EXTRA TABLE FEEDS INC

Extra Table fights hunger differently in Mississippi, and we need your support!

Extra Table is the AMAZING partnership launched by well-known restaurateur Robert St. John, in 2009, making a difference in the lives of Mississippians by fundraising in order to stock food pantries and soup kitchens across the state with wholesome nutritious food. Extra Table delivers this great food to our pantry partner’s doorsteps monthly for free.

MEALS MATTER & DOLLARS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

For every $1 you donate to Extra Table, we are able to purchase 5.9 healthy meals for a hungry neighbor in need. At Extra Table, we apply business principles to our non-profit work. Providing food to the hungry is not a new concept, but the means by which Extra Table feeds the hungry is both keen and innovative. Extra Table has partnered with some of the nation’s largest food distribution companies to revolutionize the concept of fighting hunger in Mississippi. Our method of fundraising, food procurement and distribution is simply the most efficient and effective way to ensure a constant source of healthy food.

HOW IT STARTED

In 2009, Restaurateur Robert St. John received a call from the Edwards Street Fellowship Center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Simply put, they had run out of food. Being a 30-year veteran of the restaurant industry, he figured the fastest, easiest way to get food to the pantry would be to call his Sysco sales representative, place an order, and have the truck dropship the order at the agency’s doorstep the next day. Robert put together an order and had it shipped to the pantry just in time to make sure that the clients who were depending on Edwards Street to feed their families got the food they so desperately needed. Afterward Robert wondered if other agencies throughout Mississippi were having similar problems. He found that there was a host of organizations throughout the state who had the same need and decided to approach Sysco to propose a question: “What if every business and home had an extra table where they could feed those in need? What would that look like?” Sysco loved the idea, and Extra Table was born.

Extra Table operated for 10 years with Sysco as their sole provider of food and delivery mechanism. In the face of Covid-19, with the cost of food skyrocketing, retail sized cans scarce and pantry shelves state-wide verging on empty, Extra Table had to re-evaluate purchasing and distribution methods in order to have a constant supply of healthy food on the road to pantries meeting the need and increase in requests for food. As of April 2020 and for the first time in Extra Table’s history, we are buying by the truckload and warehousing food in order to meet the demand and maintain our mission (thanks to some good folks our warehouse is FREE to us!). CHOW has joined the Extra Table team as our food broker and close partner handling all of our purchasing, logistics, delivery and warehousing needs so Extra Table can continue GETTING THE BEST FOOD TO THE MOST MISSISSIPPIANS!

100% Promise

You can donate to Extra Table with confidence knowing 100% of your charitable donation goes to purchasing healthy foods. Administrative funds are raised privately by a separate board and a separate 501(c)3, so you don’t have to worry about a portion of your donation buying pens and pencils or paying the light bill. Extra Table is a state-wide operation run by two people on a shoestring budget, so our needs are not enormous but the services we provide are critically important to meeting our objective of eliminating hunger in Mississippi. Extra Table is like the St. Jude of the feeding industry!

GET INVOLVED

At Extra Table, we have ways for you, your family, church, kids’ school, and business to all get involved whether it be with a monetary donation or setting aside time to attend a volunteer packing day or offering an extra set of hands at an event. Extra Table is state-wide and there is a spot for YOU!

The Extra Table team, as well as Board Members, would love nothing more than to hop on a call or grab a cup of coffee with you. It is our most sincere intention for you to learn more about how we are fighting hunger and obesity hand in hand.

Our founder often says, “At the end of the day, do I want to be the guy who fed people filet mignon, or do I want to be the guy who fed people canned tuna? Canned tuna wins every time.”