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Feeding the 5,000: Oakland

Sustainable America is partnering w/ NRDC, Food Shift, Grace Communications & Nor. Cal. Recycling Assoc. on a Feeding the 5,000 event in Oakland on 10/18. It will rescue food from being wasted and feed 5,000 people.

Leader

Jeremy Kranowitz

Location

1 Frank H Ogawa Plaza Oakland, CA 94612

About the project

This is the first American version of a European program called Feeding the 5,000, which is scheduled to take place on October 18, 2014 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm in Oakland, California.  (The event's main page is here.) Feeding the 5,000 programs rescue food that normally would be wasted at farms, grocery stores, and restaurants.  There is tremendous food waste in Western society, with up to 40% of fruits and vegetables not eaten.  The food is turned into delicious meals, and used to feed up to 5,000 hungry people.  Despite all the food that is wasted, up to 1 out of every 6 Americans is food insecure - they don't know when their next meal will be.

The event will raise awareness about these two problems that coexist, and help educate the public to waste less food, and to donate more food to those in need.  The event depends on dozens of volunteers, logistical support from non-profit organizations and city government, and of course contributions from many different donors.

Sustainable America is working to educate the public about issues of food waste, and not just feeding the hungry but also using food that can't be donated to be turned into energy or into compost to grow more food, rather than just thrown into the landfill and lost forever.  With your help we can make this event a success, and then bring Feeding the 5,000 type events to cities across the country in 2015.

The Steps

The program is working with partners on the ground, including food banks and homeless shelters, recycling and composting groups, and environmental groups working on food waste issues to bring together a massive effort to find food at farms, restaurants and groceries that normally would have been thrown away, and instead save that food, and use it to cook meals for 5,000 hungry people.  It requires incredible logistical support, coordination, and good will from many different organizations to make it come to fruition.  

Sustainable America is supporting this effort and hopes to conduct several more in cities across the country in the months ahead.  We also are creating a robust web site that will give the public ideas on how to reduce their own food waste at all meals, whether at home or away.  We need your help to make this vision come true, and to help the country reduce its food waste and help reduce hunger at the same time.

Why we‘re doing it

Food waste is a tremendous environmental issue.  We consume 10 percent of our nation's energy growing, processing, shipping, refrigerating and cooking our food.  Some of the food we eat, especially out of season, can travel over 5,000 miles just to get to our dinner plate.  Yet, we waste 25 to 40% of fruits and vegetables every day.  Some produce never leaves the farm because it grows in the wrong shape or the wrong color, even though it is perfectly edible and nutritious.  Some produce is bruised or damaged in processing and transit and is rejected when it is delivered.  Lots of produce is wasted with improper cooking techniques.  And of course, despite our best intentions, some food grows moldy in our refrigerators and we throw it away, where it often ends up in a landfill, and is truly wasted.

Food should be valued for all the work, effort, and energy that it takes to grow.  If it cannot be sold, it should be donated to someone who is hungry.  Over 1 in 6 people in this country are food insecure, meaning they do not know sure when their next meal will be.  We must improve the infrastructure to allow more food that would have been thrown out to instead be donated to those in need.  If that cannot be done, it can be used for animal feed, which can eventually turn into protein.  Food waste can also go to an anaerobic digestion facility, often found on dairies, which can turn the food into natural gas that can be used for electricity or for vehicle fuel in trucks and buses that run on natural gas.  And if that can't be done, before it is thrown into the garbage, it should be turned into compost, to allow for more food to be grown in the future.

$270.00 / $270.00