Book launch highlights the ‘heroes’ and growth of 412 Food Rescue
good book
You are made for amazing things.” That’s on the cover of the new book from growing nonprofit 412 Food Rescue, “Love is #Free: 100 Food Rescue Hero Stories to Inspire.”
The book’s July 22 launch celebration was hosted at South Side Works at The Residency, a new art gallery and community space collaboration among South Side artist Baron Batch, WH Digital and SomeraRoad, owners of South Side Works.
412 Food Rescue launched in 2015 to redirect healthy food (87% of what the nonprofit distributes is fresh food) from going to waste to households and other organization partners that serve people experiencing food insecurity. Volunteers, using the smartphone app, find retail locations with surplus food to donate and deliver it to nonprofits that, in turn, give it directly to folks in need.
Surrounded by Mr. Batch’s vibrant, colorful paintings, 412 Food Rescue CEO and co-founder Leah Lizarondo detailed the organization’s 2019-2020 impact report in a presentation that explained the greater Food Rescue Hero platform that is now being used in 12 cities across North America.
Ms.Lizarondo noted there are more than 12,000 volunteer drivers in the Pittsburgh area alone who have collectively redirected 20 million pounds of food away from landfills and into the hands of folks in need, leading to over 88,000 rescues as of July 2021. When looking at the whole Food Rescue Hero network, more than 55 million pounds of food has been rescued from going to waste since the app was launched in 2016.
She also talked about the innovative approaches the organization took in response to the pandemic. For instance, as schools shut down across Allegheny County, children were no longer able to access free meals they provided. 412 partnered with Pittsburgh Public Schools, Sto-Rox, McKeesport and Clairton school districts to provide nearly 30,000 meals at bus stops where students would have access.
Through the USDA’s Farmers to Families program in 2020, 412 distributed food from the USDA by creating distribution hubs and, for the first time, through 36 drive-up and walk-up distribution events in six counties in southwestern Pennsylvania. Thanks to Farmers to Families, more than 4.5 million pounds of food were rescued in the region.
Home delivery was another way volunteers helped those particularly vulnerable during the pandemic with over 9,000 food boxes and meals delivered directly to homes.
412 Food Rescue also created a Community Takeout program in 2020, mobilizing restaurantsto prepare meals that were then delivered to those experiencing food insecurity. The first phase began with eight restaurants during the red phase of pandemic restrictions, and in December, phase two expanded to support 15-plus restaurants and provide food through May.
Funding from Allegheny County allowed for phase three to support restaurants throughout the county in 2021 — partnering with more than 60 restaurants in the county. $30,000 was also donated to the Pittsburgh Restaurant Worker’s Mutual Aid.
With the number of food rescues increasing by the thousands, Ms. Lizarondo said she projects the network to expand to 100 cities by 2030 with the number of rescues modeled to be above 20 million, saving over 2 billion meals and feeding people, not landfills.
A steady stream of volunteers came to pick up a copy of “Love is #Free” from a tent in the center of the South Side Works and picked up some free Isaly’s ice cream. The book features cover art from Mr. Batch, a poem from local artist Veronica Corpuz and pictures of each volunteer by photographer Chancelor Humphrey of Keep Pittsburgh Dope.
Mr. Humphrey said it took eight or nine months to find the 100 volunteers during the pandemic and take each photo. The full-color picture is accompanied by a short story from the volunteers about how they got involved in 412 Food Rescue and what delivering the food means to them.
Volunteer Jeff Milliner came to the book launch. He said he was “humbled and honored” to be the first entry in the “Love is #Free.” He was a former colleague of David Primm, head of partnerships and growth for 412 Food Rescue, who told him about the app three years ago. Now he delivers food almost three times a week.
Ms. Lizarondo admitted she hasn’t gotten through the book; five stories in she started getting emotional.
“The stories there are not just about food,” she said. “It’s about what people give. If you see the first quotes, there are Mister Rogers and Rachel Carson, which are two legacies of Pittsburgh, and it’s really all about what they do, what they say.”
As she reflected on the growing number of volunteers,Ms. Lizarondo recalled her favorite anecdote from the beginning. Originally, she started the Food Rescue app with friends, but an unfamiliar name came up.
“We were like, ‘Someone out there has downloaded the app, and she’s a stranger and she’s doing a rescue.’ It really does something to you.”
Mr. Batch, who also spoke at the event, has been friends with Ms. Lizarondo for years after meeting her at a TEDx event.
With an ethos similar to 412’s, Mr. Batch, an entrepreneur, poet, painter and community organizer, promotes positivity through his art and has been known for his “Free” art drops where one of his works is left at a location with clues like a scavenger hunt. Whoever solves the clues can take the artwork for free.
When asked about 412 Food Rescue’s impact, he noted the countercultural nature of the work.
“It’s the blueprint for mitigating our culture of excess,” he said. “The innovative efforts are aligned with the resulting complexities that the post-industrial age has created. In doing that, I know that people want things to go well. [In] a lot of ways, they just don’t know how to participate. Here’s how you can participate in something that is changing the world in Pittsburgh.”
To what does Ms. Lizarondo attribute the success of the Food Rescue Hero Network?
“I think a lot of it is Pittsburgh to be honest,” she said. “I didn’t grow up here. I didn’t grow up with Mister Rogers. I took it with a grain of salt what everyone was saying. It has grown here so much faster than every other city that we’ve been in that I feel there is something special.
“If it didn’t start in Pittsburgh and prove itself here, I’m not sure the other cities would believe in it,” she added. “I’m really proud that it started here.”
To purchase “Love is #Free” and find out more about 412 Food Rescue, visit 412foodrescue.org.