Food Security United States Project #58211

Feed People, Not Landfills with RLC

by Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, Inc.

Project Report | Aug 16, 2023
Rescuing Leftover Cuisine update report

By Bret Carr | Development Manager

Rescuing Leftover Cuisine's project "Feed People, Not Landfills" has raised over $40,000 to support our programs that pick up high-quality excess food from food businesses and deliver it to people facing food insecurity. The $40,081 that we have raised through GlobalGiving from January 1st to Aug 16th, 2023 has allowed us to rescue over 480,000 pounds of food and provide 400,810 meals to families and individuals facing food insecurity.

Our model consists of partnering with direct-service organizations that help us identify the recipients of our food donations which include families and individuals facing food insecurity and cover all demographics from children to seniors. We mobilize volunteers to pick-up the food from our food donor partners (which include cafes, cafeterias, caterers, event venues, farms, grocery stores, and restaurants) and deliver it to our nonprofit recipient partners (which include homeless shelters, transitional housing programs, senior centers, community centers, youth development programs, and wrap-around service organizations) who serve the meals to their clients who are facing food insecurity. Our programs are located across the country in nine different states including CA, IL, GA, MA, NJ, NY, OH, RI, and TX.

The $40,081 that we have raised from GlobalGiving has supported the various regions where we work and has allowed us to deepen our partnerships with more than 150 food donors and 100 direct-service organizations that we partner with to distribute over 480,000 pounds of high-quality excess food that would otherwise be thrown away. As food prices have continued to rise, food insecurity has also increased and our services are in high demand. To meet the rising demand we have partnered with more than 25 new food donor partners who donate their food on a regular or one-time basis, and we will continue partnering with more food donors to deliver their high-quality excess food to families and individuals in their region facing food insecurity.

To provide more context on the personal impact of our programs, we have listed quotes that we have received from our direct-service nonprofit partners and volunteers.

“Let me also take this opportunity to express my gratitude for this program! We have a number of parents that eat very little in order to prioritize feeding their kids and these leftovers are giving them that extra bit that they need and they are very appreciative. I am super grateful to be able to work together to provide our families with this support and also be a part of eliminating food waste”-Direct Service Nonprofit Partner

“Why do I love RLC…it's the first time in my life that I’ve found an organization that does the kind of work that aligns with something that I’ve been through. I experienced food insecurity in my early 20s, food pantries and welfare. It brings together people that wouldn’t otherwise come together with different backgrounds to transport excess food. I’ll be a part of it for as long as I’m here.” -Volunteer

Our guests are cancer patients who have to live here for 6-8 weeks during treatment. They come from all over the world! Our guests rave about the artisan bread they are able to use from you guys! It makes a hard situation a bit nicer when there are beautiful donations like this!!” -Direct Service Nonprofit Partner

“We were able to go out into the community and share with the homeless, individuals experiencing food insecurity, as well as newly arrived immigrants sleeping at the Chicago police stations. The gentlemen receiving multiple quiches reported having children they needed help feeding and as you can see the smiles on their faces say it all. RLC donations provide an opportunity to fill-in the gap for those who are struggling to meet their nutritional needs.” -Direct Service Nonprofit Partner

“My weekly morning rescue is full of smiles. The people at Panera are happy the leftover bread is not going to the landfill and the people at the West End Community Center are grateful for the donation. It’s a happy way to start the day” -Volunteer

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Aug 17, 2023
10 Years and 12 Million Pounds!

By Robert Lee | CEO & Co-founder

The Door, Nonprofit Recipient in NYC

We've had a busy, successful summer!

On May 18th, Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC) celebrated its Ten-Year Anniversary Gala in style at the Mezzanine in the Financial District in Manhattan, where we raised over $250,000 to combat both food insecurity and wasted food. (RLC officially "turned 10" on July 3, 2023.) More recently, Robert Lee, our CEO, was selected to participate in the Obama Foundation's Leader's USA cohort for 2023 in the same month that we opened our Los Angeles branch. Finally, as of August 14th, RLC surpassed the 2 million pound mark for 2023--bringing our all-time total to over 12 million pounds of food rescued. With the help of supporters, partners, and/or Rescuers like you, RLC has provided over 10.1 million meals to those who need it most.

12 million pounds of food is difficult to put into perspective. Think of it this way:

12 million pounds of food could completely fill up 5 Olympic swimming pools.
It's the weight equivalent of 1,000 adult African elephants.
12 million pounds of food could feed almost 78 Americans for their entire lifetimes, from birth to death.
It could occupy an entire story of the Empire State Building, floor to ceiling.
It requires almost 28 million pounds of greenhouse gas gas emissions to produce, harvest, and transport 12 million pounds of food--enough to fill over 2,470 hot air balloons! By diverting food from landfills, RLC justifies the environmental cost of food production and transportation while preventing further emissions from landfills.

RLC is well on its way to achieving our goal of rescuing 4 million pounds (which translates to over 3.3 milllion meals' worth) of food in 2023, but we can't do it without the support of our community of donors and Rescuers. Despite our accomplishments these past few months, June thru August is historically a very slow time for RLC in terms of Food Donations and development. Please consider making a small summertime gift donation, or just donating your time as a Rescuer!

Here's to a plentiful (and cool!) autumn at RLC. Let's finish 2023 with a bang!

Union Gospel Mission, Nonprofit Recipient, Dallas

Inner Voice, Nonprofit Recipient in Chicago

Andra C., Volunteer Lead Rescuer

Students from Berkeley Carroll help with a Rescue!

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Apr 18, 2023
Over 11,000,000 Pounds of Food Rescued!

By Robert Lee | CEO and Co-Founder

Only 4 short months ago, RLC celebrated 10 million pounds of rescued food. We're excited to share that since then, we've distributed another million! Thank you for your support as we build relationships in our community to transport excess food from businesses to nonprofits supporting people experiencing food insecurity. With your help as supporters, partners, and rescuers, RLC has provided over 9 million meals to the people who need them most.

11 million pounds of food can be difficult to visualize! To help put it into perspective, here are a few comparisons:

If you were to stack 11 million pounds of food in one-pound packages, the stack would be approximately 41,000 feet tall, or more than 7.7 miles high.
It's roughly the weight of 220 adult elephants.
It's equivalent to the weight of about 4,583 cars.
11 million pounds of food is equivalent to the weight of approximately 110 fully loaded Boeing 747 airplanes.
When food waste ends up in a landfill, it contributes to the production of methane gas, a potent greenhouse gas that is many times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide. According to the EPA, 11 million pounds of food waste in a landfill could potentially produce over 2,800 metric tons of methane gas.
To bury 11 million pounds of food waste in a landfill, you would need a space that is approximately 20,000 cubic yards in size. That's roughly equivalent to the volume of 8 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Join us in celebrating this achievment at RLC's Ten-Year Anniversary Gala. The event will be held from 6-9pm on May 18th at The Mezzanine, one of the Financial District's top venues. The event will include delicious hors d'oeuvres courtesy of Food Trends and an open bar featuring the talented bartenders from WSJ Bartending. Other exciting event happenings include a few words from honoree, Grubhub, a spotlight on the nonprofit recipient partners RLC’s food donations support, a History of RLC exhibition, a silent and live auction, a virtual reality food rescue experience, live jazz, and more!

Virtual and in-person tickets are available here!

Thank you for your support! We hope to see you there.

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