All donations to Food Recovery Network matched by PepsiCo – Tuesday 4/27 - Thursday 4/29

In recognition of Stop Food Waste Day today, April 28, 2021, Food Recovery Network has teamed up with PepsiCo to fight against food waste and hunger in our country. 

From Tuesday 4/27 - Thursday 4/29, all donations to FRN, up to $5,000, will be matched by PepsiCo in support of our nationwide efforts to reduce food waste and end hunger. 

Through targeted efforts and strategic partners, despite the adversity 2020 presented to our nationwide network, FRN collectively recovered and donated more than 1.05 million pounds of surplus food, the equivalent of over 875,000 meals to individuals and families experiencing hunger. 

This year, we seek to recover more food to reach more individuals nationwide, particularly in communities with the highest need. Your donation will support FRN in recovering food to work toward ending food waste and feeding everyone who is hungry in the United States.

We thank you for your generous support of our movement!

4 Ways to Get Ready for Stop Food Waste Day on April 28th

Each year, an estimated 30-40% of food is wasted in the U.S. That is the equivalent of 130 billion meals, or a mega-farm the size of over three-quarters of the state of California. (ReFED, 2021). On April 28th, FRN along with our partners at PepsiCo wants to help you stop food waste.

Here is how:

• Donate! Food Recovery Network’s mission is to reduce food waste while addressing hunger by recovering surplus food and donating it to hunger-fighting organizations that serve individuals and communities experiencing food insecurity. We mobilize 4,000 college students, dining providers, food suppliers, and local businesses at and around colleges and universities nationwide in this fight against food waste and hunger.

  From Tuesday, 4/27 - Thursday, 4/29, PepsiCo will match all donations up to $5,000 in support of Stop Food Waste Day. Every dollar counts toward feeding communities across the country. Donate to FRN today!

• Get Creative in the Kitchen. The talented chefs at Aramark put together a video on how you can make a meal from foods that are typically discarded. Try to make your own today and learn how to reduce food waste in your home.

• Connect with FRNds for a PowerHour. Farmfield loss accounts for 17 million tons or 21% of annual food waste (ReFED, 2021). Register here to volunteer for one hour to help identify new commercial farms to donate their surplus with our partners at The FarmLink Project. (April 28, 1pm EST // 10am PST)

• Learn more. Food Tank will host 25+ luminary leaders discussing the importance and offering solutions in how we solve food loss and food waste. Register here! (April 28 2pm EST // 11 PST

At FRN, we believe there is a role for everyone in the stop food waste movement. And the work continues every day. To date, we have recovered and donated more than 4.9 million pounds of food, equivalent to 4.1 million meals. We are grateful to partner with PepsiCo to stop food waste and end hunger this year in celebration of Stop Food Waste Day. We hope you join us!

What Does a Just and Equitable Food System Mean to You?

Today’s food system would look unrecognizable to what we had a century ago. What was once sustained by organic practices and family-owned farming is now a highly industrialized system that disproportionately impacts people of color and communities in need. The result? A system that further exacerbates the connection between food and people.

Enter FRN leaders who are opening the pathway to a system that is inclusive to the needs of all people and the planet. 

What does a just and equitable food system mean to FRN? Watch the videos below to find out. 

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Cassie Olovsson, Manager of Stakeholder Engagement 

Julia Ormond, Advocacy & Outreach Fellow 

Katie Jones, Chief Operating Officer 

Melody Riddle-Wilder, Data & Evaluation Fellow 

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What does a just and equitable food system mean to you? Connect with us on Twitter @FoodRecovery and let us know!

Celebrating a Year of Food Recovery with The Farmlink Project

On April 16, 2020, a handful of friends drove 10,800 eggs in a rented truck from Trafficanda Egg Ranches Inc. to Food Finders in Southern California, hoping to make even a small difference for those in need at the start of the pandemic. Only two days later, on April 18, they helped connect 50,000 pounds of onions from Owyhee Produce in Oregon to Santa Monica’s Westside Food Bank. Starting The Farmlink Project with just a rented U-Haul and a few friends, the founders of this organization had no idea at the time what The Farmlink Project would become. Almost a year later, our internal team has grown by the hundreds, our network of external support has extended far beyond what we ever thought was possible, and we’ve continued to do what we do best - get surplus produce to people who need it.

How We’ve Gotten to Where We Are

The Farmlink Project has been incredibly lucky in securing and maintaining partnerships nationwide that have allowed us to scale our operations up in such a short period of time. Food Finders, our fiscal sponsor, has made it possible for us to accept the donations that fuel our work under its 501c3 status. Since The Farmlink Project’s first week, Uber Freight has been an enthusiastic supporter of ours and ended up covering 98% of The Farmlink Project’s deliveries in 2020, much of which was provided for free through Uber Freight’s Move What Matters campaign. November brought a partnership with Chipotle, which allowed customers nationwide to round up to the dollar to support The Farmlink Project when ordering online. The round-up campaign yielded a total of 1.23 million dollars in donations. The Food Recovery Network has been an incredibly valuable resource in helping us to grow our external team.

The way we move food is simple. We identify surplus produce, find a food bank that will take it, organize transportation, and provide aid to farmers. Since the beginning, our Farms Team has reached out directly to farmers to source surplus produce. Our Hunger Outreach Team identifies communities in need, and our Deals Team coordinates the logistics of getting this food to food banks and then to people. Our Growth Projects aim to expand the services we offer farmers, improve the way we source produce, and create a more sustainable future for our organization as well as the food system. We make an effort every day to stay connected with the parties we work with and to understand their needs. Each of our internal volunteers satisfies a weekly “Doug Hess” standard, named for one of the first farmers we worked with in recognition of his unwavering passion and hard work, by attending a team Power Hour, volunteering at a local farm or food bank, or helping out at a Farmlink Project delivery. 

What We’re Up to Today

To date, we have facilitated the delivery of almost 30 million pounds of food. Our organization has expanded into Mexico, where we’ve moved more than 250,000 pounds of produce since the start of 2021. We’ve raised more than five million dollars since our founding, and, as we are 100% volunteer-run, each individual donation goes directly to minimizing food waste and alleviating food insecurity. On March 25th, The Farmlink Project Co-Founders James Kanoff and Aidan Reilly were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, Service Act Award, which they accepted on behalf of the team as a whole. As James said in an organization-wide meeting, “This award does not just celebrate what we have accomplished thus far––it speaks to what we have left to do and emphasizes the faith the Medal of Honor Society has that we will go on to make an even greater impact.” 

The Future of The Farmlink Project

Our mission, strategy, and culture have remained intact throughout our year of incredible growth. As an organization, we are passionate, ambitious, and scrappy. We pride ourselves in being a group of young people who, like our friends at the Food Recovery Network, care deeply about the issues we fight for every day. Our long-term goal is to put ourselves out of business—to help create a new food system in which our work would be obsolete. The Farmlink Project will continue the work we’ve done this year in tackling the systemic issues in the food supply chain, and by building and implementing infrastructure, we hope to eradicate the issues of food waste and food insecurity entirely. We continue to push ourselves to look at these problems from all angles so that we can find creative, innovative ways to solve them.

College to Career: How FRN Supported Me In Finding My Career

This spring, the Resource Development and Program Support Committee of Food Recovery Network’s (FRN) Student and Alumni Advisory Board (SAAB) is sharing a series of blog posts about how participating in FRN during college can assist students in finding rewarding careers post-graduation.

Elaine, a member of SAAB leader and FRN Chapter founder, starts off the series with her story about how her involvement with FRN taught her important skills and focused on her career goals.     

About Me and My Connection to FRN

Food systems have interested me for many years, and I have been concerned about climate change for as long as I can remember. I first learned about FRN at a sustainability conference in 2018, and I instantly recognized food recovery as an important tool in the fight against climate change. Food recovery was the nexus of my interests in food systems, social justice, and climate change mitigation. On the drive home from the sustainability conference, I started devising a plan to implement an FRN chapter at my school. 

In January 2019, the chapter that I founded at Western Kentucky University (WKU) carried out its very first food recovery. In the two years since, FRN at WKU has recovered over 5,500 pounds of food from thirteen food businesses and connected that food with people experiencing hunger in the community via a dozen different hunger-fighting nonprofit partner agencies. In doing so, more than 50 unique volunteers have carried out well over 300 separate food recoveries. 

Caption: Dropping off recovered bagels at the WKU Office of Sustainability Food Pantry.

Leading my chapter taught me invaluable skills that I will use in my future jobs: I have learned how to recruit and manage volunteers, develop new programs, juggle multiple responsibilities at once, form relationships with other organizations, make time-sensitive decisions under pressure, and keep organized records of data. 

FRN Forging a Pathway Into My Career 

Like many FRN volunteers, I plan to work in sustainable food systems for the remainder of my career. My experiences with FRN have provided me with valuable food recovery-specific knowledge that would make me a helpful addition to the team at any nonprofit or business that works in food recovery. These experiences have also given me knowledge and experience that would be beneficial in any position. After the chapter I founded had been operating for a semester, I wanted to become more involved with FRN. I applied to join SAAB, for which I have now served as a committee chair for two terms. My position on SAAB, for which I lead a committee of FRNds from across the country, has taught me valuable leadership and organizational skills. A few months after applying for SAAB, I saw a listing for an internship with FRN’s Food Recovery Verified (FRV) program in a newsletter from FRN National and quickly applied. Over the next year, I had the opportunity to serve as the FRV intern for three separate terms. Through my internship, I gained proficiency in several commonly-used data management platforms and learned how to evaluate and develop nonprofit programs. I developed remote-working skills, which have proved very useful in my current remote-work position.  Furthermore, I developed strong relationships with my mentors at FRN, who are immensely supportive and go out of their way to share professional development resources and advice with me.  

Caption: Harvesting tomatoes during the first glean I organized for Glean Kentucky.

I graduated in December 2020, but I am still involved in food recovery work. Since last fall I have worked in a program development position for Glean Kentucky, implementing a regional gleaning initiative. Without the support and advice that FRN National gave me when FRN at WKU was still a Chapter in Progress, I would have no idea how to form a school-specific food recovery organization, let alone a regional gleaning initiative that works with many farms, volunteers, and nonprofit partners. Every way that I have been involved with FRN - leading a chapter, serving on SAAB, working as an intern, and, most recently, volunteering as a Regional Outreach Coordinator - has increased my confidence in my abilities and taught me new and valuable skills.

“My involvement with FRN showed me that positive change can come with hard work and persistence and that every person is capable of making a difference. I will carry this knowledge with me throughout my career and continue pursuing opportunities to fight food waste and feed people.”

I encourage every FRN volunteer to become more involved in FRN’s programming whenever possible, from joining SAAB to joining the FRN Alumni Network Facebook group, so as to benefit from the varied, helpful, and important skills and resources that each opportunity offers. I am entirely confident that the lessons that I learned from FRN will continue to help me throughout my career, and I am sure that involvement with FRN will help students throughout the network kickstart meaningful and fulfilling careers. If you have not already signed up for FRN’s newsletter, joined the Portal, or joined the FRN Alumni Network Facebook group, take this opportunity to do so - connecting with FRN will bring you so many opportunities to make an impact, both as a student and as an alum!