Feeding San Diego Launches Feed People, Not Landfills Campaign to Raise Vital Awareness About Food Rescue
Nearly 70% of all food the organization distributed during the pandemic has been rescued
SAN DIEGO (April 1, 2021) — This Earth Month, Feeding San Diego is announcing the launch of Feed People, Not Landfills, a campaign dedicated to educating San Diegans about the importance of food rescue for both people and the planet. Food rescue, or food recovery, is the process of diverting surplus food that would otherwise go to waste. Feeding San Diego’s mission is to connect every person facing hunger with nutritious meals by maximizing food rescue and since March 2020, the organization has distributed more than 32 million meals. Despite disruptions to the food system and the need to purchase more food than ever before to keep up with the rise in need for food assistance, the organization stayed true to its mission: nearly 70 percent of the food it distributed since March 2020 was rescued. In the fiscal year prior to the pandemic, 92 percent of food distributed was rescued.
Funds raised from this campaign will help the organization continue to rescue high quality food from over 600 locations in San Diego County, including grocery stores and retail locations, and over 225 farms and packing sheds throughout California. In its fiscal year 2020, Feeding San Diego diverted more than 27.6 million pounds of high-quality food from going to the landfill, averting 24,578 metric tons of CO2 equivalent from being emitted into the atmosphere (comparable to taking 5,300 cars off the road for one year).
“Despite the catastrophic events of the past year and our continued focus on emergency response, we remain committed to food rescue. Food rescue fulfills a crucial part of our primary mission in feeding people and is key to achieving sustainability in the years to come,” said Bob Kamensky, Chief Strategy Officer of Feeding San Diego. “What people often may not realize is there is plenty of food out there so that no one has to go hungry, but much of it ends up in a landfill.”
According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Food Recovery Hierarchy, feeding hungry people is the second most preferred option after source reduction when it comes to keeping food out of landfills. The organization’s commitment to this mission has earned it recognition from the United Nations Association of San Diego, which has designated it a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Champion, and created a seal to recognize this honor for meeting four of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals: zero hunger (SDG2), responsible consumption and production (SDG12) climate action (SDG13), and partnerships (SDG17). The seal also establishes Feeding San Diego as a local partner of UNA San Diego in its commitment to do its part in implementing the SDGs by 2030.
“We at the local UN Association are proud to endorse this campaign,” said Bettina Hausmann, President and Chairperson of the San Diego Chapter (UNA-USA). “In our advocacy efforts, our work focuses on translating the the big, global concepts of the United Nations into the local context. Over the past six years, this has been particularly related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With Feeding San Diego’s mission to end hunger through food rescue it aligns with this concept of what the United Nations – we as a global community – are set out to accomplish together by 2030.”
The following are ways for the community to get involved:
- David C. Copley Foundation Match up to $25,000 l April 16-22
Double your impact! Between April 16 and 22, all donations to Feeding San Diego will be matched, dollar for dollar up to $25,000. Give online here.
- Virtual Film Screening of Wasted! The Story of Food Waste l Thursday, April 22 from 6 – 8 PM
Join us for a virtual screening of “Wasted! The Story of Food Waste,” a documentary produced by the late Anthony Bourdain that showcases the creative things famous chefs are doing with food to eliminate food waste. Learn how food waste is directly contributing to climate change and how each of us can play a part in solving one of the greatest problems of the 21st century.
- Climate Controller Girl Scouts Patch
A joint effort between Feeding San Diego, Girl Scouts San Diego, and Swinerton Renewable Energy, the Climate Controller patch is a way for youth to learn more about the issue of food waste and how rescue combats climate change. Girl Scouts can earn their Climate Controller patch remotely with simple activities they can do in their own homes, such as taking a no food waste pledge, conducting a food waste audit, making recipes out of food that would otherwise go to waste, and growing vegetables from scraps.
- Join the #KindhumansChallenge on Social Media
San Diegans can join the #KindhumansChallenge to spread kindness for both the earth and people by creatively spelling the word kindness with whatever is around them, then sharing on social media with the hashtag #KindhumansChallenge. For every post shared, local company Kindhumans will donate 20 meals to Feeding San Diego, with a goal of 20,000 meals. Full details can be found here.
