Community Plates is fighting food insecurity in America and is looking for volunteers to join the food rescue revolution. Launching its annual call for new volunteers, Community Plates is looking to add at least 50 new runners to its already strong group of more than 300 active Food Runners in the Fairfield County area by the end of March. Since beginning in 2011, Community Plates Fairfield County has rescued more than 8 million meals, saving 12 million pounds of food from going into landfill, at a value of more than $13 million.
Local Site Director, Kate Albrecht stated, “Our volunteers are our most valuable resource, we literally wouldn’t be where we are without them! We are grateful to b.good for recognizing the hard work that our rescuers do and for helping us connect with new volunteers in four different locations here in Connecticut. We are lucky to have local businesses that are committed to making their community a better place to live.” In addition, Community Plates Executive Director Kevin Mullins said, “If we could double our number of food runners this year, because of the economy of scale our platform provides, the impact for those in need would be far more than double. Anyone and everyone can be a part of this simple solution to ending local hunger."
Allie Kroner, Community Development Director for b.good said, “b.good is thrilled to make March “Volunteer Month” here in Connecticut. In particular, we’re proud to be partnering with Community Plates to promote the incredible technology they’ve created to facilitate the connection between business owners with food to donate and nonprofits who can put it to immediate use. Spreading this technology across the state and across the country will have a tremendous impact on how communities address food waste and insecurity.
b.good has always wanted the communities we are in to be better because we are there. We think that connecting our customers to volunteer opportunities with Community Plates and providing a tangible means of addressing food insecurity in our community is a particularly impactful way of doing just that. We hope new volunteers will join us in signing up for a food run this March. Post a photo of a food run with the hashtag #bgooddoesgood and we’ll send new volunteers a free b.good meal of choice in thanks for your service.”
More than 50 million Americans are food insecure and Community Plates is fighting this with the support of its volunteers. Volunteering for Community Plates is a convenient, effective and immediately gratifying way for individuals and food donors to support their community. Food Runners simply pick up food from a specific donor location and transport it directly to a designated local receiving agency all within 15-60 minutes.
Founded in January 2011, Community Plates is committed to ending American food-insecurity through direct-transfer food rescue. Established as a 501(c)3 non-profit food-rescue platform, Community Plates is focused on transferring healthy, usable foods to where it can help feed those in need. This volunteer-driven, technology fueled process coordinates with restaurants, grocers, bakeries, caterers and other food-service organizations who have foods destined to be thrown away and delivers the food to soup-kitchens, food-pantries and other hunger relief organizations who serve food-insecure individuals and families. Community Plates currently operates in Cincinnati, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Albuquerque, N.M.; Fairfield County, Conn.; New Haven, Conn.; Hartford, Conn.; New Orleans, La.; with plans to open seven additional sites in 2016.
Share the Community Plates Experience
Are you a food runner, food donor, or partner agency? Help us tell the Community Plates story and share and tag your experiences on social media (we are on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) with #CommunityPlates.