From FRN Student Volunteer to FRN Staff Member: Recovering food city to city

Like many of our student leaders, I became involved with Food Recovery Network during college because I had an interest in sustainability and I wanted to make my campus and community a better, more equitable place for everyone. I jumped at the chance to help start an FRN chapter at West Chester University (WCU) and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be the first president during my last year at WCU and even stayed involved during my first year of grad school.

For anyone who has started an FRN chapter, or became involved early on in the chapter’s existence, you know how much work it is to get a food recovery program up and running. Between coordinating with dining services, recruiting volunteers, and making sure you have transportation to your partner agencies, it really was a struggle sometimes. 

However, the struggle was always worth it at the end of each recovery. Being able to provide nutritious food to my fellow students and community members always made every miscommunication, last minute cancellation, and panic solo food recovery worth it.

At the end of our first year as a chapter, we even won the WCU Leadership in Sustainability Award!

Moving From FRN Student Volunteer to Staff Member

I started my FRN National position as Stakeholder Engagement Associate in the beginning of August and it has been an exciting, busy, rewarding whirlwind of a time. Since joining the FRN team, I’ve successfully helped recover and reroute surplus food from all over the United States to serve communities nationwide, coordinating food recoveries both virtually and in person as part of our Food Recovery Verified program. 

Compared to my food recoveries at West Chester, FRN National food recoveries feel familiar and different all at the same time. At West Chester, I was active in most of the recoveries during my two years with the chapter, so coordinating virtual food recoveries and not actually being there in person to recover the surplus food myself was foreign to me.

Yet each time a new conference, Gala, or business event successfully donates their surplus food with our virtual support, I’m reminded just how easy it would be for other businesses to do the same. We don’t need FRN staff in place to perform recoveries when we can coordinate with local FRN chapters and hunger-fighting partners in the community that are committed to ensuring all surplus food is donated.

In-the-field with the FRN National Team

In a slightly more familiar sense, I recently had the opportunity to travel to Indianapolis to help recover and donate surplus food from the NFL Colts VIP Tailgate Parties this past fall. This was my first in person food recovery as part of the FRN national team, and it was exciting to travel to a new place to do something I’m passionate about.

Actually being on the ground transporting food for donation brought me right back to 2018 when I was picking up surplus food from my campus dining hall to bring to our chapter’s hunger-fighting partner agency. At the end of our Indianapolis food recovery efforts, our team successfully recovered and transported over 450 pounds of food to our local partner agency, Wheeler Mission.

In November, I was also able to do a solo food recovery in Philadelphia for the National Association of Realtors Conference, where 250 pounds of surplus food was donated and distributed to the local community. I even helped run a super cool fresh produce pop up market in Atlanta as part of FRN’s gleaning initiative this month!

While food recovery work with FRN National may look a little different than it did in college, (and may involve hopping on a plane or two), at the end of each recovery, the feelings are the same -  I am overjoyed that I get to spend my days ensuring people across the U.S. have access to nutritious food.

Our work is not always easy, but it’s always worth it. Our team is currently planning out our 2023 support for nationwide events, and I can’t wait to continue my journey in fighting food waste and feeding people and see where this next year takes me!

FRN Chapter Spotlight: Utah State’s Gleaning Program 🍏

Throughout the month of December, FRN is celebrating and raising funds (which will be matched by fairlife through 12/31/22) in support of our nationwide network of 180+ student-led chapters across the U.S. that recover surplus food, support their neighbors and local communities experiencing hunger, and mobilize their peers to advocate for and build a more sustainable food system and future. 

Today, we are highlighting one chapter among the many. Follow along on our social media (@foodrecovery) throughout the month of December to witness many more highlight stories of our dedicated student leaders nationwide.

Food Recovery Network at Utah State University

Food Recovery Network at Utah State University activates through a student-run gleaning program called Cache Community Gleaning. Their student volunteers harvest excess fruit from local tree and garden owners and donate that food to hunger-fighting partners in their community. Their gleaning program started in 2018 as a way to reduce surplus food, and they have since gleaned and donated over 151,900 pounds of produce to date. Click here to watch and learn more about their gleaning program directly from student volunteers.

In a recent conversation with Kate, Utah State FRN Chapter Leader, she shared this incredible story highlighting the impact of their chapter:

“This year’s apricot season was slow and a lot less bountiful than previous years in Cache Valley. Because of this, there were some weeks that we struggled a bit more than usual to find properties to glean at. One particular week I (Kate) had driven out to a more rural part of the valley to scout out some properties we were hoping to glean that day and later that week. As I arrived at one of the properties, a nature preserve, that we were anticipating a large harvest, I found that all the apricot trees were completely barren of fruit. A little beside myself, I made my way to another property in the area to see if their tree had much of a yield for us. Along the way I missed a turn and ended up driving down a very remote dirt road with one house along a large stretch of land. There, outside of the solitary house, was a big, beautiful apricot tree that obviously was dropping fruit quickly. I stopped and knocked on the door of the house and a very kind elderly woman answered. I told her about our program’s services and offered to bring a team of gleaners out to pick and donate her fruit for her if it was something she would be interested in. She was thrilled to have us come, sharing that she had hoped to have the tree removed before the fruit came on but wasn’t able to in time. We picked hundreds of pounds of gorgeous fruit from her tree and it was enjoyed by many.”

— Kate, Utah State University

Your support of FRN’s programs helps our team to mobilize, train, and supply our student-led chapters across the U.S. to recover more food faster from college and university campuses, businesses, and farms across the United States. 

Today through 12/31, your donation to FRN will be doubled by our partner, fairlife.

And be sure to follow along on our social media (@foodrecovery) through December to see how other FRN chapters are fighting food waste and supporting their communities across the U.S. 

Seeking answers to address the pressing need for food across the U.S.

In September, FRN’s COO, Katie Jones, posed the question, “How can we provide consistent access to food to help our nonprofit partners have more sustainable (i.e. less funding spent on purchasing food, less food waste) practices?” FRN had a unique opportunity to pilot a four-week food recovery program in Indianapolis, IN during the Colts football season to find an answer.

From September 29-October 31, FRN partnered with Bullseye Event Group to ensure that surplus food from their Indianapolis Colts VIP Tailgate Parties would be donated to a local hunger-fighting nonprofit organization. For four home games, FRN sent staff members out to Indianapolis to recover and deliver surplus food from the Bullseye Event Center to Wheeler Mission. 

Wheeler Mission is a 129-year-old institution and the only shelter system in the city. Its network of shelters in the Indianapolis area provides housing, meals, rehabilitation services, medical care, and more to an average of 900 people per day, every day of the year. 

When you consider how much food is needed to provide three meals per day for 900 people, the costs add up quickly. This includes not only the cost of food, but also kitchen space, equipment, and maintenance; kitchen staff; and volunteer training time. Like many hunger-fighting partners across the United States, Wheeler Mission depends on food donations to ensure they can meet the needs of the people they serve. 

This is why FRN is dedicated to understanding what resources are needed to ensure that partners like Wheeler Mission have more consistent access to food. Their organization acts as a safety net for people’s basic needs throughout the greater Indianapolis area. 

Over the course of four weeks, our team was thrilled to pick up and deliver 459 pounds of high-quality proteins, produce, and prepared dishes from Bullseye Event Center for Wheeler Mission. This is equivalent to providing 383 meals overall, an average of 96 meals per week. 

While these recoveries should be celebrated, we know this is only enough food to provide one lunch per week for the people residing at just one of Wheeler Mission’s smaller shelters. There is a significant need for more food, but I believe a solution is possible. 

For this pilot program, FRN worked with just one food donor to recover surplus food from special events. However, if more food businesses in Indianapolis donated once per week, the impact would be much higher and Wheeler Mission would have a consistent supply of food to support the community. 

The biggest challenge standing in the way of establishing a web of food donors is people power to routinely pick up and deliver food donations to Wheeler Mission. FRN sent staff members out to Indianapolis to recover food because we couldn’t connect with volunteers on the ground in Indianapolis who could commit to showing up on a schedule determined by the food donor and nonprofit partner, even when we offered payment for volunteer time and transportation costs. 

This leads me to a new key question: What does it cost to secure consistent volunteers? Without people power, the foundation that brings a food recovery program from a concept to a thriving system, consistent food recoveries aren’t feasible. 

Throughout the next year, FRN will continue to work with our network of 4,000 college students, dining service professionals, business owners, and alumni to explore these questions further so that we can understand what consistent access to food could look like for communities across the U.S. and address the pressing need we see.

In the Spotlight: Food Recovery Verified in Las Vegas

by Stephen Dorsey

When you think of Las Vegas, Nevada, you may think of bright lights, bustling tourists, and people hoping to score big in the casinos. When I arrived last month, I was thinking about an amazing chance to help our hunger-fighting partners score surplus food for their programs. 

Last month, Julia Gerard and I arrived in Las Vegas to support the event staff and culinary teams at the University Medical Center (UMC) Foundation: Evening of Hope Gala. The Evening Hope Gala raised funds to enhance the healing environment for the most in-need patients at UMC and UMC Children’s Hospital within the Las Vegas community. Food Recovery Network's involvement in the gala meant that the Foundation could focus on celebrating patients and donors while we ensured that any surplus food from the event was recovered!

All too often, larger events like galas, conferences, and sporting events generate an overabundance of food that is then is unnecessarily thrown away instead of going to individuals experiencing hunger. Our Food Recovery Verified (FRV) program is a great way to ensure that any event, from a conference to a fundraising gala, is sustainable by putting a food recovery plan in place for any food left over. As part of our Food Recovery Verified program, we offer full-service onsite support to events larger than 200 people to manage all of the logistics of the food recovery. From transportation to supplies, experienced FRN staff fully manage the food collection and donation process.

At the Evening of Hope Gala, Julia and I got to speak to the culinary teams about the food recovery process and creating a zero food waste event. We were inspired by how receptive and supportive all of the teams were of FRN’s mission. At the conclusion of the event, FRN staff collected and loaded surplus food from the culinary teams, and we transported a total of 117 pounds of food, equivalent to 98 meals, to the Las Vegas Rescue Mission. We are thrilled that we were able to help recover surplus food from the Evening of Hope Gala and route it to a local non-profit partner agency making a difference in the Las Vegas community.

FRN launched our FRV program as a way to help businesses create a food recovery program for your corporate dining and events and highlight your commitment to sustainability and supporting your community. Please reach out to us if you are interested in retaining our services at your event!

Meet Chris, FRN's new Program Assistant

All of us at FRN are thrilled to welcome Chris DePiazza as one of the newest members of our team! Chris is FRN’s Program Assistant, using his insight as a college student and an intern with FRN in summer 2022 to continue strengthening our programs and propelling the food recovery movement further.

About Chris

Chris started his work with FRN as a Maryland Public Service Scholars Fellow this summer. Chris is interested in becoming involved with food justice, so the work that FRN engages in stood out to him immediately. Chris is currently studying at Mount St. Mary’s University (go Mount!), working towards a B.A. in Sociology, a B.S. in Economics, and a Spanish minor. At the Mount, Chris is involved on campus in the Center for Service (formerly the Office of Social Justice) and the CORE Leadership Program, introducing him to professional community service by making deep connections with community partners and organizations and by leading service experiences for students. During Summer 2021, Chris had the opportunity to intern in the Volunteer Engagement Office at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, where he was professionally introduced into the nonprofit sector. Outside of school and work, Chris enjoys playing the piano, trying to improve his cooking skills, listening to music (constantly), and spending time with friends. Chris is very excited to learn, grow, and help people in this new position!

7 Questions ✨

What are three traits that define you?

• Outgoing, cheerful, energetic

Where do you consider your home?

• St. Mary’s County, Maryland

What is your favorite meal?

• Probably either a reuben or sushi

What is your most used emoji?

• The disoriented emoji with the swirly eyes 😵‍💫

What is the one thing you cannot live without?

• I could not live without showers

What profession would you never try?

• I could never be a middle school teacher

What interests/excites you about FRN's work?

• I was super excited to be able to join FRN because of the unique way FRN enables different groups of people to engage in work related to food justice, sustainability, and environmental justice. The community and relationships that FRN has created in their network is amazing!