412 FOOD RESCUE

nonprofit spotlight 412 Food Rescue

Nonprofit Combats Food Waste

by Martin Miron

412 Food Rescue is celebrating their fi ft h anniversary of addressing the disconnect between food waste, food insecurity and environmental sustainability. Th ey believe that good food belongs to people, not landfi lls, and their mission is to prevent perfectly good food from entering the waste stream and redirect it to nonprofi ts that serve those that are food insecure. Leah Lizarondo co-founded 412 Food Rescue in 2015 with Gisele Fetterman. Lizarondo states, “When I began working in food rescue fi ve years ago, one in eight Americans were regularly going hungry. During the pandemic, that number has risen to one in fi ve At the same time, millions of pounds of perfectly good food are being wasted, contributing to landfi lls and greenhouse gas emissions. Food Rescue Hero’s innovative distribution model successfully bridges the last mile to positively impact food insecurity and eradicate food waste. Since 2015, the Food Rescue Hero platform has facilitated the recovery of more than 28 million pounds of food from going to waste via tech that mobilizes over 18,000 drivers in seven cities. Called Food Rescue Heroes, these volunteers comprise the world’s largest on-demand volunteer food transport network, with a 99 percent service level. Over the next 10 years, we plan to directly respond to SDG’s Target 12.3 goal to halve per capita food waste by 2030 by scaling to 100 cities.” Th e organization welcomes new volunteers to join the largest volunteer driver network in the world by registering on Food Rescue Hero app (iOS and Android). Th e UglyCSA program, a holistic approach to food waste and saves previously unsellable produce from local farmers.