Sunday Morning Spotlight: Cultivate Food Rescue

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - Cultivate Food Rescue stopped by the station for our Sunday Morning Spotlight to tell us how their mission to reduce food waste and food insecurity for kids in Michiana is growing faster than ever.

Just a few weeks ago they hit a big milestone when they rescued their 2-millionth pound of food.

Rescued food is repurposed to make easy-to-heat, nutritious meals for school kids in their Backpack Program who don’t always know where their next meal will come from.

Notre Dame is one of their closest partners in their growing network of organizations that would rather see their food rescued than go to waste.

It took Cultivate nearly three and a half years to rescue their first million pounds of food, but it only took them ten months to rescue their second.

“Certainly we’re a locally grown solution around food waste and food insecurity. We do believe we’re building a model that can be transplanted other places. In every community, there are grocery stores, and universities, and schools, even catering companies in which food is going to waste. So what we’re doing is building a food hub and logistics between those businesses and people who are hungry in our community,” said Cultivate Food Rescue Executive Director Jim Conklin.

You can head to their website to find out how to join their network of volunteers.

You can also help them grow their social network by following their new Twitter account.

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