Nice work! You’ve made it more than halfway through the 7-Day Challenge and accomplished a lot toward managing food waste in your home.
Today we’re thinking a little bigger—it’s time to get out into the community. While food waste is something we can all tackle in our own homes, it’s also going to take a community effort to solve this problem.
Take some time today to think about how you’d like to show up ito fight community food waste, and sign up for a volunteer shift or two.
Community food waste organizations
Food rescue
Food rescue is the first step in managing community food waste. We need to pick up that surplus food from local restaurants, grocery stores, and farmers markets, and transport it to a site where distribution can happen. Volunteers are needed in a variety of areas, including harvesting, transporting, sorting, repackaging, and distributing surplus food.
Food upcycling
Once that surplus food gets transported, sometimes it needs a little extra preparation and processing before it’s ready for distribution. That’s where the Make Food Not Waste Upcycling Kitchen comes in. Volunteer to help out with food prep, sorting, and distribution efforts at one of two locations in Detroit.
Food distribution
Community fridges are an excellent resource for folks to either donate or access fresh, free food at any time of day. Besides helping keep these fridges stocked, you can also help out by keeping them clean. No need to sign up, just grab some gloves, rags, cleaning solution, and trash bags, and head to the closest fridge.
Schools
If you have a child in school, get involved with helping to reduce community food waste in the cafeteria. There are lots of policies and practices schools can implement to reduce, recover, and recycle food waste, like creating share tables or extending lunch periods. Plus, it’s never too early to talk about conservation and building environmentally sound habits with kids.
Farms and composting
Getting your hands dirty and seeing firsthand all the work that goes into producing and managing our food is bound to change how you think about food waste. Grab your shovel and sign up to volunteer at one of these local farms or compost sites.
Detroit Black Community Food Security Network’s D-Town Farm