When a heat wave arrives, the obvious public-health risks are sunstroke and power outages. But the less visible danger — people losing steady access to fresh, nutritious food — is just as real. Across the U.S. and in other nations, food banks and community gardens are quietly teaming up to deliver cooling, healthy meals and fresh produce to neighbours who can’t or shouldn’t leave their homes. These partnerships are practical, low-cost and rooted in lived experience: volunteers harvest in the early morning, produce is packaged and routed straight into delivery networks, and volunteers or staff check on vulnerable people at the doorstep. The result is a short-term lifeline in an increasingly hot world. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, household food insecurity rose in 2023 compared with 2022, underscoring why fresh-food access during heat events matters more than ever.
Real people, Real gardens, Real deliveries
Across cities and rural counties, examples are multiplying. In Arizona, United Food Bank’s volunteer-run demonstration garden grows lettuce, tomatoes and herbs that are harvested and delivered to partner agencies for daily meal programs — work that staff and volunteers say helps neighbours who otherwise would accept cheaper, less nutritious options. Mary Shelby, a United Food Bank volunteer who tends the beds, told staff that “there is a huge difference between eating a tomato from the store and one from your own garden.” That simple taste difference, volunteers report, makes produce more appealing to families facing tight budgets and high summer bills.
In Iowa, a coordinated program called Growing Together Iowa brings Master Gardener volunteers, community plots and pantry partners together; since 2016, the program has moved hundreds of thousands of pounds of fresh vegetables into local food-distribution channels, and in 2023, its 100 partner pantries reported serving tens of thousands of people each month. These kinds of organised donation-garden projects have been especially useful in summer months when school meals disappear and cooling costs spike. According to reporting from Iowa State University, Growing Together Iowa has distributed over 751,000 pounds of produce since its launch and supported more than 82,000 people per month through partner pantries in 2023.
Heat waves also change behaviour: older people or those with mobility limits are far more likely to stay indoors when temperatures climb. That is why delivery programs matter. In New York, Citymeals and other meal-delivery groups continued home deliveries through record-hot summers; recipients said the deliveries were sometimes the only contact they had that day and provided both food and a casual health check. “Thank God for these guys,” one recipient said after a volunteer dropped off a bag of food during a heat event. Citymeals’ CEO described emergency deliveries during extreme weather as central to their mission. These first-hand accounts show how gardens and deliveries combine into both nourishment and neighbourly care when temperatures spike.
What Research and Big-Picture Data Tell Us
Several strands of evidence explain why garden-to-foodbank models are effective and where they need support. First, community-garden participation measurably increases vegetable consumption: a mixed-methods randomised controlled trial found that gardeners increased their intake of garden vegetables by roughly two-thirds of a serving at harvest compared with controls, and that seasonal eating and the taste of home-grown food were drivers of the change. Those results show that garden produce doesn’t just fill a bag — it changes diets. A 2023 trial published in Current Developments in Nutrition reported these intake gains among community-garden participants.
Second, large network and policy reports emphasise that food banks are evolving beyond warehouses into community hubs: Feeding America and similar national networks have invested in community-led programs, produce-rescue strategies and distribution models that prioritise fresh food and neighbourhood partnerships. A report by Feeding America highlighted investments in community-led food security efforts and new tools that enable food banks to respond flexibly to local needs — including summer and emergency distributions. These investments create the logistics backbone that lets garden donations reach front-line pantries and delivery teams.
Third, the scale of the problem matters. Data from the Economic Research Service (ERS) also show that food insecurity ticked upward in 2023, with certain populations and rural communities experiencing increases. That uptick means more households are both price-sensitive and vulnerable to the compounding effects of heat — they may choose between running an air conditioner and buying fresh produce. The convergence of higher food needs and hotter summers makes locally grown produce distributed via food banks an especially relevant short-term intervention.
What Works in Practice — and Practical Advice for Scaling Up
On-the-ground practitioners emphasise straightforward, replicable tactics: pick in the coolest hours, cool quickly, train volunteers in safe handling and make delivery routes short. Gardens that partner with food banks often harvest in the early morning, sort and box produce in shaded areas, and send items that store well (beans, tomatoes, hard squash) to pantries while putting leafy greens on early-delivery routes. Training matters: food-safety toolkits and storage guidelines adapted for small food banks are widely available and reduce spoilage during hot spells. The Houston Food Bank and other organisations publish produce-handling guides that help smaller pantries manage perishable donations without extensive cold-chain infrastructure.
Leaders who run these programs offer simple operational lessons. United Food Bank’s volunteer garden runs as a demonstration plot — it produces food but also teaches neighbours how to grow in tight spaces and how to dry herbs that tolerate summer heat. That educational loop increases resilience because people learn to grow or preserve food for themselves. Growing Together Iowa shows how extension programs and Master Gardeners can seed larger networks that reliably funnel produce into food-distribution systems during the summer months.
From interviews and reporting, three practical steps emerge for food banks, garden groups and municipal planners who want to scale this approach:
- Build simple cooling-and-handling capacity where it matters: invest in shaded staging areas, small refrigerated trailers or cooler boxes on delivery vans, and training for volunteers on produce rotation and hygiene. The Washington State University and local extension toolkits offer templates for produce handling and agency readiness.
- Map delivery windows around heat: schedule pickups and door-to-door distributions in early mornings or evenings when it’s safer for volunteers and produce lasts longer. During heat waves, prioritise routes for older adults, families with young children, and the unhoused—groups research and reporting show are most likely to face barriers getting to distribution hubs. Citymeals’ experience demonstrates how deliveries double as welfare checks during extreme heat.
- Invest in community partnerships and communications: connect extension services, Master Gardener programs, local farms and retailers (who may donate ‘ugly’ produce) into a single pipeline. Feeding America’s network reports show that multisector partnerships and funding for community-led pilots make it possible to test and scale fresh-produce distribution models quickly.
Learn More: Best Non-Perishable Foods for Donation
A closing note: why this matters — and what to watch for
These partnerships do not solve the structural roots of hunger; they are a pragmatic response that fills gaps during the hottest months and when the most vulnerable find travel unsafe. Research shows community gardening nudges diets toward more vegetables; program reports show food banks are ready to expand fresh-food work; and local stories show volunteers and recipients treating deliveries as acts of care as much as logistics. If climate models are right and heat waves increase in frequency and intensity, practical, low-tech collaborations between gardeners and food banks will be a humane part of the local response toolkit. For policymakers and funders, the message is clear: a modest investment in cooling, safe handling and delivery capacity yields outsized returns in nutrition and neighbourly safety.
