Feeding America has made it easier for food banks in its network to take advantage of its MealConnect platform by making it automatically available in every zip code of the country. Food banks no longer have to sign up to use the service, which connects extra food from restaurants and…
Posts published in “Food Rescue”
Second Harvest Heartland of Minnesota and others are proving that a food bank does not necessarily need a kitchen to play a major role in distributing thousands of freshly prepared meals. Using Feeding America’s MealConnect platform, Second Harvest Heartland is sourcing large donations of bulk food and guiding it toward…
At least one recipient of USDA grant money to package and deliver boxes of fresh produce to non-profits via the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program should be well known to food banks, especially those along the Northeast corridor. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Cooperative, with a central warehouse in Philadelphia, Pa., announced this…
The lowly cardboard box plays a starring role in the USDA’s plan to purchase $3 billion worth of commodities from the nation’s farmers and pass it along to food banks and other hunger-relief organizations. The Coronavirus Food Assistance Program or CFAP, announced late last week, requires wholesalers and distributors to…
Four days after Super Bowl Sunday, Ellen Bowen, the driving force behind the event’s food rescue efforts, was tired but energized. Over the previous three days, she had directed a team of volunteers to collect about 35,000 pounds of food from the Hard Rock stadium in Miami. Leading up to…
In an odd coincidence, there are about as many people in America who garden (42 million) as are food-insecure (37.2 million). That works out well for AmpleHarvest.org, a website that seeks to match the abundance of produce grown by home gardeners with local food pantries that could use it. So…
Community Solidarity is not a food bank, though it does the work of one. It’s more like a radical food rescuer, popping up in flash-mob fashion around Long Island and Brooklyn atop a loose infrastructure of volunteers, folding tables and produce. There is no warehouse, no fleet of trucks, and…
Volunteer drivers are proving to be a key ingredient in the success of Feeding America’s MealConnect platform, which is expanding to include another 15 food banks by summer’s end, bringing the total number of food-bank users to 22. Through MealConnect, volunteers are logging in to identify the locations of excess…
Three Square Food Bank is taking food rescue to the next level with a cool tool — the blast chiller. Common in commercial kitchens, blast chillers are not widely used in food rescue, though they are well-suited to the task. The fast-acting freezers can take food from thoroughly hot to…