Philly Food Rescue, a Share Food Program initiative, helps reduce hunger and carbon emissions by collecting perishable food from local businesses and donating it to pantries, senior centers, community fridges, and others in need across the Philadelphia region, writes Jenny Roberts for the Grid.

The program serves as a middleman in connecting food from businesses to the organizations that work with those who need it the most.

“We’re an anti-food-waste intervention that works to resource our partners on the ground,” said director Suzannah Hartzell.

The initiative makes use of the food that wouldn’t ordinarily make it to the shelves at a traditional pantry and diverts it from the waste pipeline.

“If a pantry is giving out food once a week on a Thursday, they can’t get a really perishable donation on a Monday,” said Hartzell. “It wouldn’t still be good long enough to last until their distribution.”

In these situations, Philly Food Rescue steps in to fill in a gap in the food access space.

In 2023, Philly Food Rescue worked with over 200 businesses to distribute 25,000 pounds of food to each of its 283 community partners.

Read more about Philly Food Rescue and how it helps address hunger and carbon emissions in the Grid.

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