San Diego Unified donates 7,000 pounds of food for community hunger relief efforts
San Diego Unified's Food and Nutrition Services has been piloting a new program, Love Food Not Waste, that allows leftover food from the school meal program to be diverted from the landfill to local organizations facing food shortages.
In February, the pilot program rescued more than 7,000 pounds of food, equating to more than 5,900 recovered meals. (YTD: 25,500 recovered meals)
The Love Food Not Waste Program is a partnership between San Diego Unified and Feeding San Diego. Feeding San Diego coordinates with additional local partners, such as the San Diego Rescue Mission and a number of smaller organizations who are given the opportunity to pick up food surplus from San Diego Unified school prep kitchens.
The new program has already had a positive impact on the community at the Troy Center for Supportive Learning. The Troy Center for Supportive Learning is a care facility for adults with chronic mental illness and disabling conditions, and the high quality meal donations they are now receiving through San Diego Unified's program has allowed them to use their limited funds to address other pressing operational needs.
San Diego Unified is hoping to expand the program to all of the district's food prep kitchens.
Students at Hoover High School recently helped gather surplus food for delivery to several hunger relief organizations. Check out the news coverage:
San Diego Union Tribune
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Photo courtesy of the San Diego Union Tribune