or other nearby organizations will receive a notification about the donations. The donors and non-profits then arrange a time and location for the donation drop-off, and Careit can provide them with any information they need for business records, tax write-offs, etc.
According to Schill, Blanchet House, We Do Better Relief and Levy-Portland Expo Center are a few local businesses and organizations that have used the app. She says over one million pounds of food and goods have been rescued in Portland since Careit launched in the area.
The CEO says the success of the app came as a welcome surprise, proving that Careit is filling a gap in many communities.
Schill stated that food insecurity leads to many other issues, such as health problems, crime and even the way students perform at school.
“People are turning towards these emergency relief shelters or food pantries and food banks for their food, but the amount of food that’s being donated is not increasing, so part of that is just about the behavioral change — and behavioral change comes from things being easy,” She added. “Since we all know how to use an app, that’s why I wanted to make Careit.”