Too Good To Go and Second Servings tackle food waste
The two organizations address food insecurity through similar means: reducing food waste by utilizing leftover food.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Hundreds of thousands of Mississippians don’t have enough food.
This is especially troubling considering Feeding America estimates over 92 billion pounds of food are wasted in the US each year.
That’s why programs that tackle food waste are a welcome addition.
Like Too Good to Go, an app that offers leftover food at a discounted price.
Jazmyn Gaines, the Shipley Do-Nuts manager said they are the first local business to sign on because they saw how many donuts they were throwing away.
“At the end of the day, we typically throw away a good bit of donuts,” Gaines said.
Gaines said she has lived in a community where people couldn’t afford luxuries at full price.
Which makes providing this service especially rewarding.
“I know in this day and age, and this time, that it’s hard to want to treat yourself,” Gaines said. “But this allows them to be able to treat themselves.”
Another organization that is tackling food insecurity through reducing food waste is Starkville Strong.
Their Second Servings program takes leftover food from restaurants and sororities and distributes it to those in need.
This group effort is a novel solution to a lack of public funds addressing food insecurity said Brandi Herrington, the founder and executive director of Starkville Strong.
“Being able to find enough crowd sourcing funding money to buy food to redistribute is is not easy right now,” Herrington said. “So figuring out a way to be resourceful and to crowdsource and creatively problem solve this issue is the way to go.”
Herrington said Second Servings has been a huge success.
“We’ve been able to distribute over 32,000 meals saving about 60,000 pounds or more from going into the garbage,” Herrington said.
Herrington said their program is meant to help people in any food insecure situation.
“It might not be every day that they don’t have enough to eat,” Herrington said. “It might just be a tough month or a tough couple of months. And so that’s why we’re here, to fill in those gaps.”
18 million US households faced food insecurity at some point in 2023.
