Imagine filling 1.1 million Olympic swimming pools with water; that’s about how much fresh food Americans waste every year. Those 90 billion lbs of food could feed exactly 25 billion people three meals a day for a whole year.
This is why three summers ago we launched our Food Recovery Program here at Move For Hunger. With the help of our 1,200+ transportation partners, we’re able to transport and recover excess food for free. From farms to grocery stores, we bring nutritious meals to those who need it most.
Donate Your Food
Do you need help transporting more than 500 lbs of food? We’re here to help!
Visit our fresh food page to fill out our recovery form. We’ll deal with all of the tricky logistics, adjust to last minute needs and ensure the food is delivered safely and efficiently.
Bridging the Gap between Food Waste and Hunger
Instead of letting 75 million meals go to waste annually, we’re bridging the gap. Since 2021, we’ve delivered over 6.6 million meals through our food recovery program and we plan on transporting 6 million more.
Individuals without access to fresh, nutritious food are 18% more likely to develop a chronic disease. Since 2020, it’s been reported that over 20 million Americans live in a food desert.
For the individuals and families who reside in food deserts, they face many obstacles including hunger. Whether it’s access to transportation, limited fresh food options at the store, or inconsistent resources, there are large communities in need of nutritious food.
There is a plethora of viable, fresh, and healthy food available to recover and redistribute across the country. It's incredible to see teams of folks collaborating and working together to make sure no food gets wasted and that this nutrient dense food gets into the hands of the most underserved communities. Through strong partnerships and collaboration we have seen an increase in our ability to recover a lot of fruits and veggies.
About Fresh Food Recoveries
You may still be wondering, what is a food recovery?
With Move For Hunger, fresh food recoveries are when we pick up surplus amounts of perishables that would otherwise go to waste, to redistribute to communities in need for free. We recover from a variety of sources such as farms, grocery stores, and other food distributors.
This year we’ve partnered with Gotham Food Pantry to complete fresh food recoveries every second Monday of the month. Since the beginning of the year we’ve distributed over 57,000 meals together! This is enough to feed 19,000 New York City Housing Authority residents three meals for a day.
In total, we’ve recovered over 9 million lbs of fresh food in the last three years. This is equal to 7.5 million meals!
Added Benefits
Did you know reducing your food waste significantly helps the environment?
Unfortunately when food goes to the landfill to rot, it gives off one of the strongest greenhouse gasses: methane. Not only does this create toxins in the air, but it has an overall effect on global warming.
Minimizing the amount of food that goes into the waste stream helps our planet and our people. If even half of the 120 billion lbs of annual food waste was rescued, we could reduce CO2 emissions by 3,504,534.80 tons.
Get Involved!
Looking for ways to combat food insecurity in your local community? Take action today and start a local food drive with Move For Hunger.
