Food Rescue
Providing dependable access to healthy food.
What is Food Rescue?
Food rescue is the practice of collecting excess edible food that would otherwise go to waste from places such as farms, grocery stores, restaurants, and dining facilities and redistributing it to those in our community who need it most.
We believe there is enough excess food to feed every hungry person in our community–it just needs to be rescued. We believe that everyone should have dependable access to healthy food. We also know that climate change requires urgent action and that curbing food waste is at the top of the list.
This is why we won’t rest until we have No Neighbor Hungry, No Food Wasted.
133 billion pounds of food is wasted every year.
For perspective, that equates to filling up the Rose Bowl Stadium with wasted food, EVERY DAY!
Why is food wasted?
There are many reasons food is thrown away. Sometimes too much was purchased. Other times too much was prepared. Maybe the catered event was canceled. Perhaps the packaging isn’t right or the fruit is misshapen. Occasionally the vegetable is bruised or the milk is approaching its “Best By” date. The bread is stale or simply didn’t sell. It all adds up to a staggering amount of good, edible food being thrown away.
How does Cultivate help?
We build relationships and handle logistics. From recovering the food at our donor’s doorstep to properly storing it at our facility and redistributing it to those who are in need, our network makes rescuing food simple and efficient.
Our model of food recovery and redistribution enables more of our hungry neighbors to have access to fresh, nutritious food, eliminating barriers like transportation and time.
Cultivate also makes donating food easy so our food donors can be good stewards of the food they don’t use.
We’re always looking for volunteers! Join the Cultivate mission today!
