As of 2026, the number of food insecure households in the U.S. has risen to 18 million - a dramatic increase from 10 million households in 2020. Before the end of the year, RLC is working to provide five million meals to support those food insecure households. Help us redirect surplus food from going to landfill and distribute it to the people who need it most. Any contribution, big or small, lets us continue our work and makes an immediate impact on communities.
40% of food produced in the U.S. is wasted, meanwhile 1 in 8 households are food insecure. Food waste is the largest material occupying landfills, and contributes to methane gases, which are more harmful to the environment than CO2. The natural resources used to create wasted food, tax dollars used to subsidize food products, and energy expended to transport the food to our tables is wasted. Still, 34 million Americans are hungry, and more than half of the food pantries run out of food daily!
RLC engages community members to bring excess food from restaurants and other businesses to people who need it in their own communities. Led by a dedicated group of volunteer leaders called Lead Rescuers, volunteers take unsold product at the end of the day that food vendors would otherwise throw out and deliver it to local nonprofit organizations. RLC uses modern and innovative solutions that have let us rescue over 24 million pounds of food to date.
Hunger can be eliminated. Rescuing just 30% of today's wasted food is enough to feed all people in America who are experiencing food insecurity. In the U.S., we currently only recover about 7%. RLC provides a structure where anyone can join our mission and bring surplus food to people in need of healthy meals. Food security is the building block of a healthy and growing community, and RLC believes in a future where food rescue is the most widely used solution to hunger and food waste.
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