Extra Table takes a different approach from most food banks. Instead of running a central warehouse, it purchases new, healthy food and delivers it directly to 63 food pantries and soup kitchens across 51 Mississippi counties on a consistent schedule, all at no cost to the partners. About one in five Mississippians faces hunger, and the state’s food-pantry shelves are often bare, which is the gap Extra Table fills. It was founded in 2009 by Hattiesburg restaurateur Robert St. John, who chairs the board, and is led day to day by Executive Director Martha Allen.
Extra Table flips the usual food-bank model. Rather than collecting donated and surplus food in a warehouse and distributing whatever comes in, it raises money to buy new, healthy, shelf-stable food and ships it directly to 63 partner pantries and soup kitchens on a regular schedule. That means the food is consistent and nutritious, not a random assortment of donations, and partners can count on it arriving. It is a complement to the traditional warehouse food banks rather than a replacement.
Martha Allen serves as Executive Director of Extra Table and has driven much of its growth, expanding the organization significantly over the past several years. She works alongside founder Robert St. John, a well-known Hattiesburg restaurateur who started Extra Table in 2009 and chairs its board of trustees.
Extra Table reaches pantries and soup kitchens across 51 of Mississippi’s 82 counties. Mississippi has among the highest food-insecurity rates in the country, with roughly one in five residents facing hunger, and rural pantries in the state often struggle to keep food on the shelves. Extra Table’s scheduled deliveries of purchased food are designed to fill exactly that gap.
Yes. Extra Table is a registered 501(c)(3). Its model is unusually transparent: because it buys the food it distributes rather than relying on donated surplus, donors can see their dollars convert directly into specific, healthy food delivered to named pantries. Donors can review its financials through Charity Navigator and GuideStar.
Donations and ways to get involved run through extratable.org. Because Extra Table purchases the food it delivers, financial gifts translate directly into groceries on pantry shelves, and the organization makes that connection explicit for donors.
Extra Table is not a traditional warehouse food bank. Mississippi Food Network, the state’s Feeding America member, runs the conventional model of collecting and distributing donated and purchased food through member agencies. Extra Table complements it by buying healthy food and delivering it directly to pantries. The two address the same crisis from different angles.
Purchased healthy food shipped to 63 pantries on a schedule.
New, nutritious, shelf-stable food rather than random donations.
Partners across 51 Mississippi counties.
Gifts convert directly into specific food for named pantries.
Sources: Extra Table website (extratable.org), Robert St. John’s published biography, and Magnolia Tribune and Mississippi Today coverage of the organization. We are not affiliated with Extra Table and receive no compensation for this listing. Spotted an error? [email protected]
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