Some of the food picked up by Table to Table at Bloomfield schools, which will be distributed to local community partners who will pass it on to those in need.
Table to Table, a food rescue organization, and the Bloomfield School District have joined forces to reduce food waste and feed those in need with the first ever district-wide food rescue partnership.
As part of the collaboration, surplus meals and snacks from 10 school cafeterias are being rescued weekly by volunteers, and delivered to local community pantries through Table to Table’s I-Rescue App, according to a press release from Table to Table.
“Nearly 3 billion pounds of food is wasted annually in New Jersey while almost 1.1 million people in our state, including 270,000 children, face hunger. Table to Table offers a solution that keeps good, nourishing food out of landfills, and ensures it reaches the dinner tables of families, senior citizens, and other folks facing food insecurity,” said Heather Thompson, a Bloomfield native and executive director of Table to Table. “We work with food businesses of all types and sizes, but it’s especially inspiring to see our schools and students stepping up to help in this way, especially as a Bloomfield resident and Franklin School parent myself. Through our collaboration with the District, we’ve already rescued enough food for over 7,000 meals since our launch last month – and those meals and snacks go right to our neighbors in need.”
The participating Bloomfield Schools include Berkeley School; Bloomfield High School; Bloomfield Middle School; Brookdale School; Carteret School; Demarest School; Fairview School; Franklin School; Oak View School, and Watsessing School.
“It is with great pride that the efforts of our Bloomfield Schools–in partnership with Table to Table–will not only help our local communities but also our planet,” said Salvatore Goncalves, Bloomfield superintendent of schools. “To be the first school in the district to accomplish this feat demonstrates true leadership.”
The Franklin School has leveraged this partnership with a comprehensive calendar of student engagement, focusing on food waste reduction and food insecurity literacy, including a lunchtime cafeteria “audit” to better understand food waste in the school and beyond, a food drive to collect fresh produce for the community, and a series of interactive learning centers focused on educating and empowering students about food insecurity and reducing food waste, the release said.
“I am incredibly proud of our Franklin School students, community, and faculty, especially our Kindergarten teachers, Michele Topolski and Janelle Acosta, who are the driving force behind our commitment to reducing food waste,” said Marianne Abbasso, principal of Franklin Elementary School. “The positive impact that this partnership and the classroom activities will have on our community certainly reinforces the adage, that “all you really need to know… you learned in kindergarten.”
Table to Table brings rescued food to more than 300 community partners, including social service organizations, pantries, shelters, fresh produce markets and centralized distribution hubs. Food is provided free of charge.
Since 1999, the organization has rescued more than 120,700 tons of food—enough for 241,400,846 million meals—and delivered it to people in need while saving more than 544 metric tons of methane from impacting the environment.
To volunteer in picking up surplus food from the Bloomfield Schools and delivering it to local pantries, go to https://tabletotable.org.
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