Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank helps fight food waste
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank's rescue and recovery efforts are helping feed people across the area.
"Over 30 percent of the food produced in the United States goes to waste," said Kurt Lindsey, food recovery coordinator for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
And with so many people living with food insecurity, the food bank wanted to come up with a way to rescue some of that food. It's called the Community Table.
There are 400 donors in the program. Each donor is matched with agencies in their community — like shelters, soup kitchens and Meals on Wheels — where they can donate excess food.
"In our 11-county service area on an average day, we're picking up 55,000 pounds of food," said Lindsey.
They get the food from local restaurants, farms and even senior living facilities.
"Our goal has always been to not have a lot of wasted food, but it's inevitable that it's going to happen," said John Rizzo, director of dietary services for UPMC Senior Communities.
So, instead of throwing away leftovers or odds and ends, they keep it.
"We just freeze what's leftover that we feel is something that's nice, but it's not something that we really have enough to do anything else with," said Rizzo.
Then, the food is picked up and delivered.
Rizzo added, "Over the course of I believe the past 10 years, UPMC Senior Communities has donated enough food for about 100,000 meals."
Burgatory is one of the local restaurant groups that participates in the community table.
"Since 2012, we donated over 38,000 pounds, which equates to about 32,000 meals," said Brad Kohut, Burgatory's vice president of restaurant development.
Once a month, Burgatory grills up anywhere from 25 to 50 burgers and donates them, along with toppings and buns. Burgatory also includes fresh salads and house-made potato chips.
Kohut added, "They get a real meal."
All seven of Burgatory's local restaurants participate.
"We're all about the community. We're all about the people. It's not just putting burgers out on the table. It's about doing the right thing on any given day, and we do that with the people around us," said Kohut.
Then, there's Apple Castle in New Wilmington.
"I'm the sixth generation on the farm. We've been growing apples since 1861 here," said Apple Castle's owner Steve Johnston.
After 163 years of growing, Apple Castle has a pretty good idea of how much it can sell. Instead of letting the rest go to waste, it donates to the Community Table.
"This year, we're going to have some excess fuji apples. And so instead of just letting them drop or just kind of dumping them, we're able to send them down to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and they will distribute them to those who need them," said Johnston.
Apple Castle has been a part of the program for nearly 15 years and has been increasing its donations every year. All told, it donates about 125,000 pounds annually of apples and sweet corn, and occasionally, winter squash.
Johnston added, "Partnering with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank has been a blessing to us and we're really thankful to be a blessing to others."
And while the Community Table program is unique, it's just a fraction of the food rescue and recovery work the food bank does. The bulk of it comes from local grocery stores.
"For example, grocery stores don't sell all the food that they stock on their shelves. And when they're pulling it off the shelves, that's typically still wholesome and nutritious food that they don't want to throw away. So, that's where we come in," said Lindsey.
Last year, the food bank rescued more than 20.4 million pounds of food through the Community Table and retail store programs.
Lindsey says that not only helps those in need, it also helps the environment.
"When food is thrown away in a landfill and starts going bad, it releases a greenhouse gas emission, which contributes to our warming climate. For every food that gets donated we're able to calculate the environmental impact of donating that food instead of throwing it out," said Lindsey.
Last year alone, using the donation partnerships, Lindsey said the food bank prevented food waste-related emissions equal to taking 4,000 vehicles off the road for the entire year.
Lindsey said, "By partnering with our donors, we're both able to prevent those emissions and use the food to nourish our community."
And now is your chance to help by making a donation to the KDKA-TV Turkey Fund. Go to any PNC Bank, and they'll match all donations of $50 or more. Or you can donate digitally by texting "KDTURKEY" to 50155 or by going to kdka.com/turkeyfund.
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