Here’s what 250lbs of recovered food waste looks like. Instead of the dumpster, it’s going to feed 90 people. #StopHunger

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image showing Here’s what 250lbs of recovered food waste looks like. Instead of the dumpster, it’s going to feed 90 people. #StopHunger

Pinkman505 on April 5th, 2019 at 22:26 UTC »

That's not going to feed 90 people. Thats gonna feed Danny!

HenryBalzac on April 5th, 2019 at 22:27 UTC »

Also, Danny is a pretty hungry guy.

Edit: Wowzers, thanks for the awards!

EDIT 2: OP Delivers

A few things to clear up some apparent confusion:

- "Food Waste Recovery" is basically just saving food that would otherwise be thrown out. Food waste is anything that actually does end up getting thrown out. I agree that the phrasing makes it seem like we're picking this stuff out of the trash, but I promise that's not what's happening!

- This is the process:

When a unit closes, all of the food goes straight from the serving line or hot boxes onto cooling racks, instead of the trash After a short cooling period at room temp, the racks get rolled into the blast chiller Two hours later, everything comes out and gets packaged into those pans Everything is labeled and dated and put into the freezer On my day off, I load it back onto racks, and take it to the back dock where I load it onto the company box truck Then I take it to the homeless shelter and we do some paperwork, and that's it.

- The legality:

The idea that donating food is a common misconception. You hear stories in the news all the time about someone who gets arrested for setting up a table in the park and feeding the homeless. The part that's illegal is not necessarily in feeding people, but in doing so without the proper licensing, permitting, inspections, etc. The company I work for is permitted and licensed to make and sell food. The homeless shelters that we deal with are also permitted to serve food. In this scenario, we are basically just their supplier. To my knowledge, there are no laws that prohibit the donation of food items to a charitable organization. On the liability side of things, yes things can get hairy if we're not careful. Someone could get sick and we might have to answer some serious questions. The answer to those questions, however, is simple. All we have to do is show documentation that we prepared, held, cooled, and stored the food properly and in accordance with health department regulations. This is easily done because it's something that we as an organization do already. We keep meticulous HACCP logs on file for however many years that we're supposed to.

- I'm embarrassed that after working in this industry for over 17 years that it never occurred to me to do this. I want to make up for it by trying to make this into a thing. You guys can help! If all you do is volunteer at your local shelter, you can help make a difference!!!

#StopHunger

r/StopHunger

Silentbutdeadly17 on April 6th, 2019 at 01:21 UTC »

My boyfriend works for a gas station... he has to throw out wrapped burgers/sandwiches on a schedule. He puts them all in a big bag... ties them off nicely... and places them in a dumpster at a certain time every night. He is not allowed to give them to the homeless.... but there are no cameras on the dumpsters... and word gets around that he sets them on top. Once they hit the "garbage" his boss said the company doesnt have liability anymore. So thats the thing. Also.... the people who grab the bags make sure to thank him by picking up the garbage in the grassy area and making it nice.

Teamwork.

Edit: thank you everyone for the nice comments and for gold! To the people who left some not-so-nice comments... i hope you never see a day where a dumpster is a vaible choice for food. My boyfriend and i share the opinion that it's not our job to act as judge or jury... just to love people and help where we can.

It wasnt so long ago that I was homeless. Thank goodness it wasn't for long... i was not a drug addict. I was not an alcoholic. I was just in a bad situation. Young... scared... and without people's kindness and giving me a hand UP.... i wouldn't be where i am today.

Keep loving people. You'll be alright.