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Tag: We Don’t Waste

Careit Brings New Food Rescue App to Denver to Combat Hunger With Surplus Food Donations

Careit, a Los Angeles-based free food donation and rescue app that connects businesses to nonprofits to combat hunger, is officially available in Denver. The app provides a free online marketplace that makes it easy for Denver restaurants, caterers, food distributors, corporations, grocery stores and more to donate surplus food and goods directly to local nonprofits in the area. Available nonprofits claim the food, arrange for transport and track the donation’s details and weight, all from within the Careit app. 

Denver Food Waste and Careit’s Solution to Help

On a local level, more than four pounds of food per person on average is wasted at home every week in Denver, and 76 percent of that could have been eaten. A Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) study revealed up to 7.1 million additional meals annually could be donated in Denver beyond current donations. With Careit’s food rescue app, more than 180,000 pounds of surplus food has been donated in Denver to date.

READ: Rising Food Costs Create Unique Challenges for Hunger-Focused Agencies

Currently, 95 businesses and nonprofits are using Careit in Colorado, most centralized in the Denver metropolitan area. Among the first to join Careit in the Denver area include We Don’t Waste, Sprouts, Denver Food Rescue, AutoDesk, SupperBell, Rebel Bread, Sullivan Scrap Kitchen many more.

“Launching Careit in Denver has been amazing because the city has a strong reputation and commitment to reducing waste and helping those in need in their community,” Alyson Schill, Careit CEO, said. “We invite more businesses, restaurants, nonprofits, grocery stores and more to join us as we continue to serve an expanding population of seniors, families and students experiencing hunger.

“Careit has been an integral addition to our food recovery program,” Sam Talarczyk, We Don’t Waste Director of Programs & Operations, said. “The technology has allowed us to expand our partnerships with local businesses, engage with more volunteers, and, most importantly, rescue more food.”

How to Share it with Careit

Careit uses smart algorithms and Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to empower local nonprofits and communities with equal access to the surplus of resources. The Careit app can be downloaded on all iOS and Android devices. The process to start donating surplus food is simple:

  1. Post a Donation: Businesses, nonprofits, and institutions can post surplus edible food and essential goods for pick up or drop off.
  2. Match to a Nonprofit: Local hunger-relief agencies browse (and reserve) posted donations. Donors can also directly assign a post to their preferred charity.
  3. Arrange Transportation: Nonprofits assign their own trained staff or volunteers to schedule a pickup or drop off with the donor.
  4. Manage Data: Careit provides businesses, nonprofits and governments a robust platform for data and impact tracking – used for taxes, fundraising and quality control.

The Careit Difference

Unlike other food donation technology, Careit is not proprietary for any nonprofit and does not require donors to sign exclusivity contracts. The app is free to use for all U.S.-based food donors, corporations, municipalities and nonprofits to give and receive food. App users are only charged subscription fees to access advanced features such as data reporting to help with tax deductions and record-keeping for food rescues and donations.

Careit enables corporations to track their food donation efforts for new food waste policy compliance, committed environmental social good (ESG) campaign efforts and tax-deductible charitable contribution tracking. Businesses save time and staff costs of record-keeping for donations with Careit’s revolutionary platform for data and impact tracking. 

Careit knows how important it is to train individual behavior and create social change. That’s why the company offers in-person and virtual workshops to train new users on how to safely donate food and use its app.

 

Founded in 2021, Careit is a free app to match commercial food donors to the country’s most inclusive network of nonprofits. Businesses sign up to simplify food donations, track their impact and track tax-deductible contributions. Careit has assisted more than 1,600 edible food donors to connect with over 770 local nonprofit food recovery organizations and service providers through its platform. Eight million pounds of food from 25,000 donations have been recorded on Careit. To learn more, visit careit.com.

Top Company 2022: Nonprofits

The outpouring of applications for this year’s Top Company awards is a testament to the resilience and adaptability of enterprises that do business in the state. Applications for the 35th annual awards numbered in the hundreds, and it was particularly encouraging to see so many companies rebounding from two years of COVID restrictions, with most posting revenue and employee gains approaching—and in some cases, exceeding—pre-pandemic numbers.

This year’s Top Company winners and finalists represent 13 industry categories, plus a startup category for companies in business less than four years. Entrants were judged on three criteria: outstanding achievement, financial performance and community involvement. The judging panel was made up of ColoradoBiz magazine’s editorial board and two representatives from the business community.

 

WINNER — We Don’t Waste

Denver

What began as a one-man operation run out of founder Arlan Preblud’s station wagon has evolved into an 11,570-square-foot Food Recovery and Distribution center operated by 19 full-time employees. We Don’t Waste looks to keep perishable food out of landfills in order to distribute it to underserved and food-insecure communities of the Denver area.  

We Don’t Waste has grown to become the largest food recovery-focused organization in Colorado. As of this year, it has recovered and distributed more than 165 million servings of quality food, equal to more than 61 million meals, to food-insecure community members while also diverting roughly 41 million pounds of food from landfills since 2009.  

Part of We Don’t Waste’s success has been due to the company’s fundraising efforts to keep operations excelling, even amid the pandemic. As in-person volunteers waned during COVID-19, the nonprofit turned its focus to available grants. We Don’t Waste won the Bank of America Neighborhood Builders grant, amounting to $200,000 over two years, and the Front Range Waste Division grant. Both helped to support the nonprofit during a crucial time.   

Finalist — Common Sense Institute

Greenwood Village 

The Common Sense Institute has one clear goal: to educate Coloradans on policies, initiatives and proposed laws that will impact their lives. Founded in 2010, originally under the name Common Sense Policy Roundtable, CSI has become a juggernaut of information Coloradans can rely on to develop informed views on new policies, proposals and laws. Understanding its sphere of influence, CSI doesn’t just help educate the people of Colorado, it provides information to aid those in positions of power as well. In 2021, CSI hosted the inaugural Free Enterprise Summit, an event that featured the release of the “Colorado Free Enterprise Report” and “The Rankings Book: 2022 Edition,” which has served as a road map for policymakers across the state. 

Nonpartisanship is one of the organization’s guiding principles. “We believe it is critical to work across the aisles on positive solutions to address Colorado’s biggest challenges,” says CSI Director of Communications Cinamon Watson. “All research is conducted from this lens, and the company culture is based on it — collaborative, diverse, open.” 

The nonprofit has shown no signs of slowing down. Among all Colorado think tanks, CSI measured in at 59.5% of the total mentioned volume of online discussions and mentions. As of June this year, CSI had garnered more than 300 media mentions, which puts CSI well on its way to surpassing its number of 346 for 2021.  

FINALIST — Youth on Record

Denver

Youth on Record works with more than 3,000 young people annually to provide enhanced art- and music-centric programs to some of Denver’s most under-resourced communities.  

“YOR’s education, music and community programs are designed to help young people become more free, more rooted in their personal power, and better able to thrive in spite of systems and circumstances that dis-empower and marginalize them,” YOR’s website states.  

Part of YOR’s educational model is the fact that teachers and instructors are all local and professional musicians. It takes an artist to teach art, and YOR knows that investing in marginalized musicians is a way to continue to support potential future educators. Currently building a Music & Entertainment company, YOR wants to create a pathway for aspiring artists that re-imagines the talent landscape. 

“The design for the M&E company emerged through conversations with YOR’s oldest participants (ages 17-24) and its Teaching Artist staff members, as well as through conversations and dialogue with industry professionals who have identified gaps in the training, preparation, and professional development for creators of color and other minoritized groups,” the company says. 

YOR’s M&E company would be the first of any agency groups in the Western region to prioritize, support and promote artists specifically from minority communities.  

Rising Food Costs Create Unique Challenges for Hunger-Focused Agencies

The cost of groceries has steadily climbed over the last year, with a new record increase of 13.5% set in August (Consumer Price Index). On the heels of a pandemic, that led to unprecedented demand for food services. The rising cost of food is leading even more community members to find themselves in need of help, even as less assistance may be available.

The increase in food costs has created unique challenges for hunger-focused agencies. While many were receiving an influx of support at the height of the pandemic, much of that support went away at the same time they were experiencing growing demand. This shift can be attributed, at least in part, to inflation. There is no room in would-be donors’ budgets to purchase food beyond what is necessary for their own business operations. Whereas an increase in donations during the pandemic helped nonprofit operating budgets, the decrease in donations amid rising prices is forcing organizations to spend more of their budgets on food than ever before.

To continue aiding organizations that support underserved communities, it’s crucial that we increase focus on establishing direct connections between the food industry and those in need. We Don’t Waste is a conduit between the food and hospitality industry and hunger relief agencies. Our organization recovers quality, unused food including healthy proteins, fresh produce and dairy products from grocery stores, purveyors, caterers, restaurants, meal kit services and the like, and redistributes it to pantries and other community services or via their own mobile food markets.

So far in 2022, We Don’t Waste has served more than 100 nonprofit agencies via our distribution routes, and added an eighth monthly mobile market to meet increased need; however, more opportunity exists to build bridges between the industry and neighbors in need. We introduced an app, for example, which assigns restaurant pickups—those that don’t make sense for an 18-foot truck to handle—to volunteers who then courier rescued food back to the distribution center or deliver it directly to nonprofit agencies.

It’s advancements like this one that will prove to be pivotal in uncovering as many direct lines as possible from those with excess to those with far less in the ongoing fight against hunger.

 

Arlan Preblud Founder And Executive Director Of We Dont WasteArlan Preblud is the founder and executive director of We Don’t Waste.

Why the return to “normal” is anything but for some

We Dont Waste Mobile Market Volunteers With Truck

Restaurants and venues are open again, and while consumer confidence is on the rise, we’re at a confluence of crises related to food insecurity.

In 2020, an unexpected flood of donations enabled most non-profits to continue to fulfill their missions. The demand for food-related support services is higher than ever, creating a crisis for Coloradans already facing hunger who now must manage steeply increasing food costs.

We Dont Waste Produce

Summertime is particularly challenging, as families struggle in the absence of food that’s made available during the school year through the public school system.

Over 50% of Colorado households with children do not have regular access to nutritious foods, making summer the most critical time for food insecurity in the U.S. and at home in Colorado (Hunger Free Colorado). When schools are closed for the summer, we need to be fighting harder against hunger.

Grocery costs have steadily increased over the past 18 months. In fact, overall food costs are up 2.4% year over year (Bureau of Labor Statistics June 2020-21) due to supply chain disruptions and high demand.

Because we were eating at home more in 2020, the demand for grocery staples increased which led to ongoing price increases. Many were already struggling to buy enough food to feed their families and rising prices will undoubtedly impact more and more Coloradans each month.

We Dont Waste Mobile Market Full Truck Unloading

Food banks and pantries are the safety net for people struggling to secure consistent income and therefore ongoing access to nutritious food. At We Don’t Waste, quality, unused food is recovered from food suppliers, catering companies, food distributors and others—even local professional sports venues—and distributed to organizations supporting those in need as well as directly to impacted communities, all free of charge.

With one in four adults in Colorado reporting the need to cut back or skip meals because there isn’t enough money for food (Hunger Free Colorado), community support is needed now, more than ever, to enable organizations working to end food insecurity to continue to expand their services.

We Dont Waste Truck

We Don’t Waste distributed more than 24 million servings of food via its mobile markets and nonprofit partners in 2020, and demand is not waning.

In 2020, we all faced unprecedented challenges, and we rose to help each other in times of staggering need.

In 2021, the road to recovery is not smooth for many in our community, and it’s more important than ever to support organizations focused on paving the way to a hunger-free future with less food in landfills.

Arlan Preblud Founder And Executive Director Of We Dont Waste Arlan Preblud is the Founder and CEO of We Don’t Waste.