The Biggest Food Hero
Leah Lizarondo launched 412FoodRescue.org in 2015 to redirect food from the waste stream directly to households and nonprofits. To make that pivotal connection, she created an app that gives volunteers pick-up locations and delivery destinations, so they can jump in their car and close the gap between the food surplus and those who need it.
The app, FoodRescueHero is now used by a growing team of 25,000 volunteer drivers in 15 cities.
Together with 800 food retailers, they have turned more than 70 million pounds of surplus into nearly 57 million meals—and mitigated more than 30 million lbs. of CO2.
Meanwhile, their kitchen in Millvale, on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, has produced over 17,000 meals, and is currently creating upwards of 600 meals per week—all with zero cost for food.
While the kitchen—which is solar-powered to help offset energy use—has been expanding its reach, it has also been reducing its waste – all the way to zero. The project stabilizes and uses every ounce of food that it can, and the remainder is composted.
The kitchen project is just the latest in the garrison of good news emanating from Leah’s determination to solve 3 problems at once—food waste, food insecurity, and the climate crisis.
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