Feed People, Not Landfills with RLC

We appreciate the outpouring of generosity and encouragement our supporters like you have provided to put RLC on track for our most impactful year yet.  Your support during the first half of the year has helped put us on a trajectory to rescue over 4.5 million pounds of food by year's end, providing more than 3.7 million meals to individuals and families across the country who are facing food insecurity.  We are very excited about these figures, but we know that the numbers alone do not tell the story of the impact of our supporters' contributions to RLC.  To help shed light on how our food rescues are supporting people in need every day, we want to share the following anecdote from one of our partners that provides permanent housing for low-income men and women coming out of the shelter system...

The staff at the partner organization explained that one-third of the building comes every Friday looking forward to food donations from RLC. They also remember a time during the pandemic when the Friday food donations temporarily stopped, and recall when residents continually asked when the donations would return. Thankfully, RLC now donates to this partner organization on both Thursdays and Fridays, providing baked goods from Levain Bakery and catered meal trays from a company called Retool. Recently, the staff has seen an uptick in food insecurity, with residents of the building even traveling to different neighborhoods seeking lower food prices at the grocery store.  RLC's food donations are making a huge difference to help these residents get back on their feet and break the cycle of poverty.

In addition to rescuing more food than ever in our organization's history, we've also made big efforts to build the capacity of our newer branches including Los Angeles and Chicago.  These branches are quickly becoming substantial parts of our food rescue totals and continue to grow at fast rates.

There were many highlights of the second quarter of 2024 which helped make it one to remember.  Some highlights include:

• Rescuing food from two Major League Baseball stadiums, Citi Field in New York and Fenway Park in Boston
• Increasing the number of large-scale donations, rescuing a variety of food from winter melon to frozen fish
• Onboarding another food rescue location with one of our most numerous food donors, Pret A Manger, rescuing food from their locations in Los Angeles 
• Holding our annual gala that brought together celebrity chefs and RLC supporters to celebrate RLC and raise funds to continue growing our operations
• Representing RLC and innovative food rescue at the 2024 ReRED Food Waste Summit in Baltimore

As we continue to grow, we remain thankful for each contribution that is made to support our mission to be the critical link between excess food and the people who need it most.  We understand that addressing food insecurity is a monumental task, but it has been shown that there is more than enough food produced to eliminate hunger.  That is why we are working to divert high-quality excess food from landfills to the people who need it most, and every contribution of funding, encouragement, connections, and other resources from supporters like you helps us get one step closer to creating a world where food insecurity is a thing of the past!

Links:

• RLC's Website
• RLC's Instagram
• RLC's LinkedIn

Thank you so much for your generosity, which has allowed us to rescue over 1.25 million pounds of excess food in the first three months of 2024. Thanks to your donations, we were able to have a record January and then a record February, with over 553,000 pounds of food rescued in a single month. You have helped us achieve our most impactful quarter ever, creating more food donor partnerships and rescuing the most food of any quarter in our organization's history. Our momentum continues to build thanks to your generous donations. Thank you so much!! 

Just last October, the USDA reported that food insecurity was trending in the wrong direction. The number of people living in food insecure households in the US increased to 44 million, including 13 million children. This was an increase of 31% for all individuals and 44% for children from the previous year. This was the highest rate and number of individuals and children since 2014, and also the largest one-year increase in food insecurity in over 14 years. We produce enough food to feed everyone, and we are on a mission to ensure that all excess food is donated rather than thrown away. By growing our operation, we hope to be a small part of reversing this trend and create a world in which all excess food is donated rather than thrown away. Thank you for joining us on this journey!