Rescue 1 Million Meals with RLC

We made it through to the other side, and what an ending to 2021 we had! 

In the fall, we passed 7 MILLION lbs. of food rescued since 2013, with 1.2 millions rescued in 2021, helping countless Americans struggling to put food on the table. We have remained active in all of our 8 branches and are looking to expand our mission even further in 2022. 

For the first time in RLC history we ranked number 1 out of over 5,000 organizations worldwide during the GlobalGiving GivingTuesday campaign! With the amazing support from all of our donors, we are equipped with the resources needed to take RLC to the next level. Thank you! 

As we head into 2022, we are set on participating in much needed change in the world of food rescue. The pandemic highlighted a problem that has been present for decades: Hunger. We must ensure that as we recover from the last two years, we do not lose sight of the issue: food waste. And as our beneficiary, Michael, so accurately put it: "It is us the people... that make the real change".

Links:

• RLC Website!

It is officially the Fall season and we want to thank you for your continued support of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine. The pandemic has taught us many things and has made us rethink several aspects of our Organization - one of the biggest realizations was that we needed more staff.

The RLC team has tripled since the summer of 2020 in an effort to keep up with demand. With our larger team, we are now making preperations to manuever RLC into a new era of Food Rescue.

However, during this growth period, we never lost sight of our mission. With your help we recently surpassed 6,885,000 pounds of food rescued! This staggering quantity of food is equivalent to over 5,737,500 meals for food insecure communities across the United States.

Every day our team receives words of appreciation from the people in the communities that you help feed. Here is a special note from one of our food partners in Massachusetts: 

“It has been a pleasure working with Rescuing Leftover Cuisine for the past year. Your donations have helped our families tremendously at a time when most people are wondering where the next meal was coming from. RLCMA saved the day and allowed our families to have nutritious meals that they otherwise may not have had.”

Thank you again, and have a happy Fall! 

Links:

• RLC Website!

Jeremy Hayes (on the far left) has been a volunteer with RLC since July 2021. He has rescued over 3,800 lbs. and provided over 3,160 meals! 

“Over the pandemic, obviously, I am not seeing my friends a whole bunch. So going out and volunteering with these other great people is a good way to meet new people and make new friends that you will hopefully have after RLC.”

- Jeremy Hayes (Volunteer since July 2020) 

2020 was an incredibly trying year for us all. We are incredibly proud to report that 7 of our branches stayed active throughout the entire pandemic and we welcomed a new branch in Rhode Island over the new year!

With your continuous support, RLC was able to meet the changes and challenges head on. Not only did we persevere, we expanded relationships with key partners like GrubHub to increase meals served through the winter months.

We are happy to announce that we have passed 6.2 million pounds rescued in the history of RLC!

In 2020 alone we had 1,415 Rescuers providing 1,284,319 meals nationwide, with the support from our 1,677 monetary donors. The entire team here at Rescuing Leftover Cuisine is blown away by the amazing grassroots community and its ability to keep giving during a global pandemic.

RLC has welcomed the new year with renewed motivation and hope for the future, knowing that together we can eliminate food waste and hunger One Plate at a Time.

Thank you all for everything,

The RLC Team

Links:

• RLC Website

• RLC 2020 Impact Report (PDF)
  

Andrew, a loyal donor, was introduced to RLC through a friend who volunteered in New York City in 2017 and began rescuing food himself! Three years later, and through a global pandemic, Andrew continues to support RLC through monthly recurring donations.  

Andrew contributes to fighting food waste and hunger One Plate At A Time and proving how giving a little every month, can go a long way - 

In his case, 5,665 meals! That’s over 165 meals every single month!

“Back then, I hadn’t seen any other organization do this before.. It is really good to see how RLC continues to grow and develop” 

-   Andrew (donor 2017 - current)

We are entering the final stretch of 2020 – a year that has challenged RLC in ways it has never been challenged before. RLC can proudly say that we have persevered through a global pandemic, and are heading toward the end of the year at full speed, all thanks to YOU! 

RLC has had to quickly adjust, think on our feet, and work harder than ever to eliminate food waste and hunger. So far, in the year of 2020 we have rescued 1,093,532lbs of food and have been delivering over 1224 meals every single week since August!!

We could not have done it without you and your support! 

Words fall short to express the gratitude RLC feels towards everyone who continues to support our mission, and the joy our volunteers feel every single time they walk through the door with food for someone living in food insecurity. 

Thank you for supporting our mission. Thank you for being part of the RLC community. Thank you for coming together to help everyone fighting through this pandemic. 

Stay Safe, 

RLC Team

Links:

• Rescuing Leftover Cuisine Website
• NYU Alumni Changemaker of the Year
• Hero of the Day - GoodDay New York

Recently, a rescuer who was profoundly moved by her experience after a food rescue from one of the Pret a Manger locations in Manhattan reached out to us: 

...I volunteered to separate your donated bags of food into smaller containers for residents... I live in the building next door and was happy to help. I’m writing to you to thank you for the donation of food because I took a box back to my building and gave it to a family who’d just lost their husband and father to COVID-19 last week. 

Diego Medina was our super and he was also my next door neighbor. He left behind a wife who was not working, two daughters (one of whom just had twins), a 17 year-old son, and grandkids. The virus takes people so quickly and the family, as you’d expect, is in shock. I gave them, from your donation, sliced turkey, ham, a roast, mango smoothies, a pie, assorted cookies, bacon, boiled eggs, feta cheese, quinoa, salami, coffee, liquid eggs, ground beef, ginger shots, and cayenne shots –a sampling of what we bagged up for people in the building.

On behalf of the Medina family and the many others your organization fed yesterday, thank you from the bottom of all our hearts.  

When I knocked on the Medina’s door yesterday to deliver the box, I was floored at the desperation I saw on Diego’s wife’s face. She doesn’t speak English but I could tell how grateful she was for the food.

It’s hard to believe we’ve already made it halfway through 2020, and to say it’s been eventful would be an understatement. Here at Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, we are honored to be able to serve our communities during these tumultuous times, and we couldn’t do it without your help. RLC has continued rescuing large sums of food that would otherwise go to waste to fill the stomachs of those who have been most affected by this pandemic. 

RLC has the responsibility and the privilege to support families and make sure that hunger is the least of their worries right now. We’re so glad to have you on board this mission. Thank you, thank you, thank you again for being a part of our community, and for your continued support. We will get through this time together and come out even stronger because of it. 

Best,

RLC Team