Submitted by Thurston County Solid Waste
What do you end up with when you combine one solid waste division, with one local food bank, 30 schools and 15 restaurants? Fewer hungry people, and a lot less waste. In 2015, what is now known as Thurston Food Rescue, recovered an amazing 63,669 pounds of prepared, but uneaten food to feed to people in need. This food, which was donated to the Thurston County Food Bank, was then repacked into 39,792 healthy ready-to-eat meals that were distributed to 11,067 local families in need.
Thurston Food Rescue is a unique partnership between government, non-profits, school districts, and private businesses. The goal of the program is to rescue surplus edible food to feed to people in need before sent to the landfill. In 2014, close to 28,000 tons of food was thrown away in Thurston County, and an estimated 43% of that food or nearly 12,500 tons was edible food at some point before it was discarded. That makes wasted food the single-largest item by weight in our trash, while at the same time one in six families in the county doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from.
New Partnerships
Thurston Food Rescue has continued to expand and evolve since its beginnings in 2012. Community groups and food-related businesses are forging innovative new to strengthen our local food donation infrastructure and to improve access to nutritious food in Thurston County. One such partnership involves Department of Ecology grant money awarded to Thurston County Solid Waste. With that grant money, the County was able to establish its own grant program, working with satellite food banks, small food pantries, and community meal programs across the County to rescue more food.
The six Thurston Food Rescue Program grantees are Faith Harvest Helpers- Youth with a Mission and Turning Point Church in Lacey, Hidden Creek Church in west Olympia, the Salvation Army in downtown Olympia, the Rochester Organization of Families (ROOF), and South Sound Senior Services’ locations in Olympia, Yelm, and Lacey. All of these organizations are receiving support through this program to acquire new equipment like commercial refrigerators and freezers, and to renovate their facilities so they can safely accept, store, and distribute a lot more perishable food that otherwise would have been landfilled.
Other new partnerships in 2016 include one between ROOF, the Thurston County Food Bank and the Rochester School District. In just the month of April, they rescued 3,465 pounds of food that otherwise would have been thrown away. Also this year, Bon Appetit, the company which runs the dining facilities at St. Martins University, started working together with Catholic Community Services to rescue surplus cafeteria food and food from catered events to prepare dishes that are served in their community meal programs.
Volunteers needed
As the Thurston County Food Rescue Program expands, volunteers will continue to play an important role. The Thurston County Food Bank and satellite sites, as well as the other food pantries and community meal programs, will need more volunteer assistance as food donations increase.
If you are interested in volunteering, or if you are a food service businesses interested in becoming a part of the program, contact Greg Gachowsky with Thurston County Solid Waste at 360-867-2281 or gachowg@co.thurston.wa.us.
