Rescue Recruiters Help Build CFR's Network

Rescue recruiters including Bethesda Central and Olney Farmers' Markets will help recruit food donors for CFR.

"We know that there's a lot more food that could be rescued and a lot of people who experience hunger every day", explained Jackie DeCarlo, Executive Director of Manna Food Center. The focus now is to implement the plans created in 2014 for building a system-wide approach. "We're excited to increase participation in food recovery by leveraging the expertise and community-based resources. 

Read More

How Does Community Food Rescue Work?

Capacity building grants help hunger relief agencies purchase infrastructure such as refrigerators, freezers, and trucks.

When Community Food Rescue is implemented in 2015, there are six main components that will work in tandem to create a coordinated food recovery system. Here's a quick look:

Free, automated matching service. CFR will deploy an automated, web-based matching tool already in use in the San Francisco Bay area to streamline matching food donors, food recipients and volunteer food runners. The web-based software will be supplemented by a call center for those who do not use the internet. The matching service will be available 24/7 and is expected to be operational by July 2015.

Capacity Building Grants. CFR has partnered with Intentional Philanthropy to administer a mini-grant program so that food recovery organizations can build their own capacity with equipment such as freezers, refrigerators, and vehicles to safely handle and transport recovered food. A $40,000 County grant Read More

Food Recovery in Action 

Click here to view "Food Recovery in Action" presentation 

Rainbow CDC picked up 7,000 lbs. of donated food in one truckload

It's hard to picture what 3.4 million pounds of rescued food looks like, or what it takes to collect, repurpose, repackage, redistribute and receive this food. It's hard to imagine that this food is valued at $8 million. Eleven hunger relief organizations reported these numbers in 2014-the first time that data about recovered food has been aggregated in Montgomery County. And we know there's a lot more food being recovered every day that hasn't yet been recorded.

• 3.4 M lbs. of food rescued in 2014 by 11 hunger relief organizations valued at $8 million
• 65,000 lbs. of food scraps donated for animal feed by Manna Food Center to Rocklands Farm in 2014
• 236  tons of food composted by growingSOUL in 2014
• 117% percent increase in participation in CFR since inception in Jan. 2013 (from 12 to 26 organizations)
• 4,000 approximate number of licensed food businesses in Mont. County with the potential for donating or receiving rescued food.

But numbers don't tell the whole story. Read More 

The Match.com of Rescued Food

We live in an age where all kinds of match-making happens on the internet-everything from Match.com for dating, to E-Bay for stuff, to Yelp for local services. Community Food Rescue (CFR) is the match maker for rescued food in Montgomery County. Even before we launch our automated, web-based matching platform this year, the 26 organizations that currently participate in CFR have made some great and even unusual matches through our temporary Listserv. Here are just a few examples:

Montgomery County Public Schools & Julie's Food Pantry

300 lbs. of fruit and pastries fed people instead of the landfill.

American Fidelity Assurance Company (AFAC) was scheduled to meet with staff from Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) and have fresh cut fruit and pastries from by Royal Bagel Bakery and Deli in Germantown. However a snowstorm closed MCPS and the meeting was cancelled at the last minute. Kevin Trostle, Director of Operations at Manna Food Center gets a call to see if they would accept 30 boxes of this food. He accepts and AFAC drops off the food. Kevin posts the donation to CFR and within 10 minutes Read More