Web posted at: 11:00 p.m. EST
From Correspondent Eugenia Halsey
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Soup kitchens trying to feed the hungry this Thanksgiving may have more food to serve, thanks to a new law which makes it easier for stores, restaurants and cafeterias to donate leftover meals to charity.
At 7-Eleven stores across the country, employees used to throw out perfectly good sandwiches after they were a day old.
With the change in law, the unsold sandwiches are loaded onto trucks and shipped to soup kitchens and homeless shelters, where there's a huge appetite for them. 7-Eleven estimates it will now donate about 10,000 sandwiches a day.
"I think that was very nice of them. We need more people to donate to programs like ours," said one soup kitchen patron.
"I think it's a blessing that they help out," said another. "Rather than digging through a dumpster, I can actually have it in a place where I can actually eat it healthy."
The convenience store's generosity is due in part to the Good Samaritan Law, a bipartisan bill signed by President Clinton in October. It protects companies from lawsuits if they inadvertently donate food that makes someone sick.
From 7-Eleven's perspective, the law lifts roadblocks in 50 different directions. "We can apply our donation efforts across the country evenly without worrying about the liability issues inside of each state. So from a corporate perspective, we think it makes donations much easier," explained George Carrera, a 7-Eleven manager.
By one estimate, the new law will generate about 25 million pounds of donated food next year.
The Clinton Administration is encouraging stores, restaurants and caterers to get in on the act. It has also ordered federally-run cafeterias to do so, and is urging farmers to help, too.
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman visited the USDA Farmers' Market in Washington recently to show the impact that the Good Samaritan Act could have on hunger. "The food that's left over from this farmers' market is not going to be thrown in the garbage," he said.
"It's going to be donated to a group that serves hungry and poor people ...we're trying to encourage people all over the country to do the same thing."
Anti-hunger advocates say the extra food is especially important now because changes in welfare laws mean some people's food stamps will run out soon.
Food bank employees say they hope the new law will help the less fortunate have enough to eat not only this holiday season, but every day of the year.
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