Loyola University Chicago: Our Food Recovery Story

by Benji Pesto

On August 23, Food Recovery Network’s Loyola University Chicago chapter recovered 313.368 pounds of food from Theatre on the Lake, which hosted this year’s National Association of REALTORS® Leadership Summit. Fellow chapter members Christina Bozio, Caitlyn Dang, and others recovered leftover food from the event and donated it to A Just Harvest in Rogers Park.

This is one of the biggest single recoveries Loyola’s chapter has ever performed, and we are amazed by how much food we were able to donate! Recovering outside of Loyola’s dining halls has really opened our eyes to the world of food waste beyond the limits of campus, and we hope to partner with more businesses and organizations to further reduce food waste and fight hunger in Chicago.

Our chapter treasurer Caitlyn Dang said, “I felt an overwhelming sense of joy once I saw all of the food recovered stacked on the table at A Just Harvest. It was astonishing to see how with just a few hours of my time on a Monday night, I could help recover hundreds of pounds of food that would otherwise have ended up in the trash. Now, I know this food will go to making a difference in my own local neighborhood and feed so many people who are in need. A little truly does go a long way—volunteer with Food Recovery Network!”

A Just Harvest is a non-profit community organization in northern Rogers Park in Chicago. It’s mission is “to fight poverty and hunger in the Rogers Park and greater Chicago community by providing nutritious meals daily while cultivating community and economic development and organizing across racial, cultural and socioeconomic lines in order to create a more just society.” A Just Harvest was able to use the food we recovered from the event to create free lunches for quite a few days following the recovery.

Powerful Partnership: FRN and National Association of REALTORS®

When FRN launched FRN10X last year, establishing powerful partnerships became one of FRN’s three anchor strategies to achieve our desired result of recovering surplus food to feed everyone who is hungry in the U.S.

As we begin a new school year, we are delighted to announce a new powerful partnership for FRN - our collaboration with the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) to bring awareness to the intersectional issues of hunger and housing. 

Earlier this year, we were delighted to welcome Bob Goldberg, CEO of NAR to our Board of Directors and earlier this week, our Executive Director, Regina Anderson shared the main stage to talk about the intersectionality of our work at NAR’s national conference in Chicago.

There will be more conversations to come over the next year, but in the interim, we encourage you to check out NAR’s newest research study on the linkages between affordable housing and food insecurity. The press release below highlights this important piece of research and our new partnership together.

NAR’s Press Release, August 24, 2021

Affordable Housing Concerns and Food Insecurity Linked, NAR Report Finds

NAR continues calls for more affordable housing while expanding partnership with Food Recovery Network to combat hunger

Key Highlights

• About two-fifths of homeowner households (38% or 23.3 million) and two-thirds of renter households (66% or 17.8 million) reported having difficulty paying for the usual household expenses, including food.

• One in four households that spent more than 50% of their income on housing in 2019 – before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic – received food stamps.

• Louisiana, South Carolina and Georgia have the largest shares of households that are both behind on rent or mortgage payments and without enough food to eat.

WASHINGTON (August 24, 2021) – Households burdened by housing costs are more likely to need food assistance, according to a new analysis by the National Association of Realtors®. NAR’s Housing Affordability and Food Sufficiency report examines the connection between families that struggle with rent or mortgage payments and food insecurity.

From June 23 to July 5, 2021, nearly two-fifths of homeowner households (38% or 23.3 million) and two-thirds of renter households (66% or 17.8 million) reported having difficulty paying for the usual household expenses, including food, rent or mortgage, auto and student loans, medical expenses and utilities. Nearly six million households received free food offered by food pantries, churches or other charitable organizations.

“Housing affordability and food sufficiency are inseparable to families’ balance sheets,” said Jessica Lautz, NAR vice president of demographics and behavioral insights. “The pandemic has only highlighted many families’ struggle to secure stable housing and food security. This report shows how critical it is for NAR to continue its work to increase the access to stable and affordable housing in America.”

One in four households that spent more than 50% of their income on housing in 2019 – including one in three renters – received food stamps from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The percentage of gross monthly income spent on housing costs serves as an indicator of housing affordability. Housing costs can include a combination of mortgage or rent payments, utilities, insurance and property taxes. Households that spend more than 50% of their monthly income on housing are considered severely burdened by housing costs.

Louisiana, South Carolina and Georgia have the largest shares of households that are both behind on rent or mortgage payments and without enough food to eat. The states where households are most likely to receive free grocery donations while also struggling with housing costs are New York, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina and New Jersey.

NAR has partnered with the Food Recovery Network since 2019 to fight hunger and food insecurity across the nation. FRN provides guidance and resources that have ensured a number of NAR and its state and local affiliates’ meetings and events are Food Recovery Verified, which allows the group to recover surplus food from various events and donate it to hunger-fighting non-profits. NAR and FRN extended the partnership this year as the association again began hosting in-person events. Since June, NAR has donated 500 pounds of surplus food from three national events.

NAR CEO Bob Goldberg and FRN’s Executive Director Regina Anderson spoke yesterday about the collaboration during the association’s Leadership Summit, an annual gathering of state and local Realtor® association presidents-elect and association executives.

“As the financial impacts of the pandemic are still being felt by far too many families across the country, I’m grateful to be continuing our partnership with the Food Recovery Network to fight the unacceptably high levels of food insecurity in America,” said Goldberg. “Last month alone, more than eight million households reported not having enough food to eat. The need is great, but so are the philanthropic spirit and actions of Realtors®.”

NAR’s efforts will add to the work of FRN and its affiliates, which has to date recovered 5.3 million pounds of food, equivalent to 4.4 million meals donated since 2011.

“Powerful partnerships like the one FRN and NAR have fostered ensures people have access to the food they deserve. It’s important that people can see themselves as part of a simple solution to changing the current process of tossing perfectly good food to one of recovering good food and ensuring it can go to those experiencing hardship,” said Anderson.

View NAR’s Housing Affordability and Food Sufficiency report here: https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/research-reports/housing-affordability-and-food-sufficiency. 

The National Association of Realtors® is America’s largest trade association, representing more than 1.4 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

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Information about NAR is available at nar.realtor. This and other news releases are posted in the newsroom at nar.realtor/newsroom. Statistical data in this release, as well as other tables and surveys, are posted in the “Research and Statistics” tab.

Individual decisions feed people today: Reflections on National Association of REALTORS® Leadership Summit

Turning to 1,100 people and telling them that they have the power to feed people in need with just a small amount of effort was a big opportunity for Food Recovery Network. That the audience was receptive and willing is a big moment for the country. I recently spoke at the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Leadership Summit in Chicago as part of our continued partnership with NAR, which supports FRN’s efforts to recover surplus food to feed those experiencing hunger in our communities.

National Association of REALTORS® has members in every state in the country, and NAR’s Leadership Summit brings together their decision makers and leaders from each state. I addressed these leaders at the summit, who all host large events for their state members, and who in turn host regional and smaller local events. All of these events are centered around food, and like at any event, for a number of reasons there is often surplus food at the end of it. And here, I told the audience of smiling and encouraging faces, is where the power to make big change lies. When you partner with Food Recovery Network, you can implement a food recovery plan for your event’s surplus food and help shift the culture from tossing away great food, to ensuring all good food is redistributed back into your communities. 

I have written before about why FRN’s partnership with NAR is so critical in shifting the norm from food waste to food recovery. As the largest trade association in the world, NAR’s reach is enormous. And NAR’s desire to continually do the right thing with surplus food is emblematic of how individuals have the power to make change and solve immediate community needs. Our federal and state policies do not often capture the day-to-day needs of our communities, but our human drive to ensure people have the food they deserve does not need to wait for policies.

By building a partnership of trust and shared goals with NAR, we have been able to do some important work in the food recovery space. First, we can be transparent about some of the common roadblocks that can accompany implementing a food recovery plan. At FRN, we say putting a food recovery plan in place can be very easy, but it does take time, and sometimes, there are challenges to overcome. For example, some of NAR’s 2021 events do not currently have a food recovery plan in place. This is not because NAR didn’t want to do the work, but because the managers of some of their event locations put up barriers to recovering surplus food. We will continue to support NAR in pushing for food recovery at these events, but we know that sometimes good food is thrown away because of the individual decisions of a few. But, if your goal is to help someone receive food they deserve, well, the juice is absolutely worth the squeeze. 

Through our partnership with NAR, over time we have also learned that not all NAR events need the support of FRN to recover food. At the local level, the number of events that have surplus food is quite small, and first and foremost, that is a great thing! But in the instances where there is surplus, event hosts often don’t need a full-fledged recovery plan. Instead, they can rely on the food recovery instincts and know-how of individual NAR members to, for example, bring those few boxed lunches with them to work tomorrow for their staff, or to ask if others in the building would like to make a plate of food. Through our work with NAR we have a better understanding of when FRN should be activated to support food recovery efforts, and when we can activate individuals to ensure good food is eaten, as it was intended.

Thank you to NAR again for your partnership, the opportunity to talk to your leadership, and the willingness to put yourselves out there for all to see that anyone can make food recovery a reality. 

Getting Involved Leads to New Opportunities: K-State Chapter President Alesha Bergner's FRN Story

“Ignoring your passion is slow suicide. Never ignore what your heart pumps for.” -Kevin Claiborne.

There have been many experiences this year that have made my heart pump, even amid a global pandemic. My work with the Food Recovery Network (FRN) chapter of Kansas State University and my Global Food Challenge internship with Land O’Lakes are two significant examples!

As a part of FRN, I’ve always loved the opportunity to serve my community while working with my peers who are as passionate as I am about food security. Typically, our FRN chapter would recover food from the athletic dining hall on campus and safely deliver the leftovers to Common Table, an organization who hosts community meals every weeknight. When things began shutting down in March 2020, we realized our operation handling food was also going to have to pause and adjust. Over the school year, we stayed active and hopeful as we worked to reconnect with our partners and continue advocating for food security on our campus and in our community. I was able to build new relationships that were helpful when our FRN chapter recovered over 700 pounds of food in one week from students as they moved from the dorms. As an FRN volunteer and leader, I’ve realized my passion for food security, grown my networking skills, met so many new and interesting people, and directly worked to educate and serve my community!

FRN has also instilled in me the courage and passion to search bigger – to find more ways I can learn and make a difference. It led me to Land O’Lakes and the Global Food Challenge internship per the recommendation of an FRN peer. I’d shared my hopes to reach more people and broaden my perspective, and he said the GFC internship would be the perfect fit. This was absolutely right – my summer internship with Land O’Lakes has been a cross-functional experience with diverse exposure of learning and leadership development as I connect with students and leaders across the nation who are working to create a better world. Through this internship, I participated in the Congressional Hunger Center’s Zero Hunger Summer Seminar Series and met with passionate people of diverse backgrounds who all bring different perspectives to the conversation. We also traveled to Indiana to learn about the variety of agriculture in the Midwest and strength of the cooperative system. Furthermore, my team’s projects with Venture37, an affiliated international development nonprofit, have opened my mind to a broader understanding of food systems around the world.  

This fall, I return to K-State to begin my third year as an Agricultural Technology Management and Global Food Systems Leadership student. My Global Food Challenge internship will end in August, but I’ll be intentional to stay in contact with my new connections throughout the school year and beyond. Through these experiences, I know how prevalent food insecurity is, even in my own community, and I’ll keep working with my peers to make a difference. I’m excited to lead as president of FRN at K-State because I know I will have the opportunity to make a difference and directly help my community! 

You can make an impact on food security too through FRN! I encourage you to attend our upcoming webinars that will feature current chapter leaders (like me!) to give you the inside scoop of what it’s like being a part of the network and starting a new a chapter. Check out the first informational session on Instagram Live here, and stay tuned for the next one in late September. Sometimes it’s hard to know what exactly your heart is pumping for, but when you find those moments that give you goosebumps and get you excited, make note of it, and keep chasing your passions!

Starting Strong💪: chapter resources, opportunities to connect with other student leaders, and more!

Resources for Official FRN Chapters

Whether your chapter will recover food, advocate, or volunteer to support your community, FRN has got you covered! Check out our revamped Student Resources webpage to find all the guides and information you need to kick off your programming this semester, and to maintain your active status in the network. 

*Please note that student resources are no longer housed on The Portal. Instead, all resources are available on our website for easy access. 

FRN National will also continue to produce blog posts to highlight the topics our chapters want to hear about the most, such as top tips for chapter recruitment and how to start gleaning. 

The best way to catch the latest blogs is to sign up for our newsletter and follow @foodrecovery on social media. We always share the most timely information through our network-wide communication channels. 

Connect with Fellow Chapter Leaders

As part of our continued effort to encourage and strengthen your leadership skills as an FRN student, this year FRN National will host a series of virtual calls to give chapter leaders the opportunity to connect with one another. 

Whether you’re facing new or unexpected challenges, or you have personal experience and advice to offer, we want to make sure all chapter leaders have the opportunity to listen, share, and learn from each other.

The first student leader call kicks off on September 2, 2021. Register now to meet fellow FRN leaders and join the conversation!

Still Seeking Support?

We’re here for you! If you have any questions, can’t quite find what you’re looking for, or just want some individualized support, please get in touch with our team. You can connect with us via email (programs@foodrecoverynetwork.org), over the phone (240-615-8813), or through social media (IG, TW, FB).