Food Rescue
The Vallejo Food Rescue Project is a collaboration between Food is Free Bay Area and Sustainable Solano.
With funding from the EPA’s Collaborative Justice Problem Solving Grant, the project will partner with other community-based organizations in Vallejo and seek to coordinate a robust, hyper-local food rescue operation. Extra food from neighborhood gleaning initiatives, college cafeterias, small and large catering companies, and other providers will be diverted from the landfill directly to communities most impacted by COVID-19 and other systemic inequalities.
Through a series of community meetings, the project will incorporate feedback from a diverse audience of donors and recipients to develop the network and a piece of supporting technology to expedite the exchange of food (an app!).
Our hope is that this pilot project will lead to future expansion throughout the county to support the giving and receiving of food by community members.
What is Food Rescue?
SB 1383, California’s Short-Lived Climate Pollution Reduction Law, calls for diverting organic waste away from landfills, with excess food going first to people, then to animal feed and finally to composting.
Food rescue programs seek to get excess food to people first, and the Vallejo Food Rescue Project will make that connection within communities and support it through an app that can pair food donors with recipients.
What Can I Do Now?
While the Vallejo Food Rescue Project is still in development, there are ways you can help divert food from the landfill or get access to food today!
Find out more about food rescue, resources and more at Food is Free Bay Area’s website here.
Learn More Here
From Backyard Fruit Trees to a Community Gleaning Network
Syrus is a college freshman from Vallejo who recently completed her Girl Scout Gold Award to revitalize, strengthen and make sustainable gleaning efforts to get food that would otherwise go to waste to people who can use it. The Gold Award is the highest award a Girl Scout can achieve. Here, she shares about her project.