 Student leaders Eleanor Melo and Abigail Carr share their time and effort to keep this program a reality. Their responsibilities include keeping the sharing fridge organized and items logged. They also set aside any food that is about to be spoiled for the local family farm. We are grateful for the partnership with K-12 Food Rescue and look forward to doing our part to reduce food waste.
Staggering data in America shows that 40% of food is wasted, while 1 in 6 families are food insecure. With this said, it's our duty as educators to do our part to actively teach students about this food waste crisis. Here at the Westport Elementary School in Westport, Massachusetts we have been doing our very best to keep food from being tossed away. With a school community of 400+ students we see our fair share of waste.The insight we have gained from the K-12 Food Rescue Program, coupled with our newest Farm to School initiative, students and staff alike are working hard to teach #FoodIsNotTrash. Students here at the WES are lucky to have a “sharing fridge” that was made possible by our amazing food service workers, led by director Michelle Rapoza. Students are able to donate unwanted, unpeeled, and unwrapped food items that otherwise may have been thrown away. Students may also take from the saved items if they are still hungry at lunch/snack. All food saved is logged at the conclusion of the week and any food that may be spoiled over the weekend is donated to a local family farm for animals to consume. Utilizing this initiative we are thrilled at the opportunity to teach this generation of students that food waste is a huge issue. Our goal is to help them create a new mindset of waste reduction.  After noticing there was an abundance of food being tossed away at the end of every lunch, I had a heart-to-heart conversation with my students in P.E. class about what we could do to combat the waste. After doing some research on different viable options we could take as a school community we came across the food rescue initiative. The idea of rescuing food to donate to the surrounding community made the most sense for our situation...and so it began! I found a very responsible grade 2 student named Kekoa Kim that truly encompassed the idea of giving, hard work, and kindness and made him our food rescue ambassador. I quickly put him to work and the program instantly became a student-led initiative. Kekoa is responsible for managing the program and oversees the collection process. Within his responsibilities he is learning about waste reduction and gaining valuable insight to sustainability here at the MAC. He has become a great advocate for the program.
-- Terry Mahjoory Physical Education Teacher Macomber Primary School Westport, MA We are well on our way at the Macomber School rescuing food and finding community partners to share our bounty with! We are consistently rescuing close to 150 milks and apples a week to distribute. Our student leader is doing a fantastic job organizing our share-table program here at school. Terry Mahoory Physical Education Teacher Macomber Primary School  |
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