School Cafeteria Helps Kids In Need By Giving Them Leftover Lunch Food To Bring Home, And People Are Loving It
More than a third of food produced in America becomes food waste, which means that approximately 50 million tons of food annually is going in the trash. What is more alarming is that around one in seven people is faced with food insecurity. Therefore, an Indiana school district has came up with a genius idea to fight these two problems. They are teaming up with a local food rescue program to make sure that the leftovers from the school cafeteria wouldn’t go to waste but instead to kids who might not have enough food to eat at their homes.
[h/t WSBT] (Facebook cover image: WSBT)
One Indiana school district is taking steps to combat food waste and feeding kids in need
Image credits: Cultivate Culinary Food Rescue
Elkhart Community Schools in the state of Indiana is working together with the nonprofit organization Cultivate to repackage the leftover food from lunch periods to give them to students who might be hungry at home on evenings and on the weekends. The students are given breakfast and lunch at school, but the program is making sure that the kids still get nutritious food at their households.
20 elementary students are currently benefiting from the program
Image credits: Cultivate Culinary Food Rescue
The food that has been unused during lunchtime is turned into portable frozen dinners for kids to take home. They bring home eight frozen meals every Friday and will continue doing so until the end of the school year. Jim Conklin of Cultivate says that “Over-preparing is just part of what happens. We take well-prepared food, combine it with other food and make individual frozen meals out if it.”
Cultivate comes to the school three times a week to salvage the food
Image credits: Cultivate Culinary Food Rescue
Cultivate is an organization that operates in North Indiana and focuses on rescuing unused food to provide it to those in need. They usually take food that has been never served from catering companies and large food service businesses. “You don’t always think of a school,” Cultivate representative told the media. But this time they did – and they have high hopes that the program will spread to other schools, as well.
The organization hopes that the program will also help educate community members about food waste
Image credits: WSBT
U.S. Department of Agriculture have been highlighting the issue of food waste in school cafeterias for a while now. They have reported that in order to combat the issue, some schools are using different strategies, such as composting and donating excess food to charity organizations. Naturally, the new initiative introduced by Cultivate has been met with cheers not only by the cafeteria staff, but by the media all across the country, as well. We are hopeful that the idea will spread not only to schools in US, but all over the world, as well. What are your thoughts on the initiative?
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How about worldwide? Or, at least in Western Society, how good would that be.
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if only more schools would follow this, hell if only the Military would follow this. but it is a Military regulation to discard leftovers.
I worked at a school kitchen in Belgium, preparing the food for lunch (well, heating it up in the oven) The left overs had to be thrown away. We (staff, teachers, cleaners, whoever) were not allowed to eat it in our own break, or take it home and we were not allowed to give it home to children. SO MUCH WASTE every day.
When a supermarket has a problem with a chilled section, once an alarm goes off overnight to say the temperature has risen over the recommended limit, even if only by 1 degree, the entire contents of the affected shelves must be disposed of. Huge amounts of fresh meat written off which would be perfectly safe to eat, not allowed to be given away, even to staff, despite the temperature having still being within the range of a domestic refrigerator.
Load More Replies...
My husband and I were figuring out who we were going to give our charitable donations to this year....I think I have found the program!! This is EXCELLENT...a great way to address the food waste issue and the child hunger issue at the same time! We need to give, give, give to great orgs like this that are doing SOMETHING other than wagging their finger and shaking their heads at the problem...Kudos!
I used to work as a security guard on a bakery, and they always throw away the bread that didnt sold for the day, i asked why they didnt give it away to charity, and they said because if soemone gets sick they would be resposable for a law suit. So the guys all the bread they tripple bag it, and it was the last thing they toss away so it would be on top of the waste, and latter that night a couple homless came and took the bag. I asked my coworker about it, and he said, that nobody saw anything, no homeless in the permices, then he winked. That was my best night as a guard
I worked in smaller food shop and we had to throw away all the baked goods, prepackaged salads, stuff that mhd was ending that day... Every night, before 23:00 (that´s when the shift was ending) homeless people would come around and we would give it to them at the back door, where the cameras cannot see you.
Load More Replies...
Yes... this is my only issue too! My father volunteers at Meals on Wheels and the packaging used is just more waste! I wish there was a product that could be used that could both stop food waste AND food packaging waste.
Load More Replies...
This should have been started ai g time ago, but better late than never. All restaurants, grocery stores and schools should do this. No one, regardless of their situation, should ever be denied the ability to have access to food.
No food that can be saved should be wasted. This is a wonderful idea. The same could be done at grocery stores, convenience stores or any establishments that sell food
First-world food waste is a real shame... we all desire good food, I think there's no shame in that at all but I think of all the food production that is profit-based and how it gets thrown away because they'd rather throw it away and not make money, then give it away. To me - that's really unfortunate.
Aria Whitaker re my comment where I mention 'Western Society' I was merely pointing out how there is often a lot of needless waste of good food (in some Western Societies) and as I myself have lived in some non western societies I've seen first hand how food and other things have a higher appreciation by people as a society. That's not to say that people in western societies are all the same because of course that's not true either. Some people care and share and want to make a difference others do not. I myself know how it feels to go hungry having experienced it in my life in the past and I think West East North or South, wherever in the world, if people can help others then that's what really matters. : )
I think my old elementary school would help kids fill their backpacks with food after school for evenings and weekends.
Yes, it's sad that India has all that overpopulation and poverty, so much progress, but it's still a third world country unfortunately. What? Indiana? You mean one of the states of the richest and bestest country in the whole wide universe cannot afford to feed kids at school? USD 700 BBillion military budget, USD 1.7 TTTrillion tax cut for the rich. So, f u , you heartless greedy corporate interests lobbies.
Bravo for initiating this grass roots effort to combat hunger and waste. ALL schools and restaurants sshould be mandated to do this by law. Seriously, there is SO much food waste here in the U.S. it's criminal.
It should be mandatory for anywhere that has excess produce left at the end of the day. I worked in a bakery as a student and was always so angry to see how much got binned after each shift. It wasn't even given to the local homeless shelters for fear of litigation?!! It was still fresh and if eaten in the same day would be absolutely fit for consumption. Thankfully, this particular national chain has made progress in recent years, but there is still much to be done.
The workers at my school cafeteria would carefully pack up anything that was considered too old to serve and leave it on the loading dock at specific times of day where it would then "disappear" as it against the law for them to give it away, they are supposed to destroy it
It's crazy this is not done everywhere. Do humans always have to waste things? I have only one negative thing to point out here and it is that they could use something better than all this plastic.
So happy to see this being done. . . Right now there are so many laws in the US preventing this from being done. Voters (that's us, people) need to petition our reps in the state legislatures to make it legal for schools, restaurants, and other large-scale kitchens to give away their left-overs to the poor and hungry without risking insurance repercussions.
Why isn’t this rated higher?so.ves food waste, feeds hungry kids, and then none of their kids go hungry! Support this idea and it should be in any school where kids go hunger when not in school!
Compostable corn plastic is available but very expensive- these packages need to be made inexpensivelt, easily, quickly, not breakable, freezer safe and reheatable- limiting options
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Leftover.... Is the worst word u can use... It is demeaning and means we think if you before the garbage. Ugh... Instead of actually just making extra and letting the kids know... To just take the extra... You tell them... Here are the leftovers, like dogs scrapping for crumbs that fall on the floor. Stigma, shame and dwscriminatiin. Other kids with more privilege are given an excuse to bulky them... Do something right and eith education, not just because you want to be seen as you care... When really that's just self righteous and belittling.
Well if there was adequate work and welfare available this c**p would not be needed and students would be allowed the same dignity as others
Well if there was adequate work and welfare available- this c**p would not be needed
It's a wonderful idea, BUT someone will CLAIM they got sick from it and some sleazeball lawyer will sue the taxpayers for millions. I truly wish it wasn't the case but.....
How about worldwide? Or, at least in Western Society, how good would that be.
Load More Replies... if only more schools would follow this, hell if only the Military would follow this. but it is a Military regulation to discard leftovers.
I worked at a school kitchen in Belgium, preparing the food for lunch (well, heating it up in the oven) The left overs had to be thrown away. We (staff, teachers, cleaners, whoever) were not allowed to eat it in our own break, or take it home and we were not allowed to give it home to children. SO MUCH WASTE every day.
When a supermarket has a problem with a chilled section, once an alarm goes off overnight to say the temperature has risen over the recommended limit, even if only by 1 degree, the entire contents of the affected shelves must be disposed of. Huge amounts of fresh meat written off which would be perfectly safe to eat, not allowed to be given away, even to staff, despite the temperature having still being within the range of a domestic refrigerator.
Load More Replies... My husband and I were figuring out who we were going to give our charitable donations to this year....I think I have found the program!! This is EXCELLENT...a great way to address the food waste issue and the child hunger issue at the same time! We need to give, give, give to great orgs like this that are doing SOMETHING other than wagging their finger and shaking their heads at the problem...Kudos!
I used to work as a security guard on a bakery, and they always throw away the bread that didnt sold for the day, i asked why they didnt give it away to charity, and they said because if soemone gets sick they would be resposable for a law suit. So the guys all the bread they tripple bag it, and it was the last thing they toss away so it would be on top of the waste, and latter that night a couple homless came and took the bag. I asked my coworker about it, and he said, that nobody saw anything, no homeless in the permices, then he winked. That was my best night as a guard
I worked in smaller food shop and we had to throw away all the baked goods, prepackaged salads, stuff that mhd was ending that day... Every night, before 23:00 (that´s when the shift was ending) homeless people would come around and we would give it to them at the back door, where the cameras cannot see you.
Load More Replies... Yes... this is my only issue too! My father volunteers at Meals on Wheels and the packaging used is just more waste! I wish there was a product that could be used that could both stop food waste AND food packaging waste.
Load More Replies... This should have been started ai g time ago, but better late than never. All restaurants, grocery stores and schools should do this. No one, regardless of their situation, should ever be denied the ability to have access to food.
No food that can be saved should be wasted. This is a wonderful idea. The same could be done at grocery stores, convenience stores or any establishments that sell food
First-world food waste is a real shame... we all desire good food, I think there's no shame in that at all but I think of all the food production that is profit-based and how it gets thrown away because they'd rather throw it away and not make money, then give it away. To me - that's really unfortunate.
Aria Whitaker re my comment where I mention 'Western Society' I was merely pointing out how there is often a lot of needless waste of good food (in some Western Societies) and as I myself have lived in some non western societies I've seen first hand how food and other things have a higher appreciation by people as a society. That's not to say that people in western societies are all the same because of course that's not true either. Some people care and share and want to make a difference others do not. I myself know how it feels to go hungry having experienced it in my life in the past and I think West East North or South, wherever in the world, if people can help others then that's what really matters. : )
I think my old elementary school would help kids fill their backpacks with food after school for evenings and weekends.
Yes, it's sad that India has all that overpopulation and poverty, so much progress, but it's still a third world country unfortunately. What? Indiana? You mean one of the states of the richest and bestest country in the whole wide universe cannot afford to feed kids at school? USD 700 BBillion military budget, USD 1.7 TTTrillion tax cut for the rich. So, f u , you heartless greedy corporate interests lobbies.
Bravo for initiating this grass roots effort to combat hunger and waste. ALL schools and restaurants sshould be mandated to do this by law. Seriously, there is SO much food waste here in the U.S. it's criminal.
It should be mandatory for anywhere that has excess produce left at the end of the day. I worked in a bakery as a student and was always so angry to see how much got binned after each shift. It wasn't even given to the local homeless shelters for fear of litigation?!! It was still fresh and if eaten in the same day would be absolutely fit for consumption. Thankfully, this particular national chain has made progress in recent years, but there is still much to be done.
The workers at my school cafeteria would carefully pack up anything that was considered too old to serve and leave it on the loading dock at specific times of day where it would then "disappear" as it against the law for them to give it away, they are supposed to destroy it
It's crazy this is not done everywhere. Do humans always have to waste things? I have only one negative thing to point out here and it is that they could use something better than all this plastic.
So happy to see this being done. . . Right now there are so many laws in the US preventing this from being done. Voters (that's us, people) need to petition our reps in the state legislatures to make it legal for schools, restaurants, and other large-scale kitchens to give away their left-overs to the poor and hungry without risking insurance repercussions.
Why isn’t this rated higher?so.ves food waste, feeds hungry kids, and then none of their kids go hungry! Support this idea and it should be in any school where kids go hunger when not in school!
Compostable corn plastic is available but very expensive- these packages need to be made inexpensivelt, easily, quickly, not breakable, freezer safe and reheatable- limiting options
Load More Replies... Leftover.... Is the worst word u can use... It is demeaning and means we think if you before the garbage. Ugh... Instead of actually just making extra and letting the kids know... To just take the extra... You tell them... Here are the leftovers, like dogs scrapping for crumbs that fall on the floor. Stigma, shame and dwscriminatiin. Other kids with more privilege are given an excuse to bulky them... Do something right and eith education, not just because you want to be seen as you care... When really that's just self righteous and belittling.
Well if there was adequate work and welfare available this c**p would not be needed and students would be allowed the same dignity as others
Well if there was adequate work and welfare available- this c**p would not be needed
It's a wonderful idea, BUT someone will CLAIM they got sick from it and some sleazeball lawyer will sue the taxpayers for millions. I truly wish it wasn't the case but.....
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