Atlanta Gleaning Pilot #1 Results: 15,000 pounds in 3 weeks

As promised in my last blog, and consistent with FRN’s commitment to transparency in our learning, I wanted to share the surprising results of our Atlanta Local Gleaning Pilot #1. As a refresher, FRN will be running three local gleaning pilots throughout the summer and fall to help us best determine, how can we move the most fresh produce, to feed the people in the most need, fastest?

Pilot #1 primarily consisted of paying local small farmers directly for the labor to glean surplus produce and transport it to Atlanta hunger-fighting partners in the areas with the most need (as determined by the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Resilience). Our hypothesis was that across the twelve weeks of summer (June-August), we could move about 10,000 pounds of food. What we found was striking.

We moved 15,000 pounds of food in three weeks. 

Here is what we learned: 

Learning #1: It takes time to find the right partners to accomplish our goal. Our outreach to local farmers began in earnest in January 2021 and we thought it would take about 2-3 months to find a farming partner. We finally found our farming partner, 5 A’s Veggies & Produce of Waynesboro, GA, in May, about double the time we anticipated. 

Learning #2: While we found many hunger-fighting nonprofits willing to take the surplus food, they were not necessarily in the areas of the highest need. Nonprofit partners we prioritized, which were located in the areas of the highest need for access to more fresh produce (according to Feeding America), were often staffed by volunteers and did not necessarily have the infrastructure (i.e. staff to receive food on an “off day”, refrigeration, ability to move the particular volume of food within a given day, etc.) to amend itself to a pilot program.

Learning #3: A community partner is essential. When we shared our challenge of finding a nonprofit partner within the areas of the greatest need with both our partners the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Resilience and EPA Southeast Office, we had three new nonprofit recipients identified within 72 hours. This would not have been possible without those closest to the community being able to contact community leaders whom FRN would otherwise not have known. 

Want to know more about our farming partner? Or our nonprofit partners on the ground in Atlanta? Check back for more in a few weeks and we will keep you posted on the results of Pilots #2 and #3.

Building a Compassionate Workplace

Each month I facilitate conversations with inspiring individuals about how we can build a food system that feeds everyone. These conversations often have food at the forefront because food is a part of each and every one of our lives and is at the core of FRN’s work, but they also explore other topics that intertwine with and impact our food system. With this fuller picture we can begin to understand why 34 million Americans currently do not consistently have access to the food they deserve, and how we can work to address the structural inequality that makes this possible. 

On July 20, 2021 I had the honor of talking to three incredible humans about the role of compassion in our work. As I note in the video, compassion should be a key element of how we conduct our work, and during times of duress or constant strain, compassion is sometimes lacking. When we lead with compassion, we open ourselves to more meaningful and comprehensive conversations; we can perform better as teams; and ultimately, we can open our collective eyes, hearts and minds to challenge a system that wants us to believe that 34 million people living without the food they deserve is simply a by-product of our society. We cannot be complacent about a food system that allows so many people to suffer, and conversations like the one I had with Dominique McMillan, Matt Scott, and Corey Loftus are key to inspiring us to act. Below are the themes from each speaker and their call to action for each of you. My hope is that you read their thoughts below, share this with others, watch our video (even if it’s just parts of the conversation) and my call to action to you is, add their calls to action to your to-do list.

Dominique: We must understand our past to better map our future. In the spirit of compassion, no workplace extends to all of us, but our relationships do. My own journey involves looking for and spreading compassion through my personal experiences to foster a sense of belonging among others. Having had to learn from others, now the act of spreading compassion is rooted in loving others as I love myself. Call to action: Check your voter registration because you may be surprised to find you’re not registered. Spend time thinking about who you are, and what you are called to be.

Matt: I use the tool of asking questions to develop and deepen empathy, and it’s a way to be in community with and for others, especially in spaces that may not always be overtly open to me. People are all so different and it rests upon all of us to provide the space for others to tell their own stories. When people can tell their own stories and when people are curious about those stories, we create and foster safe spaces. We all deserve that. Call to action: Think about how you understand your own system of listening. What does listening look like for you? Asking questions, hosting conversations?

Corey: Rituals are distinct from habits and standard operating procedures and we should provide space for them in the workplace. Rituals can help bring a feeling of openness, space, and transparency to our work together. By engaging in rituals within the workplace, you are expressing a shared belief in whatever the rituals signify. It’s also a practice done for internal advancement and enables people to play around with different social structures. Call to action: Create a new ritual for yourself that can help you reach something, whether that is to calm you down, to focus you, etc.

Watch the full conversation here —

Thank you to Dominique, Matt, and Cory for an incredible conversation. I hope it provides you with stories and tools to bring to your own workplace to reignite or further fan your flame of compassion like it did for me.

The podcasts our executive director tunes into for knowledge and inspiration

As part of my equity practice, I continue to examine how I view the world and navigate within it by listening to voices from a variety of communities that tell stories and share information I wouldn’t hear otherwise. These voices are not yet mainstream and are from the perspective of what some might call “marginalized” people. However, I don’t want to de-emphasize their power or the space they hold in the core of my practice by using this minimizing term. Here I’ll share two podcasts spotlighting powerful and thought-provoking voices that are sources of inspiration, knowledge, and perspective for me and that I weave into my continuous learning journey.

The Red Nation podcast is incredible. These stories are from the perspective of Native people from all over the country who share their stories on topics that may sound familiar to you, but center the experiences and knowledge of their ancestors, their elders and themselves. On its website, The Red Nation it describes itself as “a coalition of Native and non-Native activists, educators, students, and community organizers advocating Native liberation. We formed to address the marginalization and invisibility of Native struggles within mainstream social justice organizing, and to foreground the targeted destruction and violence towards Native life and land.” Many of the topics covered include accounts of abuse and violence inflicted upon Native people, so listeners should be aware of that.

Black in Appalachia hosts Enkeshi El-Amin and Angela Dennis invite us along on their journey to explore their Appalachian roots on their podcast. In one episode we learn about “sundown towns'', the reality of which I think helps paint a picture of a very specific part of the experience of African-American people living in the South during Jim Crow and the Great Migration (To learn more about the Great Migration, I also highly recommend Isabel Wilkerson’s masterfully researched, Pulitzer prize-winning book, “The Warmth of Other Suns.”). Black in Appalachia’s website notes, “Having long been in this region, Black Appalachians remain mostly invisible, while the dominant narratives of Appalachia depict an overwhelming, white cultural homogeneity. The Black in Appalachia Podcast challenges these misconceptions by highlighting how Black families have shaped and have been shaped by the region.”

At FRN’s all-staff meetings, the team and I often start our meetings by sharing what we are reading, what podcasts we’re listening to, or what tv shows we are watching, and I am always so impressed with the breadth of learning that the team dives into in their time outside of work. What podcasts, books or shows inspire you? We’d love to know! Share with us on social media!

Meet Elaine Losekamp, FRN's Newest Team Member!

This month, we are thrilled to welcome Elaine Losekamp as the newest member of the FRN team! Elaine will serve as Program Associate, using her lived experience with FRN and the food and agricultural sector to continue strengthening our programs and propelling the food recovery movement further.

About Elaine

Elaine is a graduate of Western Kentucky University (WKU), where she studied Agriculture and founded an FRN chapter. While leading the WKU chapter and maintaining her studies, Elaine also served as Committee Chair for FRN’s Student and Alumni Advisory Board (SAAB) and she supported FRN’s Food Recovery Verified program as an intern for nine months. Elaine has worked in food systems in several different capacities, including a multi-year internship at a community garden and a position with a gleaning nonprofit for which she developed a regional gleaning initiative. She is a strong believer in the importance of food waste reduction to our efforts to mitigate climate change.

Top Highlights as WKU Chapter President

1. The biggest highlight of my time as Chapter President was seeing my chapter grow and become self-sustaining.  It was incredible to watch the enthusiasm for and participation in my chapter grow on campus and in the wider community.

2. A year after my chapter was founded, a local restaurant invited us to recover over 1,000 pounds of food.  It was my chapter’s largest recovery ever, and we pulled it off in three days! Completing such a big recovery gave us the confidence and motivation to expand our network of donors and continue recovering food throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. During my last semester, my chapter recovered its 5,000th pound of food and our fantastic advisors at WKU put together a recognition ceremony, attended by the University President, to celebrate our accomplishments.  The ceremony fell on my 22nd birthday, and the University President led the crowd in singing happy birthday. It was definitely an event to remember!

Advice for New Chapter Leaders

Don’t give up!  Establishing a new chapter can be extremely challenging and at times discouraging, but if you keep working at it, eventually all of the pieces will fall into place and your chapter will have an incredibly positive impact on your community.

Elaine’s Vision for a Just and Equitable Food System

In a just and equitable food system, everyone would have access to nutritious food, and producing that food would have a minimally negative impact on our climate, natural resources, and the other living beings on our planet.  Workers would be paid a fair wage to grow, harvest, and process food and would have safe working conditions.  Animals used for meat, egg, and dairy production would be treated ethically (and people’s diets would have a much greater emphasis on plant-based foods and include far fewer animal products).  Food would be consumed close to where it was produced, waste would be minimized, and methods of food production would be ethical and sustainable.  

Starting this fall, Elaine will be in close contact with all of our Student Chapters to make sure everyone has a great semester. We hope you’ll join us in giving her a warm welcome!

What are we trying to accomplish in Atlanta?

As we reflected on our unique contribution to closing racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S., we prioritized expanding our model within 10 states which have both an abundance of surplus food (according to the EPA) and more than 20% of the population experiencing hunger (according to Feeding America). Within those 10 states, we sought to pilot programs, outside of our traditional chapter model, in areas which would help us learn how we could feed more people faster. That brings us to Atlanta, Georgia.

By partnering with the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Resilience and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) our students, volunteers and alumni at Georgia State University and Emory College are participating in three pilots to help us evaluate, how can we move the most fresh produce, to feed the people in the most need, fastest?

The three pilots are:

(1) paying local small farmers directly for the labor to glean surplus produce and transport it to Atlanta hunger-fighting partners in the areas with the most need (as determined by the Mayor’s Office of Resilience);

(2) training students from Georgia State University and Emory College to glean surplus food from farms and assist the farmer in finding alternative marketplaces to sell produce at a reduced cost; and

(3) students and alumni will glean from local community gardens and urban farms and donate the produce to a local community nonprofit serving community members experiencing hunger. 

These pilots will run throughout this summer and into the fall. Please be sure to check back here as we report on our progress. It is our hope that through this pilot, we can replicate the most successful strategies in other parts of the country so we can continue to ensure food is not wasted.