A Dallas-area nonprofit organization that serves homeless shelters, food pantries, medical centers and other social services agencies is asking dairy processors and other food and beverage manufacturers across the United States to donate usable food items that are nearing their expiration date. It will accept fresh milk, butter, cheese and any other refrigerated food or beverage.

Food Share Partners is an umbrella agency that distributes the donations to 11 nonprofits serving more than 300,000 individuals. Food insecurity in the area affects an estimated 1.8 million area children, said Alex Horton, Food Share Partners' "food harvester" and a veteran of the grocery products industry. He is responsible for meeting food safety regulations and forming partnerships with grocery providers.

"We're not a church, but we are a faith-based organization," Horton told Dairy Foods.

Food Share Partners, which has built a transportation and logistics network, will dispatch trucks across the country to pick up the food. Drivers return to warehouses in the five-county Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex and distribute the food within 24 to 48 hours, said Horton.

Food Share Partners receives from 20 to 23 truckloads of free food donations per month. It seeks donations from food retailers, manufacturers, transportation and distribution centers, and others in the grocery industry.

"We're problem solvers," Horton said. Food companies with excess inventory receive a tax write-off by donating food, he said.

Learn more at www.6stones.org/foodshare.