In 2008, a group of passionate community leaders had a very good idea: to create a food rescue program to bridge the gap between the 40 percent of greater Grand Traverse area households that struggle to access enough nutritious food to eat and the 35 percent of food that goes to waste at the same time. Food rescue organizations are common in densely populated cities, but few operate in rural areas. Could the model work in the five-county region of Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Leelanau, and Kalkaska, an area that is twice the size of Rhode Island?
Fifteen years later, the results show that the answer is a resounding YES. Goodwill Northern Michigan’s Food Rescue program has delivered twenty million pounds of food into our regional emergency food system since its first truck hit the road. Today, Food Rescue is focusing on equitable delivery of local fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious food that is hardest for people to access. At the same time, it diverts 1.7 million pounds of food from landfill each year.
The program is a clear win-win. Reducing food waste helps reduce gasses generated by food rotting in landfills. At the same time, increasing access to healthy food helps reduce serious health issues that result from a lack of nutritious food, including diabetes. For children, food insecurity also inhibits physical growth and cognitive potential.
Collaboration is key to the program’s success: the Food Rescue team works with over 1,000 food pantry volunteers, community meal site cooks, grocery store associates, bakers, farmers, and other community members to deliver $3.34M worth of food a year to the 70 food pantries and community meal sites in the Northwest Food Coalition. Remarkably, one-third of the food pantries in the Coalition get all of the food they offer from a Food Rescue truck.
Bringing Farm to Pantry Shelf in Michigan
Delivering the equivalent of 1.6 million meals a year into the emergency food system in an equitable way requires coordination, innovation, and daily feats of logistics. To pick up and deliver food on the same day, Food Rescue schedules routes with over 100 stores, farms, and bakeries, and with over 70 volunteer-run food pantries and meal sites that each operate on a different schedule.
The focus on providing fruits and vegetables adds another layer of complication to the work. Today, 68 percent of food pantries in the Northwest Food Coalition, a regional food security organization, have fruits and vegetables available when they open their doors, up from 13 percent five years ago.
“Our goal is 100%,” says Food Rescue Director Taylor Moore, “meaning that every food distribution site — every pantry, every church, every kitchen — in five counties of northwest Michigan will have fresh food to distribute, every day.”
It costs Food Rescue $540,000 a year to rescue, repack, and deliver food to neighbors in need across a rural five-county area. Twenty percent of this amount is supported by Goodwill Northern Michigan’s thrift stores — donations taken to Goodwill’s donation doors make a big difference! The other 80 percent of Food Rescue’s budget is covered by philanthropic donations.
It all adds up to one thing: Cash donations are vital to Food Rescue’s work and its efforts to make sure produce is available on northwest Michigan’s food pantry shelves every day.
You Can Help Reduce Food Waste and Increase Food Security
Making a financial gift to Goodwill Northern Michigan’s Food Rescue program keeps food out of landfills and brings nutritious food to children, seniors, and individuals who might otherwise go to bed hungry.
You can make a single gift or pledge your support every month or every year. And giving is easy! Visit the donation page on their website, www.goodwillnmi.org/donate, email [email protected], or call 231-668-6318.
To find out more about Food Rescue’s mission, work, and projects, head to Food Rescue’s website, or follow them on Facebook or Instagram.
Deb Lake is the Chief Philanthropy Officer for Goodwill Northern Michigan.
This post was made in partnership with Food Rescue, a program of Goodwill Northern Michigan.