Partners
Food Rescue Collaborative is inspired to unite various platforms in the regional food rescue system to work together effectively. Each partner agency is unique in that we all have different systems, models and capabilities, but the magic is that we all work together united by the same mission. We will break down the silos that keep nutritious food from reaching people in an equitable manner. Using real time data we will ensure communities are equitably serviced according to their needs
Photo courtesy of Bob Durling
Food Link
Food Link is a community organization that rescues fresh food, alleviates hunger, and contributes to environmental sustainability. Food Link rescues surplus food from local retailers, wholesalers, and farms and delivers it to local community organizations throughout Greater Boston and Eastern Massachusetts. The rescued food is distributed to recipient agencies that nourish some of the most vulnerable residents: children, families, and older adults facing food insecurity, those living in low-income housing and transitional housing, and those experiencing homelessness. Since Food Link’s inception in 2012, Food Link has rescued over 5 million pounds of food.
Lovin’ Spoonfuls
At Lovin’ Spoonfuls’, our team of professionally trained, ServSafe-certified Food Rescue Coordinators picks up food that would otherwise be discarded from grocery stores, wholesalers, farms, and farmers’ markets and distributes it, same-day, to nonprofits serving people facing food insecurity. We operate in around 50 cities and towns across Massachusetts from Greater Boston to MetroWest to Hampden County, west of Worcester. Food Rescue Coordinators work assigned routes and build strong, often longstanding, relationships with vendors and nonprofit partners in order to source food to best meet the dietary and cultural needs of our end-users. Since 2010, we’ve distributed over 21 million pounds of fresh, healthy food to neighbors in need. In addition, our food and nutrition education program, Plenty, teaches nonprofit partners and end-users to better utilize the rescued foods they receive, further mitigating the risk that good food will go to waste.
Boston Area Gleaners
The mission of Boston Area Gleaners is to support an equitable, just, and sustainable local food system. The Gleaners build innovative partnerships with local organizations and businesses to bridge food distribution gaps, improve healthy food access, prevent on-farm food waste, and create new markets for locally grown produce. The organization has been at the leading edge of farm-level food recovery work since they began in 2004 as an all-volunteer gleaning group—harvesting surplus food from farms for residents facing food-insecurity. Now, in collaboration with volunteers, full-time staff, and partner nonprofits and businesses, they distribute millions of pounds of produce throughout the region each year. The Gleaners’ vision is to sustain a permanent agricultural supply chain that will improve the health and viability of local farms and populations who have historically suffered from inequity in the food system.
Daily Table
Daily Table is a nonprofit community grocer dedicated to providing fresh, tasty, convenient and nutritious food to communities most in need at prices everyone can afford. Daily Table offers fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and fish, dairy, and pantry staples priced 25-35% lower than other grocery stores. The Daily Table commissary kitchen prepares a wide variety of nutritious, delicious heat-and-serve meals made from scratch. SNAP users get $10 of fruit and vegetables for $5 through the Double Up Food Bucks program every time they shop. Customers can shop online for delivery or pickup, and get free delivery within 2 miles of our stores!
Founded in 2012 by Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s, Daily Table has three locations in Dorchester’s Codman Square, Roxbury’s Nubian Square, and its newest location in Cambridge’s Central Square.
About Fresh
Who we are: We are on a mission to strengthen communities by getting fresh food to the households that need it most.
Our Story: It all started while Josh was working as a health educator at the MGH Charlestown Healthcare Center. He kept hearing from his families that it was difficult to shop for healthy food — at that time, the only grocery store in the neighborhood was shutting down for a year-long renovation. The health center had no way of solving for the fact that patients didn’t have access to the food they needed to stay healthy. It was this experience that inspired Fresh Truck to rethink the traditional grocery store model, make it mobile and bring food closer to the people that need it the most. In 2018, we expanded our efforts to address health disparities by developing Fresh Connect, a platform that makes it possible for health care providers to prescribe food as medicine. We have a big vision for the future of food and healthcare, and we are only just getting started.
Visit our website at https://www.aboutfresh.org
Food Rescue US
At Food Rescue US, our motto is simple: Be The Rescue.
We are committed to reducing food waste and insecurity in America. Using our web-based app, we engage volunteers to transfer surplus fresh food from grocers, restaurants, farmers markets and other sources directly to social service agencies that feed people in need.
Food Rescue US - Boston was established in summer of 2022 and has already completed over 2000 food rescues. We empower our community to help improve local food insecurity by reducing senseless waste.
Please visit our website at https://foodrescue.us/
Community Players
Other organizations and individuals doing great work in the Greater Boston Area: