Imagine a farm that spans 80 million acres. This farm uses all the water produced in California, Texas and Ohio combined; it harvests enough food to fill a 40-ton tractor-trailer every 20 seconds. But instead of being purchased, prepared and eaten, this food — all perfectly good — is taken to a landfill, where it will produce greenhouse gasses until it decomposes.
This hypothetical farm, first theorized by multi-stakeholder nonprofit ReFED, is based upon the fact that 40% of all food in the U.S. is thrown away. That translates to more than 1.7 trillion apples and 1 billion bags of potatoes — or enough food to fill a farm three-quarters the size of California.
An organization called 412 Food Rescue is working to change that.
According to CEO and Co-Founder Leah Lizarondo, 412 Food Rescue got its start in 2015, and its mission is two-fold: preventing food from being wasted and redistributing it to those who need it most.
“In 2012, the National Resource Defense Council released this report called ‘Wasted.’ It was the first major report from a major research organization that brought to life the fact that we’re wasting half of our food supply,” she said. “On the other side of that, we know that there’s so many that don’t know where their next meal is coming from. We talk ... about GMOs — how can we make more food? But why are we making more food if we have enough food to feed everyone three or four times over?”
This hypothetical farm, first theorized by multi-stakeholder nonprofit ReFED, is based upon the fact that 40% of all food in the U.S. is thrown away. That translates to more than 1.7 trillion apples and 1 billion bags of potatoes — or enough food to fill a farm three-quarters the size of California.
An organization called 412 Food Rescue is working to change that.
According to CEO and Co-Founder Leah Lizarondo, 412 Food Rescue got its start in 2015, and its mission is two-fold: preventing food from being wasted and redistributing it to those who need it most.
“In 2012, the National Resource Defense Council released this report called ‘Wasted.’ It was the first major report from a major research organization that brought to life the fact that we’re wasting half of our food supply,” she said. “On the other side of that, we know that there’s so many that don’t know where their next meal is coming from. We talk ... about GMOs — how can we make more food? But why are we making more food if we have enough food to feed everyone three or four times over?”
The organization currently exists in six other cities under slightly different names; Philadelphia's branch is called Philly Food Rescue, for example, and San Francisco Food Runners services the region of northern California. It also has a presence in Cleveland, northern Virginia, Vancouver and Los Angeles.
“Our goal is to be in 100 cities in 10 years,” Lizarondo said. “This year, we’re probably going to be in 12 cities, and then 10 cities every year after that.”
According to Lizarondo, 412 Food Rescue works in a way that was inspired by popular ride-sharing services; one of about 8,000 drivers will pick up leftover or unused food from one location, and then deliver it to a local organization that distributes it to various nonprofits, which in turn provide for the food insecure. Volunteers organize and obtain information on pick-up and drop-off locations through an app called Food Rescue Hero.
“If Uber can mobilize tens of thousands of drivers and change the way we do things, why can’t we do the same thing but for something else?” she said.
Typically, the drop-off location is within five miles of the pick-up location. Often, it’s even closer; food from Pittsburgh’s Point Park University, for instance, is usually taken to Wood Street Commons, a shelter less than a minute away.
In April 2019, 412 Food Rescue released its second impact report, documenting the effect its efforts have had on Allegheny County and surrounding regions. The report detailed challenges specific to the Pittsburgh region; only 33% of households reporting an annual income of less than $25,000 are near high-frequency public transit lines with full-day service, and only a quarter of households without access to vehicles are near high-frequency transit with full-day service.
In 2015, the State Smart Transportation Initiative reported that food insecure households are more than three times as likely to walk, bike or take transit to their primary food retailer, but Lizarondo explained that transporting food items like non-perishable cans can be heavy, making transportation matters more difficult.
This is a gap that 412 Food Rescue hopes to bridge.
Through partnering with authorities, subsidized daycare centers, senior centers, after-school programs and community centers that are already accessed by families every day, 412 Food Rescue eliminates the need for people to make another trip to a food pantry. According to the impact report, this dissolves the transportation and time barriers that those living with limited mobility often face.
The report also explains that 412 Food Rescue has created “a highly resilient food surplus transport and distribution network.” In creating new food access points beyond existing pantries, the organization has put more than 100,000 people within a 15-minute walk of food access — 13,300 of whom live below the poverty line.
Through a partnership with Zipcar, the organization also ensures that volunteers who want to help but don’t have access to personal transportation themselves can rent one for free for an hour, according to Lizarondo.
With a 99% service level, 412 Food Rescue only misses 1% of available resources; from March 2015 to February 2019, volunteers have rescued and redistributed 5,630,746 pounds of food. This is equivalent to 4,692,288 meals, with a retail value of about $14,076,865, according to the impact report.
But Lizarondo said food waste is still a problem. While she believes a large part of the solution is electing the right people who can protect the interests of the food insecure, troubles arise when individuals aren’t aware of how they can limit their own excess.
About 27 million tons — or 43% — of all unused food coming from homes, individuals contribute the most food waste. Institutions like universities, grocery stores and hospitals come in second place, with 40% — or 25 million tons — of good food getting thrown out. The best way an individual can reduce their waste, according to Lizarondo, is to educate themselves.
“Those [expiration] dates mean nothing; don’t reach in the back of the milk aisle to get the milk with the last expiration date, because those dates are unregulated,” she said. “Buy only what you need. When you go to a buffet, just take what you want and what you can consume.”
Lizarondo, who came to New York City from the Philippines after receiving a degree in business from Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, later settled in Pittsburgh to attend Carnegie Mellon. There, she received a graduate degree in Public Policy & Technology.
She was inspired to start 412 Food Rescue in part by the statistics she found daunting, and in part because of the narratives she heard from her parents and family members while growing up.
While she never experienced food insecurity herself, her father, Gani, grew up in poverty, shining shoes as a young boy. Her mother, Aida, told stories about aunts who would argue over which one of them could wear shoes to go to school — their family only had one pair.
These accounts, as well as Lizarondo’s experiences as a woman of color, have influenced her career path and put her in service of the underserved, though she hardly considers herself a hero. The key to success, she said, is to be heartfelt and humble.
“All of the successful founders that I’ve known have been successful … because they have a passion for it,” she said. “You [also] have to have enormous humility in terms of what you need to learn and what you need to change in yourself to be able to drive a team.”
Lizarondo said that certain circumstances — mainly funding woes and different weather-related and geographical challenges like snow in Pittsburgh, traffic in Los Angeles and a lack of parking in New York City — can make it difficult to operate 412 Food Rescue and organizations like it. But she said her family’s success story reminds her that it’s certainly possible.
“Anyone can do anything if you put your mind to it.”
Ollie Gratzinger is a senior journalism major at Duquesne University. They are the editor-in-chief of Duquesne's student newspaper, The Duke, and the vice president of Duquesne's chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. They have bylines in Pittsburgh Magazine and City Paper, and have produced award-winning journalistic work, including a weekly column, which received the PA News Media Foundation's first-place Keystone Award in 2019. Ollie was a recipient of a 2020 Dow Jones Fund Internship and will be working as a multiplatform editing intern at the New York Times next summer. Outside of journalism, Ollie enjoys Doctor Who, Star Trek, traveling and Earl Grey tea.
What the judges said:
“Our goal is to be in 100 cities in 10 years,” Lizarondo said. “This year, we’re probably going to be in 12 cities, and then 10 cities every year after that.”
According to Lizarondo, 412 Food Rescue works in a way that was inspired by popular ride-sharing services; one of about 8,000 drivers will pick up leftover or unused food from one location, and then deliver it to a local organization that distributes it to various nonprofits, which in turn provide for the food insecure. Volunteers organize and obtain information on pick-up and drop-off locations through an app called Food Rescue Hero.
“If Uber can mobilize tens of thousands of drivers and change the way we do things, why can’t we do the same thing but for something else?” she said.
Typically, the drop-off location is within five miles of the pick-up location. Often, it’s even closer; food from Pittsburgh’s Point Park University, for instance, is usually taken to Wood Street Commons, a shelter less than a minute away.
In April 2019, 412 Food Rescue released its second impact report, documenting the effect its efforts have had on Allegheny County and surrounding regions. The report detailed challenges specific to the Pittsburgh region; only 33% of households reporting an annual income of less than $25,000 are near high-frequency public transit lines with full-day service, and only a quarter of households without access to vehicles are near high-frequency transit with full-day service.
In 2015, the State Smart Transportation Initiative reported that food insecure households are more than three times as likely to walk, bike or take transit to their primary food retailer, but Lizarondo explained that transporting food items like non-perishable cans can be heavy, making transportation matters more difficult.
This is a gap that 412 Food Rescue hopes to bridge.
Through partnering with authorities, subsidized daycare centers, senior centers, after-school programs and community centers that are already accessed by families every day, 412 Food Rescue eliminates the need for people to make another trip to a food pantry. According to the impact report, this dissolves the transportation and time barriers that those living with limited mobility often face.
The report also explains that 412 Food Rescue has created “a highly resilient food surplus transport and distribution network.” In creating new food access points beyond existing pantries, the organization has put more than 100,000 people within a 15-minute walk of food access — 13,300 of whom live below the poverty line.
Through a partnership with Zipcar, the organization also ensures that volunteers who want to help but don’t have access to personal transportation themselves can rent one for free for an hour, according to Lizarondo.
With a 99% service level, 412 Food Rescue only misses 1% of available resources; from March 2015 to February 2019, volunteers have rescued and redistributed 5,630,746 pounds of food. This is equivalent to 4,692,288 meals, with a retail value of about $14,076,865, according to the impact report.
But Lizarondo said food waste is still a problem. While she believes a large part of the solution is electing the right people who can protect the interests of the food insecure, troubles arise when individuals aren’t aware of how they can limit their own excess.
About 27 million tons — or 43% — of all unused food coming from homes, individuals contribute the most food waste. Institutions like universities, grocery stores and hospitals come in second place, with 40% — or 25 million tons — of good food getting thrown out. The best way an individual can reduce their waste, according to Lizarondo, is to educate themselves.
“Those [expiration] dates mean nothing; don’t reach in the back of the milk aisle to get the milk with the last expiration date, because those dates are unregulated,” she said. “Buy only what you need. When you go to a buffet, just take what you want and what you can consume.”
Lizarondo, who came to New York City from the Philippines after receiving a degree in business from Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, later settled in Pittsburgh to attend Carnegie Mellon. There, she received a graduate degree in Public Policy & Technology.
She was inspired to start 412 Food Rescue in part by the statistics she found daunting, and in part because of the narratives she heard from her parents and family members while growing up.
While she never experienced food insecurity herself, her father, Gani, grew up in poverty, shining shoes as a young boy. Her mother, Aida, told stories about aunts who would argue over which one of them could wear shoes to go to school — their family only had one pair.
These accounts, as well as Lizarondo’s experiences as a woman of color, have influenced her career path and put her in service of the underserved, though she hardly considers herself a hero. The key to success, she said, is to be heartfelt and humble.
“All of the successful founders that I’ve known have been successful … because they have a passion for it,” she said. “You [also] have to have enormous humility in terms of what you need to learn and what you need to change in yourself to be able to drive a team.”
Lizarondo said that certain circumstances — mainly funding woes and different weather-related and geographical challenges like snow in Pittsburgh, traffic in Los Angeles and a lack of parking in New York City — can make it difficult to operate 412 Food Rescue and organizations like it. But she said her family’s success story reminds her that it’s certainly possible.
“Anyone can do anything if you put your mind to it.”
Ollie Gratzinger is a senior journalism major at Duquesne University. They are the editor-in-chief of Duquesne's student newspaper, The Duke, and the vice president of Duquesne's chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. They have bylines in Pittsburgh Magazine and City Paper, and have produced award-winning journalistic work, including a weekly column, which received the PA News Media Foundation's first-place Keystone Award in 2019. Ollie was a recipient of a 2020 Dow Jones Fund Internship and will be working as a multiplatform editing intern at the New York Times next summer. Outside of journalism, Ollie enjoys Doctor Who, Star Trek, traveling and Earl Grey tea.
What the judges said:
- The winning entry drew in the judges with its lead explaining the vast extent of food waste and then introduced Leah Lizarondo and her 412 Food Rescue in a clear well developed feature.
- For me, the first-place article stood out immediately because of its compelling lede, which does a great job of explaining the need for 412 Food Rescue.
- I really like the excellent use of direct quotes in the article. It allows Leah Lizarondo tell the story in her own words but does not come across as a Q&A. The article includes all of the information needed to get a sense of how 412 Food Rescue works, has good transitions and is easy to read. I also am impressed by how the writer provides a lot of statistics in an easy-to-digest way.