New Bakery Plans To Donate Extras

Panera Bread, located at 213 W. Franklin St., plans to donate its leftover bread and pastries to the Inter-Faith Council and contribute to other charitable organizations.

Panera manager Scott Meyers said each of the stores' locations tries to find a local need for their extra bread because it would be wasted otherwise. He anticipates the business will donate about 15 loaves of bread and pastries per day.

"We don't use preservatives, so we can't keep bread long," Meyers said. "We try to find a home for it by the end of the day, and there seems to be a need at the IFC shelter."

Meyers said the bakery also accepts donations for Habitat for Humanity inside the store.

"In every location we choose a charity to donate to," Meyers said.

"There are donation boxes at every register, and Panera will match those funds."

Chris Moran, executive director of the IFC, said that he is pleased with Panera's offer to donate extra food to the shelter and that he hopes other businesses will follow their example.

"What I consider remarkable is that a business is considering the needs of hungry people before it even opens its doors," Moran said.

"It's an incredible thing, and I hope it will be a role model for other businesses."

Moran said that plans for the collection are not yet final but that discussions are under way.

"The new management has made a very generous offer to donate extra bread on any given day," Moran said. "We just have to get our staff and his together to work out the details."

When the final arrangements are made, the bread will be picked up from Panera and taken to the community kitchen.

"We are currently looking for volunteers to pick up the bread and deliver it to the facility," Meyers said.

"Then we should be able to get a set schedule."

Moran said about 20 to 30 groups and businesses donate food to the shelter to help supply the 75,000 meals it offers each year.

"We probably have $800,000 worth of perishables donated to the community kitchen every year," Moran said. "It is our overall goal as an agency not to have any food thrown out."

Anne Katherine Kruger, an employee in the bakery at Weaver Street Market, said the market only donates bread occasionally because of conflicts with the IFC's acceptance schedule.

"We don't donate on a regular basis because the shelter doesn't accept bread at night," Kruger said. "But there is a woman who will take bread to her home and drop it off in the morning."

Moran said Granville Towers, Carol Woods Retirement Community and Harris Teeter are some of the other locations that donate extra food to the IFC.

Moran said, "It's nice to see that businesses are becoming more concerned with donating food that would otherwise go to waste."

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