Food Rescue Press Releases
For Immediate Release
Food Rescue Urges Reconsideration of Food Sharing Prohibitions in Schools
Noblesville, IN 8/17/2021 K-12 Food Rescue provides families with unopened and unpeeled healthy nutritious food items from the trays of students that they choose not to eat during their lunch and breakfast periods via food pantries and other distribution channels. We do that by providing educational resources and mentoring on how to start a K-12 Food Rescue program at your school, and sharing success stories around the country of schools leading the K-12 Food Rescue movement.
With our resources, mentoring, tool kits, and marketing, 1,100 schools developed K-12 Food Rescue programs around the country since 2014, but the Covid-19 shutdown ended all of those programs in April of 2020. We are slowly rebuilding those programs 1 school at a time, but felt we needed to highlight current CDC guidelines of food donations and food sharing in our schools in order to alleviate concerns that are currently resulting in schools feeding landfills instead of families with nutritious unopened and unpeeled food. How much food has returned to landfills? One Indianapolis Public School who re-started the program at the beginning of the 2021/2022 school year reported that 30,000 food items annually that were being rescued prior to Covid-19. Those items that ended up in a landfill last year are now once again being rescued and given to children and families in need via their food pantry partners. Other schools in Georgia have similar stories through our partnership with Helping Hands Ending Hunger. (HelpingHandsEndingHunger.org)
Below are statements found in CDC guidelines regarding food consumption and food handling, as well as the CDC links where the statements originated.
Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that handling food or consuming food is associated with Covid-19.
Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that food is associated with spreading the virus that causes Covid-19.
Currently, no cases of Covid-19 have been identified where infection was thought to have occurred by touching food, food packaging, or shopping bags.
There is no evidence of the virus spreading to consumers through the food or packaging that workers in these facilities may have handled.
In revised guidance for schools, the CDC does not prohibit food sharing or donations.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/food-and-COVID-19.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/k-12-guidance.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/surface-transmission.html
We believe these CDC statements give schools all the guidance they need to resume or begin a K-12 Food Rescue program, but we are calling on all state departments of health and education to issue written policy statements and guidelines that take into account the Covid-19 world that we currently live in, even if it's simply a reiteration of prior food safety polices that directly stated that rescuing food was safe and legal in our schools.
If you are interested in supporting our grass roots efforts to empower students to lead the #FoodIsNotTrash movement in K-12 schools, please contact us at [email protected] or by phone at 317-694-4006.
With our resources, mentoring, tool kits, and marketing, 1,100 schools developed K-12 Food Rescue programs around the country since 2014, but the Covid-19 shutdown ended all of those programs in April of 2020. We are slowly rebuilding those programs 1 school at a time, but felt we needed to highlight current CDC guidelines of food donations and food sharing in our schools in order to alleviate concerns that are currently resulting in schools feeding landfills instead of families with nutritious unopened and unpeeled food. How much food has returned to landfills? One Indianapolis Public School who re-started the program at the beginning of the 2021/2022 school year reported that 30,000 food items annually that were being rescued prior to Covid-19. Those items that ended up in a landfill last year are now once again being rescued and given to children and families in need via their food pantry partners. Other schools in Georgia have similar stories through our partnership with Helping Hands Ending Hunger. (HelpingHandsEndingHunger.org)
Below are statements found in CDC guidelines regarding food consumption and food handling, as well as the CDC links where the statements originated.
Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that handling food or consuming food is associated with Covid-19.
Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that food is associated with spreading the virus that causes Covid-19.
Currently, no cases of Covid-19 have been identified where infection was thought to have occurred by touching food, food packaging, or shopping bags.
There is no evidence of the virus spreading to consumers through the food or packaging that workers in these facilities may have handled.
In revised guidance for schools, the CDC does not prohibit food sharing or donations.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/food-and-COVID-19.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/k-12-guidance.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/surface-transmission.html
We believe these CDC statements give schools all the guidance they need to resume or begin a K-12 Food Rescue program, but we are calling on all state departments of health and education to issue written policy statements and guidelines that take into account the Covid-19 world that we currently live in, even if it's simply a reiteration of prior food safety polices that directly stated that rescuing food was safe and legal in our schools.
If you are interested in supporting our grass roots efforts to empower students to lead the #FoodIsNotTrash movement in K-12 schools, please contact us at [email protected] or by phone at 317-694-4006.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Food Rescue Inc ANNOUNCES GRANT FROM
THE GRAINGER FOUNDATION FOUNDATION
Food Rescue Inc ANNOUNCES GRANT FROM
THE GRAINGER FOUNDATION FOUNDATION
Food Rescue Inc. is pleased to announce a $5,000 grant from The Grainger Foundation to enhance our mission in Indiana schools to empower K-12 students to lead the “Food Is Not Trash” movement. The 2019 grant will allow Food Rescue to provide 10 refrigerators to Indiana schools where preserving surplus food is a challenge. Thank you to The Grainger Foundation, and we look forward to partnering together to teach children the value of food, as well as the negative impact rotting food in landfills has on our environment. K-12 Food Rescue schools have recorded over 10.6 million food items donated to food pantries since the Food Rescue Tracker was introduce in April of 2016. All 10.6 food items would have ended up in a landfill if they were not donated to caring agencies instead.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Food Rescue Inc ANNOUNCES GRANT FROM
THE GLICK FUND AT CENTRAL INDIANA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
Food Rescue is pleased to announce a $40,000 grant from The Glick Fund at Central Indiana Community Foundation to enhance our mission in Marion County schools to empower K-12 students to lead the “Food Is Not Trash” movement. The 2019 grant will allow Food Rescue to provide refrigerators to Marion County schools where preserving surplus food is a challenge, as well as educational and marketing resources to faculty and students interested in leading a K-12 Food Rescue program in their school. Thank you to The Glick Fund at Central Indiana Community Foundation, and we look forward to partnering together to teach children the value of food, as well as the negative impact rotting food in landfills has on our environment.
The Glick Fund at Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) was established by Eugene and Marilyn Glick in 1998 to support a variety of philanthropic organizations and programs in central Indiana, particularly those benefiting the arts, cultural and civic causes, education, self-sufficiency and basic needs. The Glick Fund at CICF also supports initiatives aimed at elevating the quality of life in central Indiana, including through its $18 million gift to the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, an asset connecting core neighborhoods of Indianapolis and driving urban economic development. The Glick Fund at CICF is a part of Glick Philanthropies, a family of charitable initiatives, programs and organizations focused on building community and creating opportunity.
The Glick Fund at Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) was established by Eugene and Marilyn Glick in 1998 to support a variety of philanthropic organizations and programs in central Indiana, particularly those benefiting the arts, cultural and civic causes, education, self-sufficiency and basic needs. The Glick Fund at CICF also supports initiatives aimed at elevating the quality of life in central Indiana, including through its $18 million gift to the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, an asset connecting core neighborhoods of Indianapolis and driving urban economic development. The Glick Fund at CICF is a part of Glick Philanthropies, a family of charitable initiatives, programs and organizations focused on building community and creating opportunity.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Food Rescue Inc ANNOUNCES GRANT FROM
THE NINA MASON PULLIAM CHARITABLE TRUST
|
Noblesville, IN 11-19-2018 Food Rescue Inc has received a grant totaling $100,000 from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust over a 2 year period.
“Our agency has added 90 Marion County schools to our K-12 Food Rescue program during the last 3 years, John Williamson, Executive Director and Founder of Food Rescue said. “This grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust will allow Food Rescue to continue to our effort to convince every school district in Marion County to adopt food recovery policies in their schools.” “We are impressed by Food Rescue’s steady growth, recruiting additional schools in Marion County and keeping more than one million meals per year from ending up in area landfills. We appreciate the school districts and restaurants that are partnering with Food Rescue to allow food that would otherwise be wasted to be diverted to the hungry,” said Kent E. Agness, trustee of the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.,” said Trustee Kent Agness. Food Rescue’s mission is to empower students to lead the #FoodIsNotTrash movement in America. We recruit student leaders and provide food waste education, food waste solutions, and recognition in the form of certificates, T shirts, start-up kits, and letters of recommendation for civic leadership. 121 students in 15 Marion County for the 2017/2018 school year were recognized for their K-12 Food Rescue leadership that keeps unopened and unpeeled food from the trays of students that they chose not to eat out of landfills. Food Rescue’s free online tracking revealed some Marion County schools were able to preserve as many as 500 items per day by implementing K-12 Food Rescue policies, which not only protected our environment, but kept the viable nutritious food within our food supply chain rather than landfills. The grant to Food Rescue represents one of 19 awarded to organizations in Indiana by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust during the second of two grant cycles this year. Since the Trust began its grant making in 1998, it has awarded $305 million to 988 organizations in its home states of Indiana and Arizona. For more information about the Trust and its programs visit www.ninapulliamtrust.org. Food Rescue Inc Contact: John Williamson Title: Executive Director [email protected] 317-694-4006 Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust Contact: Teri Walker Title: Manager of Communications and External Relations Email/Phone: [email protected]; (317) 231-9207 Ann Arbor Public Schools HS Student Named Food Rescue State Director of Student Leadership |
11-9-2017 Food Rescue today named Danny Freiband, a HS student in Ann Arbor Public Schools as Michigan's Food Rescue State Director of Student Leadership. Freiband becomes Food Rescue's 8th state director of student leadership. Freiband was recently quoted in the national magazine Grist, seen here, and recently commented on Food Rescue's blog saying, "I felt horrified when I learned how much food my school was throwing away, but more than that I felt surprised--why would they throw away perfectly good food when so many people are hungry". Stories of other State Directors of Student Leaders can be seen here. 1 billion unopened and unpeeled food items are unnecessarily thrown into landfills each year from the trays of students that they choose not to eat, instead of following USDA guidelines to donate instead of dump.
Danny Freiband
Danny's full story can be seen on his latest Food Rescue blog post.
Danny Freiband
Danny's full story can be seen on his latest Food Rescue blog post.
Jose Marti MAST Academy Student Named Florida state Director of Student Leadership
September, 25, 2017
In the Spring of 2017, Food Rescue named Aaron Valdes, a soon to be senior at Jose Marti MAST Academy, as Food Rescue's Florida Director of Student Leadership. Aaron produced a video demonstrating the K-12 program in his school, and is actively working with the County Commissioner to develop a proposal to allow Miami Dade County Schools to develop K-12 Food Rescue programs, which will be intended to be presented to the Dade County Public Schools. Aaron is active in the Miami Dade County Youth Commission. Stories of other State Directors of Student Leaders can be seen here. 1 billion unopened and unpeeled food items are unnecessarily thrown into landfills each year from the trays of students that they choose not to eat, instead of following USDA guidelines to donate instead of dump.
In the Spring of 2017, Food Rescue named Aaron Valdes, a soon to be senior at Jose Marti MAST Academy, as Food Rescue's Florida Director of Student Leadership. Aaron produced a video demonstrating the K-12 program in his school, and is actively working with the County Commissioner to develop a proposal to allow Miami Dade County Schools to develop K-12 Food Rescue programs, which will be intended to be presented to the Dade County Public Schools. Aaron is active in the Miami Dade County Youth Commission. Stories of other State Directors of Student Leaders can be seen here. 1 billion unopened and unpeeled food items are unnecessarily thrown into landfills each year from the trays of students that they choose not to eat, instead of following USDA guidelines to donate instead of dump.
Food Rescue Celebrates 10 Years Of Feeding Food Insecure Hoosiers
Three Hamilton County Mayors join the fight against food waste in Indiana schools.
Carmel, IN September 18, 2017
What: Food Rescue Celebration Breakfast When: 7am-9am Wednesday, September 20th, 2017 Where: Ritz Charles 12156 N Meridian St, Carmel, IN
Carmel based Food Rescue Inc. is celebrating 10 years of recovering healthy food for Indiana’s hungry with a breakfast Wednesday morning. Over the past decade, Food Rescue has evolved from a volunteer based organization rescuing food from restaurants to one of the nation’s largest organizations recovering food from k-12 schools. “We saw the exorbitant amount of healthy unopened, unpeeled and unwanted food going into the trash can in school cafeterias”, said Food Rescue Executive Director John WIlliamson. “WIth one in six Hoosiers suffering from food insecurity, this just didn’t make sense”, he added. Food Rescue now partners more than 500 schools in the U.S. with food pantries to divert those healthy items to families instead of landfills.
Mayors from Carmel, Fishers and Noblesville will join Food Rescue to celebrate all the accomplishments over the last decade while looking at ways to expand the program to additional schools.
Contact: Jennifer Carmack-Brilliant Lead Program Director
Cell: 317-490-9861
Email:[email protected]
www.FoodRescue.net
Three Hamilton County Mayors join the fight against food waste in Indiana schools.
Carmel, IN September 18, 2017
What: Food Rescue Celebration Breakfast When: 7am-9am Wednesday, September 20th, 2017 Where: Ritz Charles 12156 N Meridian St, Carmel, IN
Carmel based Food Rescue Inc. is celebrating 10 years of recovering healthy food for Indiana’s hungry with a breakfast Wednesday morning. Over the past decade, Food Rescue has evolved from a volunteer based organization rescuing food from restaurants to one of the nation’s largest organizations recovering food from k-12 schools. “We saw the exorbitant amount of healthy unopened, unpeeled and unwanted food going into the trash can in school cafeterias”, said Food Rescue Executive Director John WIlliamson. “WIth one in six Hoosiers suffering from food insecurity, this just didn’t make sense”, he added. Food Rescue now partners more than 500 schools in the U.S. with food pantries to divert those healthy items to families instead of landfills.
Mayors from Carmel, Fishers and Noblesville will join Food Rescue to celebrate all the accomplishments over the last decade while looking at ways to expand the program to additional schools.
Contact: Jennifer Carmack-Brilliant Lead Program Director
Cell: 317-490-9861
Email:[email protected]
www.FoodRescue.net
Houston Fifth Grader Feeds Hungry While Curbing Cafeteria Waste
School Leaders Tried but Failed to Solve Issue For Years
HOUSTON, April 19th, 2017---Yash Semlani is only 10 years old, but he was able to solve a problem that plagued school board members in his Houston, TX school district for years. Like many students across America, the fifth grader noticed how much unopened, nutritious food was going in the garbage in his school cafeteria. Instead of doing nothing, he set out to find a better use for the food. He went online and found Food Rescue where he discovered he could feed families-not landfills with the food he and his classmates were throwing away. When he researched the History of School Food Waste Policy and Open Letter to Schools pages on the Food Rescue site, he discovered that one billion unopened, unpeeled, unwanted items from student trays are wasted annually. That shocking statistic pushed Yash to take action. After convincing the Houston Health Department to adopt USDA school food donation guidelines, Yash started 3 pilot Food Rescue schools and compiled 5 weeks of data. Houston Independent School District school board members were shocked, impressed, and convinced.
"I've worked on this for six years, and I could not get anywhere."
Michael Lunceford: Houston Independent School District Board Member
"The student congress and other groups have tried so hard to get our district to "do this" with that food that gets wasted, and we have not been able to get the city to give us permission, and you were able to do it!"
Anna Eastman: Houston Independent School District Board Member
"I've worked on this for six years, and I could not get anywhere."
Michael Lunceford: Houston Independent School District Board Member
"The student congress and other groups have tried so hard to get our district to "do this" with that food that gets wasted, and we have not been able to get the city to give us permission, and you were able to do it!"
Anna Eastman: Houston Independent School District Board Member
Charlotte Teen Food Rescue Student Leader Derailed By Government Memo
February 15th, 2017
When it comes to school food waste, our nation is grappling with what to do about the 1 billion unopened and unpeeled food items that our students are choosing not to eat annually. While the USDA outlines safety guidelines, (seen here in chapter 4) for unopened dairy products such as milk to be donated when they are not consumed, some state and local health departments have simply taken the position that if that type of food has already been served, it cannot be shared or donated, even if it has never been opened. They seem to believe their role is to guarantee 100% safety of all food ever consumed that comes from our nations schools. To be clear, The Food Nutrition Services USDA guidelines do not supersede state health department regulations, and the USDA FNS guidelines clearly state that fact. But is 100% safety the standard that we use when we make many decisions in our country? Don't we make decisions daily that involve some minuscule risk when the greater good or benefit that is experienced by taking such tiny risks improves our quality of life, such as providing a hand up for those in need and protecting our environment? Of course we do, and we should!
The cost of guaranteeing that not one person will ever become ill from donated food is that we ignore children and families in need at the same time we damage our environment via landfill feeding. We also subconsciously teach our children to be thankless by treating food as if it has no value. We pay this price/cost despite the fact that the USDA FNS and individual state health departments have written safety guidelines (seen here) (in chapter 1-5) for the donation of the unwanted and unopened food items that have been served in question that students are required to take on their tray due to the requirements of our National School Lunch Program, even in schools who participate in the "Offer vs. Serve" version of the NSLP.
While Food Rescue is directly involved in connecting hundreds of schools and millions of meals with hundreds of food pantries, we are also on the front lines of both national and state policy discussions, development, and lobbying to change archaic thinking based on fears related to school food donations. For example, the K-12 Food Rescue program founded by Hanna Wondmagegn, our National Director of Student Development in North Carolina, was recently derailed by a memo from the North Carolina Department of Public Health (seen here is chapter 6). She had worked tirelessly to convince her district to adopt Food Rescue policies, and she had her eye on the entire state of North Carolina. But tragically the memo stated that "served food" from the trays of students could not be donated, particularly if it was temperature controlled for safety (TCS) even if it was unopened or unpeeled.
Food Rescue is using our time, resources, and influence to gather leaders around the nation to support Hanna, and to empower her to lead policy changes in NC that align more closely with USDA policies that followed Indiana guidelines for the safe implementation of both Share Table and school Food Rescue procedures.
Connecticut schools are experiencing similar resistance from their state public health department, while legislators in Texas and New York are pushing for policies that encourage such donations and developing guidelines similar to Indiana, Vermont, and the USDA.
Since The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act was enacted in 1996, according to the Food Recovery Project at The Arkansas School of Law, no recipient of food from a food pantry has sued a restaurant or food donor that has donated food to a food pantry. Does that mean no one has ever become sick from such donated food? Probably not. But it does indicate that for over 20 years illness from food donations is not a widespread problem in America, compared specifically against food insecurity.
When we go to the grocery store, there are no guarantees that our apples do not have a nail inside of them, or that someone who touched the apple prior to our selection had clean hands. Our milk containers say, "keep refrigerated", but they don't tell us we are in any kind of danger if the milk stays out for 30 minutes before entering our refrigerator, or that we are in danger of becoming ill if we drink it. Do you ever purchase a gallon of milk and go beyond 30 minutes before getting it into the refrigerator? Most would say it often goes beyond 30 minutes! If this were a real danger, in our very litigious society, would there not be warnings indicating such a danger? But donating an unopened carton of unwanted milk that has sat on a Share Table for under 30 minutes before it is returned to a refrigerator appears to raise a health concern that most dairy producers and grocers do not see. Even in states friendly toward school food rescue where these types of donations are allowed, the milk is supposed to sit in an ice bath in a cooler before it is returned to the refrigerator prior to donation. I wonder why grocers and dairy producers don't force their customers to take the milk they purchase home in an ice bucket, or at least to tell them how much danger they are in if they don't.
I can only presume the reason is because there is very little risk, if any.
The reality is our senses of sight and smell, and our ability to wash and inspect food that might need to be washed mitigates many risks regarding food consumption, whether it be donated or purchased. Combined with following reasonable and sometimes stringent guidelines, the risks associated with donating these products and feeding children and families in need instead of landfills is very small.
A story was conveyed to me recently about several siblings in one of our Food Rescue schools. School employees believe the kids are struggling in school because they're hungry and have not eaten the night before. National statistics tell us that one and six are food insecure. Safety is exceptionally important, but sometimes we must put on the lens of context when making decisions about safety. I would ask health departments in the context of these hungry siblings, and our national statistics of one and six being hungry the following question:
Should we really be proud of this level of restrictions in the name of safety, or should we be ashamed that we allowed small fears and minimal risks cause us to be so careless and to turn a blind eye to people in need so that we could be 100% safe? Thank goodness the founding fathers of our nation did not live their lives this way, or there would still be no freedom in our country! There were certain liberties worth fighting for. Food Rescue's stance is that with USDA standards written to facilitate these types of donations, it's worth fighting for to assure this food ends up in the hands of children and families in need, and not in landfills.
We cannot be so safe that it costs us our humanitarian instincts. We cannot become so careful that we become heartless. The history of the school food waste policy battle and Food Rescue's impact on the national discussion can be seen here.
For more information on this issue, contact
John Williamson
Food Rescue Executive Director
[email protected]
317-694-4006
When it comes to school food waste, our nation is grappling with what to do about the 1 billion unopened and unpeeled food items that our students are choosing not to eat annually. While the USDA outlines safety guidelines, (seen here in chapter 4) for unopened dairy products such as milk to be donated when they are not consumed, some state and local health departments have simply taken the position that if that type of food has already been served, it cannot be shared or donated, even if it has never been opened. They seem to believe their role is to guarantee 100% safety of all food ever consumed that comes from our nations schools. To be clear, The Food Nutrition Services USDA guidelines do not supersede state health department regulations, and the USDA FNS guidelines clearly state that fact. But is 100% safety the standard that we use when we make many decisions in our country? Don't we make decisions daily that involve some minuscule risk when the greater good or benefit that is experienced by taking such tiny risks improves our quality of life, such as providing a hand up for those in need and protecting our environment? Of course we do, and we should!
The cost of guaranteeing that not one person will ever become ill from donated food is that we ignore children and families in need at the same time we damage our environment via landfill feeding. We also subconsciously teach our children to be thankless by treating food as if it has no value. We pay this price/cost despite the fact that the USDA FNS and individual state health departments have written safety guidelines (seen here) (in chapter 1-5) for the donation of the unwanted and unopened food items that have been served in question that students are required to take on their tray due to the requirements of our National School Lunch Program, even in schools who participate in the "Offer vs. Serve" version of the NSLP.
While Food Rescue is directly involved in connecting hundreds of schools and millions of meals with hundreds of food pantries, we are also on the front lines of both national and state policy discussions, development, and lobbying to change archaic thinking based on fears related to school food donations. For example, the K-12 Food Rescue program founded by Hanna Wondmagegn, our National Director of Student Development in North Carolina, was recently derailed by a memo from the North Carolina Department of Public Health (seen here is chapter 6). She had worked tirelessly to convince her district to adopt Food Rescue policies, and she had her eye on the entire state of North Carolina. But tragically the memo stated that "served food" from the trays of students could not be donated, particularly if it was temperature controlled for safety (TCS) even if it was unopened or unpeeled.
Food Rescue is using our time, resources, and influence to gather leaders around the nation to support Hanna, and to empower her to lead policy changes in NC that align more closely with USDA policies that followed Indiana guidelines for the safe implementation of both Share Table and school Food Rescue procedures.
Connecticut schools are experiencing similar resistance from their state public health department, while legislators in Texas and New York are pushing for policies that encourage such donations and developing guidelines similar to Indiana, Vermont, and the USDA.
Since The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act was enacted in 1996, according to the Food Recovery Project at The Arkansas School of Law, no recipient of food from a food pantry has sued a restaurant or food donor that has donated food to a food pantry. Does that mean no one has ever become sick from such donated food? Probably not. But it does indicate that for over 20 years illness from food donations is not a widespread problem in America, compared specifically against food insecurity.
When we go to the grocery store, there are no guarantees that our apples do not have a nail inside of them, or that someone who touched the apple prior to our selection had clean hands. Our milk containers say, "keep refrigerated", but they don't tell us we are in any kind of danger if the milk stays out for 30 minutes before entering our refrigerator, or that we are in danger of becoming ill if we drink it. Do you ever purchase a gallon of milk and go beyond 30 minutes before getting it into the refrigerator? Most would say it often goes beyond 30 minutes! If this were a real danger, in our very litigious society, would there not be warnings indicating such a danger? But donating an unopened carton of unwanted milk that has sat on a Share Table for under 30 minutes before it is returned to a refrigerator appears to raise a health concern that most dairy producers and grocers do not see. Even in states friendly toward school food rescue where these types of donations are allowed, the milk is supposed to sit in an ice bath in a cooler before it is returned to the refrigerator prior to donation. I wonder why grocers and dairy producers don't force their customers to take the milk they purchase home in an ice bucket, or at least to tell them how much danger they are in if they don't.
I can only presume the reason is because there is very little risk, if any.
The reality is our senses of sight and smell, and our ability to wash and inspect food that might need to be washed mitigates many risks regarding food consumption, whether it be donated or purchased. Combined with following reasonable and sometimes stringent guidelines, the risks associated with donating these products and feeding children and families in need instead of landfills is very small.
A story was conveyed to me recently about several siblings in one of our Food Rescue schools. School employees believe the kids are struggling in school because they're hungry and have not eaten the night before. National statistics tell us that one and six are food insecure. Safety is exceptionally important, but sometimes we must put on the lens of context when making decisions about safety. I would ask health departments in the context of these hungry siblings, and our national statistics of one and six being hungry the following question:
Should we really be proud of this level of restrictions in the name of safety, or should we be ashamed that we allowed small fears and minimal risks cause us to be so careless and to turn a blind eye to people in need so that we could be 100% safe? Thank goodness the founding fathers of our nation did not live their lives this way, or there would still be no freedom in our country! There were certain liberties worth fighting for. Food Rescue's stance is that with USDA standards written to facilitate these types of donations, it's worth fighting for to assure this food ends up in the hands of children and families in need, and not in landfills.
We cannot be so safe that it costs us our humanitarian instincts. We cannot become so careful that we become heartless. The history of the school food waste policy battle and Food Rescue's impact on the national discussion can be seen here.
For more information on this issue, contact
John Williamson
Food Rescue Executive Director
[email protected]
317-694-4006
September 10th, 2016
Food Rescue, a leading national food recovery organization focused on eliminating school food waste, has appointed Hanna Wondmagegn, a Senior at East Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, North Carolina as our National Director of Student Leadership. In 2015, Hanna became the first student in the nation to lead a K-12 Food Rescue program from start to finish, including leading the daunting task of convincing school administrators to end the school cafeteria policy of destroying unopened and unpeeled food from the trays of students that they choose not to eat. She then successfully led the implementation of the program and went on to construct a TEDx Talk at her school on the subject of school waste, and address the school board at their invitation. Many students have engaged in the K-12 Food Rescue program across the country prior to Hanna, but Hanna is the first student to bring the issue to her district acting alone, explain the solution, and lead the implementation of the program.
Food Rescue Executive Director and Founder John Williamson says, “Hanna is the perfect student to become the face of K-12 Food Rescue across the nation. Her passion, drive, and dedication to present the truth about school food waste and to lead change in such a large school district is truly remarkable. Many adults find our information online and incorporate students, but Hanna is the first student to take our information and engage the adults in her community. We believe she will inspire thousands of students around the country to follow her lead, and she is an extraordinary social entrepreneur.”
About Food Rescue:
Food Rescue has connected over 600 schools and restaurants with food pantries since 2007, resulting in over a million meals annually being fed to children and families in need rather than landfills. There are currently over 400 school cafeterias across America in 9 states participating in K-12 Food Rescue, where students are given the choice not to feed people not landfills with their unopened and unpeeled food that they choose not to eat. Our Student Led Entrepreneur Initiative provides the platform for students to take the lead on ending needless destruction of over 1 billion unopened and unpeeled food items from the trays of students annually that they choose not to eat.
Websites:
FoodRescue.net
K12FoodRescue.com
For interviews or to schedule Hanna to speak to your administrators, teachers, students, or Eco clubs in person or via conference call:
Contact: [email protected]
Office: 317-694-4006
http://www.foodrescue.net/blog/fr-natl-student-director-speaks-to-charlotte-school-board
http://www.foodrescue.net/student-leader-spotlight.html
Hanna’s 2015 TedX Talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaM0s1wiC4Y
Food Rescue, a leading national food recovery organization focused on eliminating school food waste, has appointed Hanna Wondmagegn, a Senior at East Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, North Carolina as our National Director of Student Leadership. In 2015, Hanna became the first student in the nation to lead a K-12 Food Rescue program from start to finish, including leading the daunting task of convincing school administrators to end the school cafeteria policy of destroying unopened and unpeeled food from the trays of students that they choose not to eat. She then successfully led the implementation of the program and went on to construct a TEDx Talk at her school on the subject of school waste, and address the school board at their invitation. Many students have engaged in the K-12 Food Rescue program across the country prior to Hanna, but Hanna is the first student to bring the issue to her district acting alone, explain the solution, and lead the implementation of the program.
Food Rescue Executive Director and Founder John Williamson says, “Hanna is the perfect student to become the face of K-12 Food Rescue across the nation. Her passion, drive, and dedication to present the truth about school food waste and to lead change in such a large school district is truly remarkable. Many adults find our information online and incorporate students, but Hanna is the first student to take our information and engage the adults in her community. We believe she will inspire thousands of students around the country to follow her lead, and she is an extraordinary social entrepreneur.”
About Food Rescue:
Food Rescue has connected over 600 schools and restaurants with food pantries since 2007, resulting in over a million meals annually being fed to children and families in need rather than landfills. There are currently over 400 school cafeterias across America in 9 states participating in K-12 Food Rescue, where students are given the choice not to feed people not landfills with their unopened and unpeeled food that they choose not to eat. Our Student Led Entrepreneur Initiative provides the platform for students to take the lead on ending needless destruction of over 1 billion unopened and unpeeled food items from the trays of students annually that they choose not to eat.
Websites:
FoodRescue.net
K12FoodRescue.com
For interviews or to schedule Hanna to speak to your administrators, teachers, students, or Eco clubs in person or via conference call:
Contact: [email protected]
Office: 317-694-4006
http://www.foodrescue.net/blog/fr-natl-student-director-speaks-to-charlotte-school-board
http://www.foodrescue.net/student-leader-spotlight.html
Hanna’s 2015 TedX Talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaM0s1wiC4Y
