The story of Tana Fox in Pennsylvania continues to inspire..  Tanis used our resources at Food Rescue from the ground up to start a Food Rescue operation in her county, and she is in the beginning stages of launching a K-12 Food Rescue program.  

Tanis Fox helps set Table of Grace for Lawrence, Beaver counties
Jim Orr/The Ledger (Actual Story Link Here)

Tanis Fox of North Sewickley Township returns to her car Thursday morning with unsold baked goods from the Franklin Plaza Giant Eagle that will be distributed to the needy through her Table of Grace Feeding Ministry.

Posted: Thursday, February 18, 2016 11:15 pm
By Louise Carroll For The Ledger

Feeding the hungry and homeless is the mission of the busy new Table of Grace Feeding Ministry, which is based in North Sewickley Township and serves Lawrence and Beaver counties.
Tanis Fox of North Sewickley began the ministry in 2015 and said she found a nearly endless list of needs across the area. She begins her day, every day, picking up donated food and delivering it to food banks for distribution.

Fox delivers to the Holy Redeemer Food Bank in Ellwood City, the Ellwood City Community Partnership and food banks in Franklin Township at Lillyville Church of God and the Church of the Nazarene.

​Beyond the Ellwood City area, she delivers to the Portersville Food Bank, the Beaver Falls Salvation Army, two soup kitchens in Beaver Falls and the Crossroads Shelter for the homeless in the basement of Christ's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Beaver Falls.

"The more I got involved, the more I saw how many people were hungry or homeless," she said. "I have been reaching out to churches to provide meals and donate cans of food, like ravioli, that have lids that can be popped open.”

She also has asked churches for donations of personal hygiene products, such as fruit snacks and protein bars.

Fox belongs to Park United Presbyterian Church in Zelienople, which supports her ministry.
"I've never been hungry,” Fox said. “I believe I do it because of my faith. My walk with God led me to do this."

The story of the ministry begins in 2014. Fox's daughter, Cassie, was studying for her master's degree at Chatham University. As part of her studies, she learned about hunger in the United States.

“Cassie told me that in our country, 40 percent of food is wasted and one out of six people goes hungry,” Fox said. “It was laid on my heart to do something. I wanted to be more involved in my church, and I wanted to see more of God's work.”

At about the same time, she heard that Giant Eagle at Franklin Plaza and Kimmel's Bakery in the Ellwood City regularly had baked goods that went unsold. She asked and the stores agreed to let her pick up the baked goods.

Fox said delivering the food has become part of her routine. Also the owner of Fox's Pet Grooming in North Sewickley, she has a busy schedule.

"I've met a lot of wonderful people through this ministry," she said.

​More Information

The Table of Grace Feeding Ministry, under the direction of Tanis Fox, collects donated food to feed the hungry and homeless in the Ellwood City area and parts of Lawrence and Beaver counties.
It welcomes new volunteers and donations of food and money.
More details: [email protected] or 724-584-2966.

the In 2015, Food Rescue asked the Indiana Department of Health and State Department of Education to establish and publish guidelines for schools to donate unopened and unpeeled items from the trays of students that went uneaten.  Together those two state departments cooperated to produce the only guidelines in America for the safe donation of an estimated 22 million food items in Indiana, which represent a "drop in the bucket" of the 1 billion food  items wasted nationwide annually in our schools.  Vermont will be publishing their own guidelines soon, after consulting with Food Rescue on a conference call in 2015 with 5 government officials regarding Indiana's guidelines.

Which brings us to New York.  Senate Bill S854 was introduced and passed the New York State Senate to.direct the Commissioner of Education to write voluntary guidelines for school food recovery in coordination with the commissioner of Agriculture. 

While it's groundbreaking that the state Senate of New York recognizes the importance and impact of enacting school food recovery guidelines like the ones in Indiana, it's also a tragic symbol of how numb we are toward food waste, even while 1 in 6 Americans are food insecure.  There is still much work to be done.

But for now it is worth celebrating that the movement has in fact captured the attention of an entire legislative body of an influential state such as New York. 

WASTE NOTZero Waste Program spreads across townBy Gabriella Cruz

[email protected]

May 12, 2016

​
What started out as one local mom’s fight against food waste has recently become a full fledged war involving not only Andover, but surrounding towns as well.

Since launching the Zero Waste Program at Sanborn Elementary in December 2015, Carina Schusterman’s dream of eliminating waste in Andover has increasingly become a reality.

Getting the program started, though, was not easy.

Schusterman spent three years pleading with town and school officials to implement the Zero Waste Program at Sanborn. During those three years, she also fought to get permits, approvals and support from the town and Board of Health.
 
Collective effort

Schusterman and other parents began collecting uneaten fruits and unopened packaged foods during lunch at Sanborn Elementary last year and the initiative has since spread throughout town and garnered recognition from state officials as well.

But recognition has never been Schusterman’s goal.

“We want the kids to be recognized and we want them to realize that they can make a difference,”
Schusterman said. “Our effort is really to educate the kids that food is not trash.”

Schusterman and other parent volunteers collect the unopened and unused food each week and donate it to local families in need. Each day, they encourage students to take only the food they will eat and educate them about food waste.

​“You look around the cafeteria at Sanborn and see 400 little minds,” Selen Aktar, also a Sanborn parent, added. “They are the generation that can change the world. We just want to show them how.”
State awards

Earlier this month at the State House, Schusterman, Aktar and other parent-volunteers Claire Stocker and Brad Weeden received Energy & Environmental Secretary Matthew Beaton’s Award for Excellence in Energy and Environmental Education for their efforts in getting the program started.
On Monday, Senator Barbara L’Italien, D-Andover, presented Schusterman, Aktar, Stocker and a group of Sanborn student volunteers with a citation from the senate acknowledging their involvement in the

Zero Waste program.

Later this month, Schusterman, Aktar and Stocker will again receive an award at the Statehouse. This time, the award is from the Outstanding School-led Project in Climate Action from Green Schools, a Massachusetts-based, national non-profit organization that provides educational environmental programs and resources to students and schools.

​Since April of this year, St. Augustine’s, West and Doherty middle schools, High Plain Elementary and a school in North Andover have all implemented the Zero Waste program. Schusterman said parents from schools in Boxford and Tewksbury have reached out to her to start the program in their towns as well.

Spreading out

Just after receiving the citation from Sen. L’Italien, another local parent sent Schusterman an email requesting help getting the program started at South Elementary School.

By the beginning of next school year, Andover’s Department of Public Works Director Marc Fournier said all Andover schools will be participating in the Zero Waste Program.

“We’ll be meeting with head custodians and food service workers and figuring out how we can institutionalize this program,” Fournier said. “We’ll get the infrastructure in place and begin to conserve these valuable resources. It will help the town reduce its carbon footprint.”

Fournier added that the program will not only help educate students about the importance of minimizing waste, but will also help adults understand the impact of conserving waste.

But for Aktar and the other parent volunteers, Andover is just one small part of a much bigger goal.

“It’s really about changing lifestyles,” Aktar said. “These kids are going to save the planet and we want to help them. I always say that the planet is sick. Together, we’re going to heal it.”

                               FWCS Students Rescue Food, Help Those In Need

                                                           APRIL 28, 2016

Fort Wayne Community Schools students are helping to feed thousands of people in Allen County while preventing thousands of pounds of food from going into the landfill.
The Fort Wayne Community School Food Rescue Program began at Blackhawk Middle School in February, with Lane, Shawnee and Northwood middle schools and Haley Elementary School joining since then. Each day, students return unopened snack items and in-tact fresh fruit that they have chosen not to eat. The items are collected and donated to the Associated Churches Neighborhood Food Network each week.

Since February, the schools have contributed a total of 3,056 pounds of food to Associated Churches. The food was distributed to more than 6,000 people in Allen County using 19 food pantries in Associated Churches Food Network. Each week, the donations from the four schools have grown substantially, starting with 70 pounds per week in February and growing to 528 pounds per week in April.

“We are very happy that this food can be put to good use by Associated Churches,” said Candice Hagar, FWCS Director of Nutrition Services. “While we strive to create menus that students will eat, we know that on any given day there will be students who don’t want some of the food provided. Food Rescue is a great alternative to simply discarding the items.”
Anita Henderson, Blackhawk Middle School cafeteria manager, helped jumpstart the program after noticing the amount of food waste in the school. Under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Child Nutrition Program, schools cannot reuse food items with students, but the items can be donated to a non-profit organization. Henderson made the connection with Associated Churches to save the food from being wasted.

​“These Fort Wayne schools have joined a growing K-12 Food Rescue program, which currently keeps 3 million food items out of landfills each year in Indiana by diverting them into the hands of agencies like Associated Churches,” said John V. Williamson, Executive Director of Food Rescue. “One in six people go hungry, while 40 percent of our food is wasted. Let’s fix it!”

With the success of the program so far, additional schools may join in the future.

Official Press Release from Ft. Wayne Schools Below.

http://www.fortwayneschools.org/public_affairs/release.php?postingid=13708