Food Security United States Project #58211

Feed People, Not Landfills with RLC

by Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, Inc.

Project Report | Apr 1, 2024
A Record First Quarter: Rescuing Leftover Cuisine

By Robert Lee | CEO

The Kindness Campaign distributes food donated

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!

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Dec 14, 2023
Rescuing over 3 million pounds of food in 2023

By Bret Carr | Development Manager

Thank you so much to all the Rescuing Leftover Cuisine supporters for their generosity to help us rescue almost 4 million pounds of excess food in 2023, providing over 3 million meals to individuals and families facing food insecurity. You have helped us achieve our most impactful year ever, creating more food donor partnerships and rescuing the most food of any year in our organization's history. Another noteable achievement our supporters helped us achieve in 2023 was launching a new branch in Los Angeles! We are quickly developing new food donor partners in the area, growing our scope and impact across our newest branch as well as many others across the US.

Each food rescue we perform not only reduces the amount of quality food that goes to waste, it provides nourishment for people who don't know where their next meal will come from. We are honored to be able to support each person who receives food from our rescues, and behind each meal is a story. We have been working hard to highlight some of the recipients of our meals, volunteers rescuers who deliver the food, and partner organizations who help us distribute the food. Below you can see some success stories and testimonials from the people and organizations involved in our work.

Chicago Success Story: We’re partnered with the Urban Farm program at Chicago Lights, which helps local youth develop technical farming skills while providing food for their community. In addition to the meals they provide from the farm, they also repackage RLC food donations into individual meal sized bags that are vacuum sealed and then redistributed to the community. The staff have gone out of their way to thank RLC for the donations. They’ve seen a big increase in the need for food assistance in their community in recent months and they’ve been able to help meet that demand thanks to our donations. In addition to feeding their local community, they have recently started using our food donations to help feed migrant and refugee families staying in hotels in the Chicago area.

Quote from NYC Volunteer: “Why do I love RLC…it's the first time in my life that I’ve found an organization that does the kind of work that aligns with something that I’ve been through. I experienced food insecurity in my early 20s, food pantries and welfare. It brings together people that wouldn’t otherwise come together with different backgrounds to transport excess food. I’ll be a part of it for as long as I’m here.”

Quote from Massachusetts Nonprofit Recipient Partner: “Let me also take this opportunity to express my gratitude for this program! We have a number of parents that eat very little in order to prioritize feeding their kids and these leftovers are giving them that extra bit that they need and they are very appreciative. I am super grateful to be able to work together to provide our families with this support and also be a part of eliminating food waste”

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Aug 16, 2023
Rescuing Leftover Cuisine update report

By Bret Carr | Development Manager

Rescuing Leftover Cuisine's project "Feed People, Not Landfills" has raised over $40,000 to support our programs that pick up high-quality excess food from food businesses and deliver it to people facing food insecurity. The $40,081 that we have raised through GlobalGiving from January 1st to Aug 16th, 2023 has allowed us to rescue over 480,000 pounds of food and provide 400,810 meals to families and individuals facing food insecurity.

Our model consists of partnering with direct-service organizations that help us identify the recipients of our food donations which include families and individuals facing food insecurity and cover all demographics from children to seniors. We mobilize volunteers to pick-up the food from our food donor partners (which include cafes, cafeterias, caterers, event venues, farms, grocery stores, and restaurants) and deliver it to our nonprofit recipient partners (which include homeless shelters, transitional housing programs, senior centers, community centers, youth development programs, and wrap-around service organizations) who serve the meals to their clients who are facing food insecurity. Our programs are located across the country in nine different states including CA, IL, GA, MA, NJ, NY, OH, RI, and TX.

The $40,081 that we have raised from GlobalGiving has supported the various regions where we work and has allowed us to deepen our partnerships with more than 150 food donors and 100 direct-service organizations that we partner with to distribute over 480,000 pounds of high-quality excess food that would otherwise be thrown away. As food prices have continued to rise, food insecurity has also increased and our services are in high demand. To meet the rising demand we have partnered with more than 25 new food donor partners who donate their food on a regular or one-time basis, and we will continue partnering with more food donors to deliver their high-quality excess food to families and individuals in their region facing food insecurity.

To provide more context on the personal impact of our programs, we have listed quotes that we have received from our direct-service nonprofit partners and volunteers.

“Let me also take this opportunity to express my gratitude for this program! We have a number of parents that eat very little in order to prioritize feeding their kids and these leftovers are giving them that extra bit that they need and they are very appreciative. I am super grateful to be able to work together to provide our families with this support and also be a part of eliminating food waste”-Direct Service Nonprofit Partner

“Why do I love RLC…it's the first time in my life that I’ve found an organization that does the kind of work that aligns with something that I’ve been through. I experienced food insecurity in my early 20s, food pantries and welfare. It brings together people that wouldn’t otherwise come together with different backgrounds to transport excess food. I’ll be a part of it for as long as I’m here.” -Volunteer

Our guests are cancer patients who have to live here for 6-8 weeks during treatment. They come from all over the world! Our guests rave about the artisan bread they are able to use from you guys! It makes a hard situation a bit nicer when there are beautiful donations like this!!” -Direct Service Nonprofit Partner

“We were able to go out into the community and share with the homeless, individuals experiencing food insecurity, as well as newly arrived immigrants sleeping at the Chicago police stations. The gentlemen receiving multiple quiches reported having children they needed help feeding and as you can see the smiles on their faces say it all. RLC donations provide an opportunity to fill-in the gap for those who are struggling to meet their nutritional needs.” -Direct Service Nonprofit Partner

“My weekly morning rescue is full of smiles. The people at Panera are happy the leftover bread is not going to the landfill and the people at the West End Community Center are grateful for the donation. It’s a happy way to start the day” -Volunteer

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