How we can all move from inaction to action today

I find the idea of the human brain “freezing into immobility”, shutting down or ignoring data when faced with big numbers, fascinating. Have you heard about this concept or seen it play out in real life? The concept describes how we can become paralyzed into inaction when we hear a statistic that is so huge that it’s difficult to visualize or understand. For example, take the fact that there are 120 million people living in poverty in this country. What does 120 million of something look like? Who are these people? The number just doesn’t resonate with us because it’s so hard to truly understand. In the same way, we know that Earth is warming to 1.5 degrees hotter than pre-industrial times, but what does this actually mean or look like? When we take in a number that is so big, or in this case, so conceptual and on such a large scale, we can freeze into immobility. What can we do about something so big, we ask ourselves. Probably nothing. So we don’t act.

But the food recovery movement and Food Recovery Network respond differently when faced with such huge problems. In fact, the co-founders of FRN were in college almost a decade ago, learning about the problems of the climate crisis, hunger, homelessness, and more, and the very large numbers associated with these problems. 

The founders of Food Recovery Network and the thousands of people who’ve participated in our work since then recognize these large numbers, including this one: 42 million people in the United States are currently food insecure. Many of those millions of people are college students just like themselves. Many are young children. Our student chapter leaders take this big number and break that number down into a more personal and relatable concept: I know that means people in my very own community are suffering. I know people that I go to school with are hungry. From this understanding, our network moves into action. Our students begin to tackle the problem of food insecurity from the sphere of their control: I can help to feed those around me who are hungry.

We all know people in our communities right now who are hungry, and by participating in the efforts of Food Recovery Network by going on recoveries, educating fellow students and administrators about food insecurity and hunger on campus or in their community, by talking to restaurants, by financially contributing to FRN, people can begin to whittle down the number of people who are hungry today. It doesn’t take a lot of time, and by focusing on where we can act, we can move out of that feeling of immobility and join the efforts across the whole country to tackle this big number.

Here, let me show you what I mean. In any community in the United States, there are institutions of higher education nearby. You can look on our website to see if the higher education institution near you, or one that you are affiliated with, has an FRN chapter. And if not? Please get in touch with someone you know who attends, who’s a faculty or staff member, or someone else affiliated that you know and ask them about starting a chapter. Introduce us to someone who is interested in starting a chapter by emailing us at programs@foodrecoverynetwork.org. That person may be able to open the door to establishing a chapter by connecting us with the right person. With this simple connection, you are creating change to help people in your community, and thawing the “freeze brain” we sometimes feel when problems seem too big for us to make an impact. 

By taking that step into action, you can feed someone who is hungry today.

Powerful Partnership: Food Recovery Network and OXO

I have tremendous news for our Network: FRN has been selected to join 1% for the Planet’s nonprofit network. Through 1% for the Planet, we have begun a partnership with OXO, a globally recognized, award-winning universal product design brand. Chances are you have an OXO garlic press or slotted spoon in your home! 

Below is a press release from OXO that announces our partnership and provides more information about OXO and 1% for the Planet. OXO’s press release also highlights other nonprofits that OXO supports, including DC-based City Blossoms and “FRNd” of FRN, Harlem Grown.

This partnership between OXO and FRN will ensure FRN can continue to reduce CO2 emissions by ensuring perfectly good food goes to feed our neighbors in need, and isn’t needlessly wasted in landfills where it will produce and emit CO2. During FRN’s latest Roundtable Talk on August 31, 2021 I noted that FRN intentionally added “powerful partnerships” to our strategic framework because we know that when we join with like-minded organizations, our ability to achieve our goals accelerates and we can literally feed more people and divert more CO2 emissions.

Over the next year, I look forward to keeping all of you updated on FRN and OXO’s partnership. Their press release below is a wonderful announcement of a beautiful and impactful FRNdship in the making.

OXO Announces New Nonprofit Partners As Part Of Its 

Ongoing 1% for the Planet® Commitment

New York (September 21, 2021) – OXO, an award-winning consumer brand from the Housewares segment of Helen of Troy Limited (NASDAQ: HELE), today announced new nonprofit partners as part of its ongoing commitment to 1% for the Planet. 1% for the Planet is a global community of brands giving back to environmental nonprofits driving positive impact. OXO is proud to expand its nonprofit partnerships with eight new grantees, and to be recognized as the network’s leading housewares brand and the largest corporate donor of 1% for the Planet.

With its new group of nonprofit grantees, OXO will expand its reach to four international partners from France, Germany, Japan, and the UK, and four grantees in the United States. OXO’s next 1% for the Planet nonprofit partners are:

• City Blossoms, based in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit that cultivates the well-being of local communities through creative programming in kid-driven gardens. They strive to create abundant, accessible green spaces in neighborhoods where kids may not otherwise have access and where they can build lifelong connections to the natural world. 

• FareShare, based in London, is a network of nonprofit food redistributors, taking good quality surplus food that would otherwise go to waste and redistributing it as meals to community groups and food banks across the U.K. In the process, they divert food from landfills and prevent harmful CO2 emissions from entering earth’s atmosphere. 

• Food Recovery Network, based in Washington, D.C., is made up of 4,000 college students, dining providers, food suppliers, and local businesses in the fight against climate change and hunger. They recover perishable food that would otherwise go to waste and donate it to local nonprofits who feed people experiencing hunger. Their goal is to change the norm from food waste to food recovery - resulting in the recovery of surplus food to feed everyone who is hungry in the U.S., all the while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

• Harlem Grown, based in Harlem, NY, inspires youth to lead healthy and ambitious lives through mentorship and hands-on education in urban farming, sustainability and nutrition. The organization operates 12 urban agriculture facilities and provides garden-based development programs to Harlem youth with community-based partners.

• Mellifera e.V., based in Rosenfeld, Germany, is committed to promoting respectful beekeeping practices and fostering the protection of bees and their habitats. They develop, test and teach new concepts and techniques in beekeeping, taking into account the needs of the bee and changing environmental conditions.

• The Nature Conservation Society of Japan, based in Tokyo, Japan, is dedicated to the conservation of ecosystems and biological diversity in Japan. One of the largest conservation nonprofits in Japan, they focus on protecting threatened species and ecosystems, research, and conservation education and engagement, including beach clean ups.

• Urban Sprouts, based in San Francisco, California, plants the seeds of social equity to build healthy and thriving neighborhoods in San Francisco. The organization operates five community gardens and provides education programs in gardening, cooking and nutrition, in addition to job readiness programs, providing young people who face barriers to entering the workforce with practical tools and work experience. 

• Veni Verdi, based in Paris, France, creates school vegetable gardens in urban areas with the aim of raising awareness among the next generation of growers. Their gardens not only provide educational and vocational opportunities for children and adults, but also contribute to a more resilient city and the development of a local circular economy. 

“Our new 1% for the Planet partners are a powerhouse group of nonprofits tackling big environmental concerns day in and day out,” said Indigo Teiwes, Director of Corporate Responsibility at Helen of Troy. “OXO’s commitment to 1% for the Planet helps ensure the impact of the grantees’ work will be felt for years to come. And because OXO commits 1% of sales to our nonprofit partners, it means consumers’ purchases contribute to the bottom-line impact we can make within our focused giving areas of Sustainable Food Systems, Cleaner Air, Land & Water, and Environmental Education.”

Since joining 1% for the Planet in March 2020, OXO has provided millions of dollars of funds and resources to organizations addressing some of the most pressing environmental issues of the day. In its first year, OXO partnered with five nonprofit partners, selected for their vision for a better future for the planet and the urgent issues they work to address. Within the brand’s focused giving areas, year one results with the first five nonprofit partners included:

Sustainable Food Systems: 

• 13,955 servings of produce distributed from school giving gardens

• 1,047 farmers/land stakeholders engaged

• 70 farms transitioning to organic – approximately 41,835 acres, or the equivalent of 31,700 football fields or 50 Central Parks 

Cleaner Air, Land and Water

• 295,964 lbs of food diverted from landfill, leading to:

• 414,008 meals provided for people in need

• 5,000,000 gallons of water saved

• 621,524 lbs greenhouse gasses prevented – the equivalent of 708,517 miles driven by an average passenger vehicle or 34.3 million smartphones charged

Environmental Education

• 40,491 students and over 9,000 teachers engaged in environmental curriculum

• 228 hours of school-based staff training provided

• 24 educational activities created

“Since OXO made its commitment to 1% for the Planet in 2020, we have seen incredible results from our nonprofit partners – results that are driving real change,” said Larry Witt, President of the Helen of Troy Housewares Division. “We are infinitely impressed with their tenacity and resilience, and their work has inspired our team to continue to strive for better in all facets of our business. We recognize that we have a long journey forward in our environmental and corporate responsibility work, but are exhilarated by the road ahead. And it is of course through customer purchase that our giving is even possible, so to OXO consumers everywhere, thank you for being a force for good for the home we all share – planet earth.”

OXO’s partnership with 1% for the Planet has been a vital step in a long-term commitment to becoming better environmental stewards — making ongoing commitments to give back and making changes toward lightening the brand’s impact on the planet.

"Our team has worked closely with OXO on their giving strategy, and we couldn't be more impressed with the integrity and thoughtfulness of their approach,” said Kate Williams, CEO of 1% for the Planet. “We are thrilled about the partnerships they are developing with an incredible set of nonprofits in our network, which showcase OXO's role as a model for how companies of all sizes can integrate giving into their business and sustainability plan in highly effective, impactful ways.” 

For more information on OXO’s 1% for the Planet work and its nonprofit partners, please visit www.oxo.com/1-percent. 

About OXO 

For over 30 years, OXO has been globally recognized for its groundbreaking, award-winning universal product design. Starting with the iconic OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler in 1990, OXO has paired innovation and purpose to create tools and gadgets that make everyday living better, every day. Today, OXO makes products that span several home categories: cooking, baking, cleaning, storage and organization, coffee, baby. The brand has won over 100 design awards worldwide; its products reside in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. OXO consistently challenges convention, solving problems and anticipating needs with thoughtful, modern design solutions. OXO is a proud member of 1% for the Planet, committing 1% of annual sales to support environmental nonprofits. Learn more about how OXO is making the everyday better at www.oxo.com.

About Helen of Troy Limited                                                             

Helen of Troy Limited (Nasdaq: HELE) is a leading global consumer products company offering creative solutions for its customers through a diversified portfolio of well-recognized and widely-trusted brands, including OXO, Hydro Flask, Vicks, Braun, Honeywell, PUR, Hot Tools and Drybar. We sometimes refer to these brands as our Leadership Brands. All trademarks herein belong to Helen of Troy Limited (or its subsidiaries) and/or are used under license from their respective licensors. For more information about Helen of Troy, please visit www.helenoftroy.com.

About 1% for the Planet
1% for the Planet is a global organization that exists to ensure our planet and future generations thrive. We inspire businesses and individuals to support environmental nonprofits through membership and everyday actions. We make environmental giving easy and effective through partnership advising, impact storytelling and third-party certification.

Started in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, founder of Blue Ribbon Flies, our business members and individual members have given hundreds of millions of dollars to our approved nonprofit partners to date. Today, 1% for the Planet’s global network consists of thousands of businesses, individuals and environmental nonprofits working toward a better future for all. 

Look for our logo to purchase for the planet, learn more and join at onepercentfortheplanet.org.

###

Media Contacts:
For OXO

Mary Ogushwitz

PR Director, Helen of Troy, Housewares

mogushwitz@helenoftroy.com 

For 1% for the Planet

Allyson Bartlett

Director of Brand & Marketing 

allyson@onepercentfortheplanet.org

Tips for Volunteer Recruitment and Retention

Last week, members of our team jumped on a call with chapter leaders to talk about the ways that they and their fellow chapter members bring new volunteers into the movement and celebrate the volunteers who keep our chapters going! The chapter leaders we spoke with had some great tips, which we’re excited to share with our entire network. 

Recognition boosts volunteers’ morale! Here, members of the chapter at Western Kentucky University are recognized for recovering 5,000 pounds of food.

Tips to recruit new volunteers:

• Give short presentations about FRN to classes that cover food and environmental topics, such as nutrition or environmental science.

• Introduce FRN to first-year students at residence hall meetings.

• Host virtual recruitment meetings.

• Table at campus activities fairs and invite students to play food waste trivia games with prizes for correct answers.

• Partner with other student organizations to host events.

Organize fun, educational events for your chapter! Members of the chapter at Wagner College learned about other ways to keep food out of landfills at this composting workshop.

Tips to celebrate and retain volunteers:

• Incentivize participating in food recoveries by giving out a prize for the volunteer(s) who join the most food recoveries.

• Utilize social media: encourage volunteers to take pictures during food recoveries and share those pictures on your chapter’s social media accounts. Recognize volunteers for their hard work by tagging them and highlighting their role in the recovery.

• Host fun volunteer appreciation events, like pizza parties, potlucks, or movie nights*.

• Give volunteers some FRN swag so they feel connected to your chapter and our network*. 

*If your chapter doesn’t have access to funding to purchase prizes or host volunteer appreciation events, check out our recent blog post to learn how to apply for grant funding from FRN National!

These are just some of the great ways that FRN chapter members stay connected with each other and their work. Does your chapter have tips to recruit and retain volunteers? Tag us on social media to highlight your volunteers or send us a note at programs@foodrecoverynetwork.org to share your strategies.

How to apply for chapter funding from FRN National

Every day, hundreds of students in our network are mobilizing to recover food, raise awareness, and fight back against food waste, climate change, and hunger. To ensure this important work is sustained year over year, FRN National is pleased to offer financial support to chapters that need funds to keep their chapter up and running. 

Do you need new gloves for food recoveries?  A parking permit to transport food? Flyers to recruit new chapter members? Swag to show your volunteers how much you appreciate them? Keep reading to find out how your chapter can apply for financial support from FRN National. 

Who can apply for funding? 

Funding is available to all official chapters in our network. Check to see if FRN National recognizes your chapter as active. If not, you might need to fill out an Official Chapter Agreement form. 

How much money does FRN National provide?

Official chapters may request up to $300 per academic year to help support chapter operations.

What can FRN issued funds be used for? 

FRN Grant Funds may be used to cover costs for supplies and/or events that enable your chapter to continue its work. FRN funds can be used to cover the cost of:

• Food recovery supplies (ex: trays and lids, gloves, masks, hairnets or hats, transportation)

• Volunteer recruitment materials (ex: flyers, banners, postcards)

• FRN swag (ex. t-shirts, buttons, stickers)

• Volunteer appreciation events (ex. end of semester pizza party)

How do I apply for funding from FRN National?

It’s simple! Fill out the online Grant Application. You can fill out the application as a supply request, meaning FRN National will purchase the supplies on your behalf, or reimburse you if you have already purchased supplies out of pocket. An FRN Team member will review your Grant Application submission within two weeks, at which point we’ll contact you to confirm if your application has been approved and processed. 

How do I know how much funding I have left?

To check your chapter’s funding balance find your chapter under Current Chapters and select the pounds-to-date spreadsheet to view the funding tab. You may have extra dedicated funding, if your chapter has been inactive for 3 years, that money will be re-introduced into the general funding pool for all chapters. As best practice, please be sure to track how much funding you have requested from FRN National. Extra dedicated funding may be from external partners or individuals donors.

Still have questions? 

If you have any additional questions about FRN-issued funding, please email our team at programs@foodrecoverynetwork.org.

University of Illinois at Chicago: tackling our first food recovery of the semester

After spending almost 1.5 years operating as a virtual club, organizing this recovery in the first week of in-person classes was, honestly, a little difficult. While some of our chapter members and our school’s Office of Sustainability were able to help us collect food from the nearby hospital during the pandemic, getting our usual volunteers back into the swing of things this fall was a bit of an adjustment. Most of us hadn’t driven our electric vehicle, named GEMA, in quite a while and the last time a lot of us had done a food recovery was before lockdown. Nevertheless, we were very excited to be able to participate in our first big recovery of the semester!

Our chapter recruited three volunteers to help us recover the leftover food from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Leadership Summit at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Chicago.

While we weren’t able to take all of the food, we did collect one box of apples, three boxes of sandwiches, one box of fruit cups, and a few boxes of pastries, bringing our first recovery of the semester to a total of 120 pounds of food recovered. We donated the food to Franciscan Outreach, a local homeless shelter that we’ve partnered with for the past few years and to whom we often donate food. Hopefully we will be able to recover more food from future NAR events, but until then, our chapter looks forward to all of the recoveries we have planned this semester. 

A note from FRN’s Program Manager: 

I am so proud of the commitment our students at UIC showed for this recovery effort. It’s not common that FRN National calls upon our chapters to support food recovery programs outside of their campuses, but we had the opportunity to pilot this model with the UIC and LUC chapters for the first time this summer. With any pilot, there are often a few curveballs, and the UIC chapter faced some difficult circumstances when the supplies we ordered for the food recovery weren’t delivered on time. Despite the packaging issues, the UIC chapter arrived on time and recovered as much food as they could possibly fit into their vehicle. On behalf of FRN National, I’d like to thank these students for their support and their tenacity to recover and donate this food!