Food Recovery Network Makes Significant Strides in Washington D.C. to Combat Food Waste and Hunger

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Food Recovery Network (FRN) announces significant achievements in its efforts to combat food insecurity in the Washington, D.C. area. Through a partnership with the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center, FRN has successfully saved 67,853 pounds of food in just two years to support local organizations fighting hunger.

Food Recovery Network volunteer with packed surplus food ready to deliver to hunger-fighting community partner.

"Our partnership with Gaylord National Resort has been transformative. In just two years, we've recovered over 67,000 pounds of surplus food. We've been able to work with 8 area hunger-fighting nonprofits - which means those pounds of precious food have provided the equivalent of over 56,000 meals for people in our community experiencing hunger," said Regina Harmon, Executive Director. "This collaboration demonstrates the power of partnerships to create meaningful, sustainable change for communities."

The positive impact extends beyond the number of meals provided. The recovered food has also resulted in significant environmental benefits. FRN's work has helped save 7.81 million gallons of water—equivalent to 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools—and mitigated nearly 43.76 metric tons of CO2 emissions, comparable to removing ten passenger vehicles from the road for a year. This success underscores the power of collaboration in addressing both hunger and environmental sustainability.

FRN and Gaylord National began their official partnership in June of 2023. Since then, FRN's team has picked up surplus food from Gaylord National every other week. On average, over two weeks, Gaylord's culinary team saves about 1,200 pounds of perfectly good food, simply prepared in excess, from all of the meetings and events held in their conference and resort center. This is enough food to allow FRN to support multiple agencies in the extended community every time we receive a donation.

FRN is the largest student-led organization in the U.S. dedicated to recovering surplus food and ending hunger. With over 200 chapters nationwide, FRN has three active university chapters in Washington, D.C.: American University, Georgetown University, and George Washington University. Together, for more than 10 years, these chapters have successfully redirected an impressive additional 20,000 pounds of surplus food to fight food insecurity in the area.

This impactful work aligns perfectly with several upcoming awareness dates: March 30th (Day of Zero Waste), April 7-13th (Food Waste Prevention Week), April 22nd (Earth Day), and April 30th (Stop Food Waste Day). These dates highlight the importance of our collective efforts to reduce food waste and FRN's commitment to shaping a future where food is not wasted and all people have access to nutritious food. FRN's achievements demonstrate the tangible results possible through partnerships and community engagement.

Visit foodrecoverynetwork.org to learn more about this D.C.-based nonprofit.

To join us for a food recovery or interview Regina Harmon, Executive Director, please contact us at sarah.corbin@foodrecoverynetwork.org, 708-714-1357.

Food Recovery Network (FRN) is a national nonprofit that mobilizes 8,000 college students, food providers, and local businesses in the fight against climate change and hunger by recovering perishable food across the supply chain that would otherwise go to waste and donating it to organizations that feed people experiencing hunger. As the largest student-led movement recovering surplus food and ending hunger, FRN's programs are on nearly 200 college campuses and 100 food businesses in 46 states and D.C., and they have recovered more than 22.9 million pounds of food to date – the equivalent of 19 million meals donated to feed individuals experiencing hunger and 7419.5 metric tons of CO2e prevented from entering our atmosphere.

SOURCE Food Recovery Network, Inc.

Announcing Grant Application Open - 2025 Community College Food Recovery Cohort

Food Recovery Network Opens Applications for Second Community College Food Recovery Grant Cohort

Washington, D.C. — Food Recovery Network (FRN) is excited to announce the opening of applications for the second year of its Community College Food Recovery Grant Program. This initiative aims to establish and strengthen food recovery programs at community colleges across the United States, helping to combat food waste while supporting people experiencing hunger within local communities.

Community colleges play a crucial role in addressing food insecurity in their areas and serve as essential hubs for food recovery efforts. The five Community Colleges participating in FRN’s inaugural 2024 cohort recovered more than 100,000 pounds of food—the equivalent of 83,000 meals.

This year, FRN will award grants to an additional five deserving community colleges, which will also receive recognition for their innovative contributions to this critical cause. The selected institutions will receive one year of technical and financial assistance to implement robust food recovery programs, starting in Summer/Fall 2025.

“The expansion of our Community College Food Recovery Grant Program reflects our commitment to harnessing the potential of community colleges in the fight against hunger,” said Regina Harmon, Executive Director at FRN. “We believe in the existing critical relationship community colleges serve all across the U.S. We believe that by providing resources and support, these institutions can effectively connect surplus food with community members facing food insecurity, feeding more people faster.”

Community colleges are encouraged to apply for the grant.

Applications must be submitted by April 30, 2025, at midnight ET. Recipients will be notified by May 31, 2025. Financial assistance will be determined based on the proposed scale and frequency of each school’s food waste prevention program.

For additional details about the grant program and application process, please visit www.foodrecovery.org/community-college-food-recovery-grant or contact programs@foodrecoverynetwork.org.

Food Recovery Network Featured at Montclair State University

Ava Scott, a Junior at Montclair State University, recently featured the Montclair State Food Recovery Network chapter in an article and invited FRN Executive Director to join Montclair State’s Morning Buzz program on WMSC. Read the full article on Medium and below. And listen to the interview.

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Every day at Montclair State University, leftover food is thrown away at the dining facilities, often overlooked as waste. For students like Myriame Kaba, accessing affordable and nutritious meals has been a challenge. Thanks to the Food Recovery Network, Kaba now has access to fresh meals. Each week, student volunteers collect excess food from campus dining facilities, transforming it into ready-to-go microwavable meals, supporting students facing food insecurity.

The Food Recovery Network, established in 2017, was created to address two important challenges on campus: food insecurity and food waste. What began as an initiative to recover unused campus food has become a larger effort that reduces waste while supporting students facing food insecurity.

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic took over, the organization stopped all activities, temporarily ending its initiatives. Despite these challenges, the Food Recovery Network remained committed to restoring its operations. By working to become a member of the Student Government Association (SGA) and forming partnerships with on-campus food vendors, the network successfully relaunched its food recoveries this year.

With a desire to expand the organization’s impact on the campus community, Nikki Cocuzza, president of The Food Recovery Network, found a way to change the initiative to meet students’ needs.

“I was able to revamp [the organization] into something that I envisioned. Originally before instead of microwavable meals, [the volunteers] would just get the trays and bring [them] to, like, an off-campus food pantry. While I love the idea, I’d love to bring that back in, I wanted to revamp it into the individual meals because I just felt that was more suitable to the campus,” expressed Cocuzza.

Each week, dedicated student volunteers work to achieve the organization’s mission by leading food recoveries. Volunteers collect unused food at campus dining facilities that would otherwise go to waste, all while ensuring proper safety measures are in place.

“We provide all the supplies, the containers, the spoons, gloves, sanitizer, everything,” stated Cocuzza.

Volunteers follow a step-by-step process, passing containers of food and filling each with a meat or a side. After preparing the meals, they label them with allergy information to make sure students receive the correct meals and consume them safely. The meals are then delivered to the Red Hawk Pantry, where the Food Recovery Network partners to provide a designated space for students to pick them up.

Katie Griggs, a graduate student worker at the Red Hawk Pantry, felt this partnership was not only expanding the pantry’s efforts but also making a positive impact on the community.

“[These meals] gives students the opportunity to again have a pre-made meal, which they might not be able to have every day or at all,” stated Griggs. “So they’re able to, you know, come and take a meal every single week.”

The availability of a fresh, pre-made meal has become a valuable resource for students like Myriame Kaba. As an out-of-state student, Kaba faced significant challenges during her first two years at Montclair State, managing without a car to buy groceries and with no nearby family for support.

“I was really struggling to ask people around to bring me food,” expressed Kaba. “My mother was trying to find friends in New Jersey for me who [could] bring me food. I would have to take Ubers and everything.”

For many students, accessing consistent, nutritious meals is a daily challenge. A survey conducted at Montclair State between 2018 and 2022 revealed that 41.4% of students were food insecure. A recent United States Government Accountability Office study found nearly a quarter of college students struggle with food security, with some experiencing significant difficulties.

Dr. Lauren Dinour, a professor of nutrition and director of the Didactic Program, explained how food insecurity affects every aspect of student life.

“When we’re hungry, that’s all we can really think about, and so it becomes difficult to focus on the lecture or to focus on the paper that we have to write, or to study for an exam. But food insecurity can also affect mental health. It can affect physical health. It can affect sleep,” explained Dinour.

The Food Recovery Network’s initiatives are just one small step towards addressing food insecurity. While this issue cannot be resolved alone, it plays an important role in eliminating the concerns of where students will get their next meal.

“If you ran out of swipes and all of that and you haven’t been able to, like, you couldn’t get food on campus with your swipes or flex. They got the same thing [at the pantry] with the Food Recovery Network,” shared Kaba.

For Cocuzza, these efforts go beyond recovering food; it’s about helping a community of students overcome significant challenges and achieve success during their college experience.

“I may not be food insecure, but everyone around me may be suffering silently. And I recognize that the silence of suffering and the embarrassment factor that people worry about,” expressed Coccuza.

In addition to helping students, the organization works to minimize food waste on campus. Over the past seven years, it has recovered more than 10,000 pounds of food.

Since the start of the school year, the Food Recovery Network has partnered with NextGeneration Service Corps and expanded recovery services to add an extra day, providing more meals to students than ever before.

Through initiatives like these, students have access to a valuable resource during times of need, ensuring they have access to nutritious meals when they need it most.

“We can’t shy away from it. It’s a fact, [and] it’s a reality,” expressed Dinour. “So if we want students to be successful, in which of course we do in their academic endeavors, then we have to address some of these factors that are affecting them.”

Ava Scott is a junior at Montclair State University studying Journalism and Digital Media Studies and Business. Scott is an on-air personality and producer for Montclair Newslab and 90.3 WMSC Upper Montclair. She aspires to work for E! News as an entertainment reporter.