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For the last three years, Sasha Purpura has been a Robin Hood of sorts, taking food from the wealthy and giving it to the impoverished. But she isn’t stealing these items. Instead, she and her colleagues have successfully convinced industry titans and private educational institutions in Massachusetts to donate their excess food to the homeless.
Through the aptly named Food for Free program, Purpura has diverted more than 2 million pounds of leftover food from restaurants and cafeterias to homeless shelters and food pantries in the state. Within that time, the nonprofit has expanded its operations, forming partnerships with nearby Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other businesses in its 12 partner cities.
Each week, Food for Free representatives leave the headquarters in Cambridge and collect nearly 2,500 pounds of fresh and frozen produce — including meat, cheese, vegetables, and other items that can no longer be sold.
“We have a tremendous opportunity to capture as much of that as possible and solve food insecurity in this area,” Sasha Purpura told ThinkProgress. “Our work has allowed some of the agencies we work with to include nutritious food [in their offerings], which is critical because their clientele usually can’t access that. We want to keep this up until that gap is filled or all needs are met. We want to make sure that everyone has access to fresh, healthy food.”
second largest source of waste in the United States, with leftovers accounting for nearly a fifth of landfill space. American consumers and businesses often throw away items, particularly fruits, because of cosmetic issues, like blemishes or small deformities in shape. Other developed nations grapple with similar problems. The total value of food wasted globally stands at nearly $400 billion — enough money to feed all of the world’s 870 million hungry people, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Food for Free counts among a host of food recovery programs in the United States that allow restaurants, cafeterias, and other food preparers to give their excess food to the homeless advocacy organizations. In 2011, Bay Area college student Komal Ahmed founded Feeding Forward, a program that coordinates the donation of excess food prepared in San Francisco. TheFood Recovery Network has taken similar steps in transferring leftover food from 150 colleges in 37 states to those who need it the most. Even the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has done its part, launching its Food Recovery Challenge — a call to organizations and businesses to donate excess food, purchase less produce, and compost
With food insecurity afflicting more than 49 million Americans — nearly one out of 10 people — and food banks experiencing shortages in recent years, local food recovery programs have supplemented dwindling food supplies in homes and shelters across the country. In turn, providers of those services have forged relationships between private businesses and local agencies.
Janet Barsorian, the kitchen manager at Lowell Transitional Living Center (LTLC), told ThinkProgress that the additional boxes of food have helped her staff feed more than 100 people who enter the facility every week. Borsorian told ThinkProgress that doing this work without Food for Free would be a huge undertaking, especially during the winter when officials can’t refuse admission to homeless families trying to escape the frigid weather.
“Before we teamed up with Food for Free, we would only serve food a hot breakfast a couple times during the week. We only had sandwiches, salads, soups, and mac and cheese sometimes,” Barsorian, an LTLC employee of more than 15 years, said. “Now we have different ethnic foods and our people think it’s amazing. Depending on what they pick up, we could get anything. This is like comfort food for some of our homeless because they may have not eaten in a long time. Nutrition is important to those who aren’t feeling too well.”
it releases methane — a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide — into the atmosphere. Food waste counts as the third largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions In the United States and other developed nations, consumers exacerbate the issue by purchasing more food than they plan to eat. A report compiled by the Waste and Resources Action Program in the United Kingdom in February said that, if left unabated, consumer food waste will cost $600 billion annually.
Food For FreeIts from think progress
They can't after paying rent and basic things.. thanks to food stamps/wic they have some security.The post is based on the myth that "people can't afford food". It's a lie that democrats drag out every election season. Unlike the FDR years when Americans actually needed government sponsored soup lines the sad fact of life is the people alleged to be in poverty are many times afflicted with obesity. People who can afford to eat healthy food instead choose food that tastes good and the government sponsored food stamp program makes sure they are happy with their choices.
Go read your own story, asshole. Then get an adult to explain it to you.What are you rambling about?So she is feeding poor people expired moldy food off the tables of the rich. Only in StinkProgress Land is this a virtue.
The food is not "moldy" if it was, there'd be public outrage.Go read your own story, asshole. Then get an adult to explain it to you.What are you rambling about?So she is feeding poor people expired moldy food off the tables of the rich. Only in StinkProgress Land is this a virtue.
Proof? Of course not.They can't after paying rent and basic things.. thanks to food stamps/wic they have some security.The post is based on the myth that "people can't afford food". It's a lie that democrats drag out every election season. Unlike the FDR years when Americans actually needed government sponsored soup lines the sad fact of life is the people alleged to be in poverty are many times afflicted with obesity. People who can afford to eat healthy food instead choose food that tastes good and the government sponsored food stamp program makes sure they are happy with their choices.
The food is expired. It cannot legally be sold. What about that do you NOT understand?The food is not "moldy" if it was, there'd be public outrage.Go read your own story, asshole. Then get an adult to explain it to you.What are you rambling about?So she is feeding poor people expired moldy food off the tables of the rich. Only in StinkProgress Land is this a virtue.
The Impact of HungerProof? Of course not.They can't after paying rent and basic things.. thanks to food stamps/wic they have some security.The post is based on the myth that "people can't afford food". It's a lie that democrats drag out every election season. Unlike the FDR years when Americans actually needed government sponsored soup lines the sad fact of life is the people alleged to be in poverty are many times afflicted with obesity. People who can afford to eat healthy food instead choose food that tastes good and the government sponsored food stamp program makes sure they are happy with their choices.
Obesity is a bigger problem for the poor than hungry.
Poverty, Obesity Go Hand in Hand, State by State, Studies Find - NerdWallet
That is truly disturbing, I live in kentucky and the churches here are very good with helping those in need.There is a similar (and smaller) program where I live - and it involves churches and local restaurants. It is privately funded. Zero government. It goes to feed the homeless population, nearly all of which is filled with unemployable people. The program has bi-partisan support (for the most part). Of course, there are still some people on the right trying to shut it down. The most prominent among them is someone who was berating a mentally handicapped person person while eating, screaming "get a job". My wife, who grew up in a very religious family and believes deeply in church charity, literally started crying when we watched this guy freaking out at a mentally handicapped person who was just trying to eat.
Right wingers hate anything remotely connected to helping the poor, as shown..The donated food has reached its SELL BY date, not it's expiration date, which is usually Good for another week and these shelters and pantries can feed people with good food, healthy, food.
sheesh....some people simply can not read or comprehend what they read...
And PLEASE TELL US WHY ANYONE would not PRAISE this wonderful non profit program and turn it in to some political argument? For Goodness sakes, let's agree on something for a change!!!
It's a Good Thing,
the end.
McDonalds & Cheetos are cheap and fattening.The post is based on the myth that "people can't afford food". It's a lie that democrats drag out every election season. Unlike the FDR years when Americans actually needed government sponsored soup lines the sad fact of life is the people alleged to be in poverty are many times afflicted with obesity. People who can afford to eat healthy food instead choose food that tastes good and the government sponsored food stamp program makes sure they are happy with their choices.
Its from think progress
So she is feeding poor people expired moldy food off the tables of the rich.
It's not expired or moldy, care4all addresses this. Regardless, most food is good after the expiration date anyways..So she is feeding poor people expired moldy food off the tables of the rich.
Where is your evidence that it's expired moldy food?
