Late last week, a Disneyland Resort spokesperson announced that the park would be closing on Saturday, March 14, through the end of the month. (The park has rarely closed unexpectedly in 65 years.) Walt Disney World closed Sunday night. Hotels in both locations are closing later to allow guests to make arrangements to leave. (Per CNN, Disneyland hotels closed Monday.)
If you’ve ever been to any of the Disney parks, you know that you will spend a ton of your money on meals. I feel slightly better about that knowing that Disneyland Resort has donated its unexpected excess of food to a local food bank:
Disneyland might be closing for the rest of the month because of coronavirus, but there may be a silver lining.
On Friday, the park and resort announced it would be donating the excess food from the park to Second Harvest Food Bank in Orange County.
“While closely following food safety guidelines, excess inventory of dairy, fruit, vegetables, packaged goods and banquet meals is being donated to Second Harvest Food Bank, whose mission is to end hunger in Orange County,” Disneyland Resort said in a statement.
Second Harvest had posted on Facebook requesting more donations: “We anticipate an ever-increasing need for food among low-income families, seniors on fixed incomes, and individuals as businesses and schools close.”
CNN noted that last year, Disneyland donated more than 20,000 meals to the food bank. Similarly, every year, Walt Disney World donates more than 700,000 pounds of prepared food through the Disney Harvest program to feed homeless individuals in Central Florida.
I’m glad that the food isn’t going to get wasted. Perfectly good food that ends up getting tossed (I know it’s for safety reasons) drives me bananas, because I always think about the people who would happily eat it “right now” and who could use a good meal. A friend mentioned that her local food bank is committed to continuing to operate during the outbreak so is instituting a drive-through model and is working with people who are sick to figure out how to get food delivered to them. That’s so great, and is a better-organized operation than what the current administration is doing.
During the temporary closure of @Disneyland, the resort will donate excess food to Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County. Details here: https://t.co/FFAiRMQ5qB pic.twitter.com/Phl9jpU2Qi
— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) March 13, 2020
Working fast and furious at @SecondHarvestFB where there is a silver lining. @Disneyland donates food that can’t be used due to park closures. @NBCLA pic.twitter.com/VcR0GvBy5p
— Vikki Vargas (@VikkiNBCLA) March 14, 2020
Second Harvest food bank adapting to coronavirus restrictions to feed clients https://t.co/i2VjBAwCqk
— O.C. Register (@ocregister) March 13, 2020
At @SecondHarvestFB in Irvine they are preparing boxes of shelf stable food for the coronavirus vulnerable population, such as as seniors and at risk children. These boxes will be delivered to OC pantry sites throughout the county starting today @CBSLA @KCBSKCALDesk pic.twitter.com/9FzdEUawOC
— Chris Ercoli (@CErcoliCBS2KCAL) March 13, 2020
Header image credit: Craig Adderley via Pexels
Excellent, I’m glad.
I’ve recently donated to my local food bank (or the Swiss equivalent, anyway) here, because for sure while some people are lucky enough to shop for what they need and panic buy, many cannot. So those of us that can contribute, must contribute.
Good, glad to hear this.
Abigail Disney was SALTY on twitter on Sunday night when she saw a picture of how crowded the Magic Kingdom was for HEA – just proves why they had to close since people wont stay home (and I know people who were there, and they are local, and absolutely could have stayed home, they went just for social media purposes.)
My cast member daughter was scheduled to work Sunday as her last day before the closure. The parks in Florida were packed.
Abigail Disney continues to annoy the mess out of me. Good for her to have opinions – and maybe it’s just the way I’ve read the articles involving her or how the articles themselves have been written. But she appears to be wildly out of touch with reality. Then again, if I grew up with incredible wealth and priviledge maybe I’d be wildly out of touch as well.
I think she is wildly out of touch, but she’s a Disney, so I kind of expect that. but I don’t find her annoying beyond that.
I can’t believe they did “one more big party!” So brain dead. If you’re going to close, CLOSE.
Glad they are donating the food though, hope it helps out a lot of people.
Good on Disney for doing that! We have several local businesses around us that are making similar donations (just on a smaller scale).
I’m in Michigan and just lost both my jobs, one as a bartender at a fine dining restaurant. I’m so thankful my chef-owner is making freezer meals for the entire staff for 2 weeks rather than get the tax write off of donating. Good for Disney, but it still benefits them.