K-12 Food Rescue: A Food Waste Solution Podcast

Listen to the inspiring story of share tables and school food pantries in 6 schools in Dekalb Central as told by Aubrey Gough, the food service director and Dekalb Central. Their share tables have rescued an estimated 378,000 food items since 2016.

Listen to Faculty Fellow Susanne Lee from the Senator George J Mitchell Center For Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine share the results of their school food waste study, as well as her passion for seeing an end to wasted food in Maine K-12 schools and beyond.

South Harrison Schools Food Service Coordinator Stephanie Zimmerman shares her story of onboarding 7 cafeterias to participate in share tables in the school district, resulting in an estimated 31,000 food items rescued in 7 cafetieres for 8 schools annually.

Hear the inspiring story of how Lee's Summit R-7 School District Nutrition Service Director Lori Danella implemented share tables in 25 schools in her district. An estimated 200,000 food items will now be rescued annually as a result of the districts commitment to lead the #FoodIsNotTrash movement in Lee's Summit R-7.

Hear the inspiring story of Hamden CT school teacher and Bear Path Green Team leader, Doreen Stohler, and how she inspired the students of Bear Path School to lead the #FoodIsNotTrash movement.

Listen to the inspiring story of a New Hampshire Elementary School Teacher, Tara Happy, and how being frustrated watching food being wasted in the school cafeteria led to a truly empowering student leadership experience at Hollis Elementary.

Listen to the inspiring story of Hilliard Elementary intervention specialist in Ohio, Ekta Chabria, and her journey to empower her students to lead the #FoodIsNotTrash movement through composting and K-12 Food Rescue.

Listen to the inspiring journey of New Hampshire K-12 Food Rescue Food Waste Solution Leader Paul Karpawich With Sustainable Transitions. This is the 26th state represented on the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast, and we are excited to share Paul's story.

Listen to the inspiring journey of K-12 Food Rescue Food Waste Solution Leader Katherine Rakowski in Wisconsin. Katherine is the Education and Agriculture Coordinator for the Bayfield School District, and she leads a composting and share table initiative in the Bayfield School District in Wisconsin.

Listen to the inspiring food waste solution journey of Cedar Walters, the Public Information Officer for the Otter Tail County Solid Waste Department in Minnesota.  Cedar worked closely with Cleveland Elementary and others through a grant to develop food waste solutions and lead the #FoodIsNotTrash movement in Otter Tail County

Hear the inspiring K-12 Food Rescue story of Carol Phipps and the Interchurch Food Pantry of Johnson County in Indiana. They pick up over 95,000 pounds of rescued food items per year, which is the equivalent of over 350,000 food items from over 20 Marion County schools in 2 school districts.

https://www.jccf.org/interchurch-food-pantry-of-johnson-county

Listen to the story of school food waste solution leader Vanessa Robertson, who is the Executive Director of Envirolution in Carson City, Nevada. In this episode, Vanessa shares about the Envirolution teacher curriculum Project Recharge, as well as the their partnership with over 100 schools around the country, including Empire Elementary in Nevada.

Listen to the inspiring journey of a life skills teacher in Pennsylvania and one of her students, as they share the story of the "share refrigerator" at Palmyra HS, that rescues over 800 food items per week.

Hear the inspiring story of Tamika Fordham, a school teacher in South Carolina, who is helping her students lead the #FoodIsNotTrash movement in their school district.

Listen to the inspiring story of Nick Pease and the Grace Care Center in Hamilton County Indiana and how they partnered with K-12 Food Rescue to lead the #FoodIsNotTrash Movement in Hamilton County Schools, leading to the rescuing of an estimated 500,000 food items in 7 years in Hamilton County Schools.

Hear the inspiring story of Empire Elementary and Adrienne Wiggins, a teacher with a passion to support students who are inspired to lead the #FoodIsNotTrash movement!

Hear the inspiring story of Flagstaff Academy Green Team members Kassidy Brackett and Elyse Prestopnik in Longmont Colorado, and their elementary science teacher and Green Team Leader Stacy Wolff. Their Food Rescue table is teaching their fellow students and community that #FoodIsNotTrash!

Hear the story of a White Plains School District parent in New York, Anna Giordano, and her journey to find solutions to school food waste.

Hear the story of the birth of the "share fridge" at Palmyra High School in Pennsylvania from the perspective of Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher and school food waste solution leader Jodi Stafford.

Hear the inspiring school food waste solution journey of the Malakoff Independent School District through the eyes of their Superintendent Don Layton. Learn about the steps needed to establish a Share Table or Share Refrigerator in Texas schools and beyond!

Hear Oregon School Food Waste Solution Student Leader Mia Aberle share her journey of establishing a composting program at Clackamas High School, and how it is leading to discussions about rescuing some of the nutritious unopened and unpeeled food items from the trays of students that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill from school lunches.

Laurel Bates is the Waste Reduction Education Coordinator in Clackamas County in Oregon. Hear how Laurel connected with an inspiring high school student in Clackamas County who was very interested in the subject of school food waste and finding a a solution, and what happened what happened next.

Here the inspiring story of  the impact of the Center Grove K-12 Food Rescue program in the lives families in need served by the Impact Center in Greenwood Indiana.  Pastor Steve Saunders shares data and stories from a food bank point of view that indicates the importance of expanding the #FoodIsNotTrash movement in schools across America.

Listen to Katherine Bruns, West Hartford's Recycling Coordinator, share her journey to start food scrap programs in the West Hartford School District, as well as her observations about unopened and unpeeled food items from the trays of students that could be rescued in the future.  

Hear the inspiring story of how Center Grove Schools have rescued over 600,000 food items over  7 years and donated them to the Impact Center in their community who feeds over 200 families each week.  All 600,000 plus food items would have ended up in a  landfill if it were not for their K-12 Food Rescue program.  #FoodIsNotTrash

Hear the inspiring story of school food waste solution leader Joe Richardson, the Director of Mountainside Education and Enrichment and Lunch Out of Landfills. Joe has actively engaged youth in Frederick Maryland and beyond to lead the #FoodIsNotTrash movement in the U.S.

Hear the inspiring story of Regina Hawkins, a school teacher in Chicago Illinois who noticed nutritious food being wasted and did something about it!   The Southside Occupational Academy  K-12 Food Rescue share table rescues 200 items a week at the Southside Occupational Academy and makes sure children and  families in need are fed those nutritious food items instead of a landfill.   #FoodIsNotTrash.  

Hear the inspiring story of Laura Oxner, Director of a program called RePurpose with "A simple Gesture" in Greensboro North Carolina. Laura has been involved in rescuing food for 9 years, where she started as a Regional Director with Rock and Wrap it Up, which developed “snack wrap” food recovery programs in North Carolina schools, where there are now 34 schools involved.  

Listen to the story of how a Macomber Primary Teacher Ms. Theresa Pacheco started a K-12 Food Rescue program in 2 different schools in Westport Massachusetts.  Ms. Pacheco is currently a health and wellness teacher at the Westport elementary school, where she started a second K-12 Food Rescue program in the Westport school district.   Hear from 2 Westport Elementary students, Abby Carr and Eleanor Melo, how K-12 Food Rescue is making a difference in their community, and why they rescue food each week from their school. 

Hear the inspiring story of Compostology, founded by high school students Angelina Xu and Advika Agarwal in Maryland.   In this episode, Angelina and Advika share about receiving a $48,000 grant from the World Wildlife Fund, and how they are using a student led post card campaign to seek funding for composting programs in schools through legislation.  (SB124) 

Hear the inspiring story Mia Boohoff,  a New Jersey High School student who noticed a lot of food being wasted in her elementary school when she was 8 years old.  

Listen to the inspiring story of Steve Gudorf, a retired food service administrator from the Indianapolis Public Schools, and how his team of volunteers gets rescued school food to children and families in need via the Martin Luther King Center in Indianapolis and other caring agencies to insure surplus food in IPS feeds families and not landfills.

Listen to the inspiring story of 6 Indianapolis Public Schools connecting with the Martin Luther King Center in Indianapolis to insure surplus food in IPS feeds families and not landfills. Lacrisha Hollins and Sarah Ferguson share how rescued food impacts the Martin Luther King Center, and the families that are served by the Center.

Hear the inspiring story of Shrusti Amula, a high school student in Rockville Maryland who started a composting program that led to three, then seven, and soon to be 10 schools in her school district composting their food waste instead of sending it to an incinerator emitting harmful methane gas into the environment.  Her interest in composting led her to discover K-12 Food Rescue online, and she is doing everything in her power to spread the program throughout her school district and the state of Maryland.

Pleasantview Elementary STEM teacher in Zionsville Indiana, Amy Brandau, shares her story of resuming K-12 Food Rescue after Covid, and continuing the legacy started by Jill McCune in her building.   

Listen to the school food waste journey of Jessica Shelly, Director of Student Dining Service at Cincinnati Public Schools, and her incredible leadership to implement share tables in all 67 Cincinnati public schools, resulting in over 580,000 food items rescued annually in Cincinnati Public Schools.  Be inspired!

Hear the inspiring story of South Bay Sustainable Community founder Tina Matthias, and how a community composting endeavor evolved to include a vibrant  student led K-12 Food Rescue project in multiple schools in her district.

Listen to Sara Sellitti’s inspiring journey as a K-12 Food Rescue leader in Dobbs Ferry New York. Sara discusses the success and challenges of starting a school garden, composting, and the K-12 Food Rescue food waste solution program in New York.

Hear the inspiring story of Kari Gassman and her journey to solve food waste and develop a K-12 Food Rescue program in her school district after witnessing several school lunch periods one afternoon.

Hear Jill McCune’s inspiring story of teaching kindergarten children about the value of food as a teacher in Zionsville Indiana leading a K-12 Food Rescue program, and solving food waste in her school since 2016.

Hear how 4 students, Ari, Emma, Megan, and Amaya, and their teacher Mrs. Anjali Das, worked together to start a K-12 Food Rescue food waste solution program in their school district in Upper Arlington Ohio.

Hear the inspiring story of Audra Shock, who was instrumental in starting a K-12 Food Rescue program in Hamilton Heights School District as well as The Noblesville School District. Audra also helped establish a Fueled for School program in Noblesville, insuring every student would have food over the weekend with a backpack program that sends food home with students who might need it.  Audra is an innovative food waste solution leader with over 10 years of working on hunger relief issues in her community, and we hope you enjoy hearing her story!