Fight food waste and feed people

Approximately 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted every year. Food Recovery Network (FRN) is a national organization that works to reduce the amount of food that is wasted by recovering it and donating it to those in need, thereby working towards also eradicating hunger in the United States. The Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) chapter was founded in October 2014 by students Sara Ahmed, Shadi Ahmadmehrabi and Faraaz Hussain, and in that time, has managed to recover and donate over 8,000 lbs. of food.

The organization’s first chapter was founded in 2011 by students at University of Maryland, College Park, with the goal of uniting “students on college campuses to fight food waste and hunger by recovering perishable food that would otherwise go to waste from their campuses and communities and donating it to people in need.” Since its inception, FRN has recovered and donated more than 1.8 million pounds of food, and opened 210 chapters in 44 states.

Ahmed, Ahmadmehrabi and Hussain recognized the amount of food that was being wasted on campus and Uptown, CWRU’s surrounding neighborhood, and inspired by the simplicity of the organization’s methods, they decided to start CWRU’s own chapter of FRN.

“We wanted to make the connection between what’s on campus and what’s five minutes away,” Ahmadmehrabi said in an interview last year. Just outside of the CWRU bubble are some of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Cleveland, which FRN hopes to change.

The organization began by recovering food from a few places on and around campus, starting with Einstein Bros. Bagels and Panera Bread, and volunteering every weekend at the Westside Catholic Center.

One of the first major decisions they made was to partner with the university’s food service provider, Bon Appetit Management. Through this partnership, they have been able to raise awareness on campus about their cause through events at CWRU’s two dining halls.

FRN chooses one night a semester to replace the dining hall trash bins with clear, plastic bins, and stations volunteers nearby to ensure that different types of waste go into their respective containers. The next morning, Bon Appetit staff creates a display of all the food waste that was generated the previous night.

“You’re able to see how much food was wasted in just the three-hour period, and it’s very eye opening for everyone,” said Naveen Rehman, vice president of FRN at CWRU. “Everyone is able to visualize ... what food waste actually looks like …. I think people really begin to realize that this is the impact that their actions make.”

FRN is also a key member of the Food Forum, which includes groups with similar goals, such as Slow Food at CWRU, Food Law and Policy Society, Advocates for Cleveland Health and the University Food Committee. From this grew the university’s first Food Week in spring 2016, during which FRN worked to increase awareness about the food issues on campus, in the community, and around the world.

Today, FRN has become one of the most impactful and connected student organizations on campus; they recover food from most dining places on campus, and are very quickly expanding to restaurants in Uptown Cleveland. They now also volunteer at the St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church soup kitchen every weekend, where students help prepare a meal and distribute food to families.

“People are able to take one or two sandwiches with them when they leave. That makes big difference for people who are food insecure,” commented Rehman.

The chapter has also partnered with the CWRU School of Medicine to emphasize the importance of health education by holding brief information sessions on medical issues such as gout and strokes. These sessions are held at the soup kitchen by medical students. For the past year, FRN has used this initiative to help members of the community who may not have access to quality healthcare and health education.

FRN hopes to change campus and community culture by making their practices the norm. “One in six Americans is food insecure, and I think if FRN wasn’t looked at as a revolutionary solution but as a normal thing to do, I think we would all really better our community,” said Rehman.

“There’s no need to throw away food when so many people in your own community are going hungry.”

FRN thrives on student involvement and has many ways for students on campus to participate.

Volunteering with FRN is easy, and shifts only last about 20 to 30 minutes during the week, and about two hours on the weekend at the soup kitchen.

Volunteering is flexible and volunteers can sign up for shifts when their schedules permit. This encourages more people to volunteer with FRN.

Getting involved is also as simple as signing up to be on the mailing list. Students can also attend FRN’s general body meetings, “Anyone who is interested in the general body meetings is welcome to come, whether they are old volunteers or new ones.” Rehman encouraged.