Food Rescue December Update

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year Food Rescue Friends,

December was a busy and exciting month for our organization.  One of the highlights was going to White River Elementary School in Noblesville, where students participated in our Hats for Hunger Program.   H4H educates school children about local, national, and world hunger issues via daily announcements from student council members provided by Food Rescue.  At the conclusion of the week, students are allowed to wear a hat if they bring a dollar in to support hunger relief in the community through Food Rescue.   Nine schools and over 5,000 students have been involved with this simple program since its’ inception a few years ago, and this year WRE raised over $200. The most exciting  part of the my trip to WRE was discovering that 4 of the 6 students in the picture above had picked up food from a local food establishment as volunteers of Food Rescue with their parents.  Thanks to Anna Renner for organizing the day at WRE, and to Cindy Baney for founding Hats for Hunger at Carmel Elementary.

If you have ever watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, perhaps you can recall cringing when Veruca Salt sang, “I Want It Now!”  We gasp at the thought a child could ever turn out that way, but as we have become a society of consumers, the challenge to raise thankful children has never been greater.   When “consuming” is replaced by “giving” in the heart of a child, it is a transformational moment.  We will probably never know exactly how many transformational moments have involved a food rescue, but the picture above serves as a reminder that something deeper is probably occurring than meets the eye. 

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Food Rescue also added Hawthorn Golf Club and Verizon Wireless Center as partners.  HGC donated over 300 pounds of surplus ground beef to children and families in need during the holidays.  What a blessing!

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Finally, right now the Food Rescue Virtual Flash Mob is posting on Einstein Bagels fan page.  If you have not seen the VFM in action, please take a look!  http://www.facebook.com/einsteinbros.  If you would like to participate,  feel free to make a comment on their page, and then reply to this email and I will add you to our once a month alerts that are sent out.  It takes 30 seconds each month, and it demonstrates that customers notice the decision to use food recovery practices as the solution for surplus food, rather than needlessly throwing it away.
Thanks again your supporting our mission!

Blessings,

John Williamson

Executive Director Food Rescue

The Good Life

Hello Food Rescue Friends,

Traveling recently with my daughter and listening to the radio, I decided to let her out of “80′s music jail”, and we found a song we could agree on. She turned it up, and we started singing rather loudly, “Oh, this has gotta be a good life, this has gotta be a good life, this could really be a good life………” Music can touch the soul at any given moment, and those lyrics in the context of the joy a father has at any given moment with a daughter kind of made me stop and think, “yes, this is the good life.”

Later that evening, I recalled a story I heard at a conference this summer from Wes Stafford, president of Compassion International. The story juxtaposed with the song lyrics my daughter and I sang caused me to reflect upon what the “good life” is really all about. Wes visited a man in Uganda released from prison, whose crime was his refusal to stop preaching. He was released after 2 miraculous public execution failures which apparently spooked the local government enough to release him. At the conclusion of their visit, Wes told him that people in America would be praying for him, to which the man responded, “tell the people in America I will be praying for them as well”. Wes inquired why he would pray for people in America, and the man responded, “I am told in America, people do not need God every day because there is so much. I can’t imagine how it is possible to not need God every day.”

So what really is “the good life?” Is it “When you’re happy like a fool”, as One Republic says, or is it to “need God every day” as the released prisoner in Uganda indicates? Perhaps the better question is which one is more sustainable? As we fulfill our mission to feed children and families with surplus food, it is easy to believe that the charitable transaction is only about providing relief for the recipients, but it’s impossible to directly engage helping families dealing with poverty without acknowledging your own relative lack of need, and subsequent thoughts of, “I am very fortunate”, which can be code for I am living “the good life”. But maybe we are just “happy like a fool”.

For each person involved with Food Rescue sacrificing time, talent, and treasure, I pray that the sacrifices you are making are leading you to a deeper need for God each day this holiday season, as in the end it is the only “good life” that is sustainable in all circumstances.

Best Regards,

John Williamson

Food Rescue Executive Director

jw@foodrescue.net

Channel 13 News Piece Featuring Food Rescue on the Changing Face of Hunger

Last week Food Rescue was featured on a news story by channel 13 regarding the changing face of hunger.   Thanks to Jennifer Carmack Brilliant for spotlighting the great work of the all of the Little Caesars franchises here in Indiana, as well as Food Link, one of our partners.   Hopefully this well deserved positive attention will shine a spotlight on the need, and others will follow Little Caesars’ lead.  I already received tweets from the Indiana Restaurant Association, and Neal Brown from Pizzology about getting involved, as well as John Ackerman with YelpIndy about getting involved.  The story is below.

News Story

What in the World is Going On?

It’s amazing that Food Rescue continues to receive inquiries from all over the world each month.   This month I received an email from Sutharson Jayakamar in India.  He works with  a public charitable trust called Siragugal http://siragugal.org/.   They are very interested and involved in combatting food waste world-wide, and we have exchanged emails on collaborating to make a difference in world together.  He discovered Food Rescue simply by researching the topic of food waste on the Internet.  From Malaysia to Australia, and India and beyond, food waste is clearly a world-wide issue beyond the 27% that is wasted every day in our country.

Revelation

Give me Revelation.  That’s what it says on the whiteboard above my office desk.    It’s a  quote from one of my favorite Third Day songs reminding me that there is always something just beyond my reach that is far greater than anything I can imagine.  Something I cannot discover on my own.

Lately, rather than being thankful for being able to feed over a million people since 2008, my mind has been haunted by the crippling thought of what we have not been able to accomplish.  I’ve been telling myself if I communicated just the right thing to a corporate executive of a national food chain, or if I could connect with just the right person, millions more would be fed.  As these thoughts flooded my mind, I’ve been overcome  by a dark cloud of depression at times by own  inability to make things happen on my timetable.   Ironically, this cloud of depression veiled in nobility is really an arrogance that places me in a higher position than God intended.

Revelation.

The common theme of all of those thoughts is “I”.   As a 40 year old man, I’d never mentioned taking food to anybody in need in my entire life, and have often noted in speaking engagements that only a fool could believe I did any of this, yet here I find myself thinking that “my” job is to fix this problem, and fix it right now.    In all of that narcissism,  I recalled the springboard that Food Rescue has been in so many lives according to so many of our volunteers, and I thought about all the pictures that have been sent to me of the children that have taken food to caring agencies.   Perhaps there is always something greater going on than meets the eye.    Something greater than “I” can control.

Maybe something like this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_uwWPE6lQ

 Thank God for Revelation.

Exact Target 2011 Connections Conference

Bryndon Preston, Vice President of Food Rescue, and I were able to attend ET 2011 Connections Conference due to the generosity of their company.   Thanks to Scott Dorsey and Tim Kopp for making this possible.  It was an incredible opportunity to connect with top-level marketers in the country, including social media directors for brands such as Hardees, Great Wolf Lodge, Southwest Airlines, Best Buy, and many others.   We also connected with Jim Kukral, author of the book “Attention: This Book Will Make You Money”, and Jim conducted an interview for a podcast about Food Rescue that can be heard here.  Thanks Jim.  Our experience only confirmed that the Food Rescue Flash Mob  is a great avenue to influence national corporations as well as local food establishments to give away their extra food.

JOIN THE FOOD RESCUE VIRTUAL FLASH MOB

Greetings Faithful Food Rescue Friends,    Check out the Food Rescue Virtual Flash Mob  in action here .  Their efforts represent a big part of the future of our mission.  Businesses are using social media more frequently to connect with millions of customers on a more personal basis every day.  They are offering coupons to drive traffic to their sites and interacting with their customers. Can you imagine 100,000 people asking a food establishment to give away their extra food instead of throwing it away at the same time on a Facebook Fan Page?     That kind of leverage would be astonishing, and it would stimulate companies to adopt food recovery policies, instead of throwing their extra food away.  I recently attended a leadership conference where a speaker said, “The only difference between a day dreamer and visionary is “the audacity to act”.   WE NEED AN AUDACIOUS ACTION STEP!   JOIN THE FOOD RESCUE VIRTUAL FLASH MOB:   Reply “I’m In” to this email jw@foodrescue.net if you haven’t already joined the team, and I will add you to the list to receive a notification when we post together.  AND, ask others to help by forwarding this email to friends! We can be the catalyst that causes corporate change, but we must act. Once again, if you haven’t already joined our team,  Reply “I’m In” to this email jw@foodrescue.net and ask friends to join the fight.  Best Regards, John Williamson Executive Director Food Rescue Inc. jw@foodrescue.net

Inspiring the World

Check out this email I received from a college student in Malaysia.  I’ve deleted the name and edited the specifics, but it generally will demonstrate how the Lord is using Food Rescue in enexpected ways to inspire people outside the U.S., as well as inside the U. S. 

 

My name is Y_ _ _ _ L_ _ _  and i am a final year student at a University in Malaysia. I have previously read about your work with Food Rescue, and the idea of recovering food previously destined from the dumpsters and instead, using such resources to change the life of our fellow human beings really inspires me. I read on the Food Rescue website that you have been involved with that amazing organisation since its inception, and concluded that with your experience of rescuing millions of dollars worth of food in your community, you would be the perfect person from whom I should ask for advice on how to set up a food recovery programme in my country. I am a participant in a Youth Leadership program which is an 8 week programme aimed to improve the leadership abilities of youths by coaching us through the implementation of a social entrepreneurial project of our choice. As our project, I suggested to my teammates that we should aim to set up a food recovery system similar to Food Rescue in our country, whereby we collect what you term as “doughnations” from bakeries and channel them to senior citizen homes. (Reason being over 60% of senior citizens in Malaysia are living in poverty and often do not have enough food to eat.)  I understand you are probably very busy, but i will be really indebted to you if you could find the time to enlighten me on : 1. The basic operating system of Food Rescue, ie : How does it work? 2. What were the main challenges you faced in setting up the food recovery process? 3. What is the key to making a food recovery system sustainable? . I really believe that you and your organization has truly made a difference in your community, and I can only hope that I will one day, be able to do such good for mine. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this email. I really hope to hear from you soon.

 

Best Regards,

 L_ _ Y_ _ _  L_ _ _,

 Malaysia

Anderson Indiana Food Rescue Interview

Interview with Danielle Brossart, Food Rescue volunteer and president in Anderson, Indiana.  As well as Bob Womack with Park Place Community Center Food Pantry in Anderson.

http://bit.ly/iKclZX

March Food Rescue Update

Partnered with our 37th and 38th Little Caesars franchises.  We now feed around 25,000 people each month with pizzas from Little Caesars in Indiana.

Scheduled a meeting with owners of 12 more Little Caesars franchises in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan for April 13th, which will add an additional 8,000 people fed each month if we bring on each store as a partner.

Recorded a follow-up interview with K LOVE, which has 5 million listeners.  Air date TBA.

Cindy Baney and Carmel Elementary were featured in the Carmel Current newspaper regarding our Hats for Hunger partnership, as well as her amazing musical the Three Billy Goats Gruff that teaches children about economies around the world and features an ending highlighting Food Rescue.   Carmel Elementary students and faculty have raised close to $2,000 for Food Rescue the past 2 years.

Bethel Lutheran Church became our 2nd Church partner financially.  Thank you Bethel Lutheran, Anna Renner.and Pastor Wade!  Click here to see more about our partnership with Bethel Lutheran Church.

Dave Koone, who was the original Little Caesars franchise owner we partnered with in Noblesville, received the Mayor of Noblesville’s recognition award for his community involvement.

Received a grant from Grace Community church to support our mission.  Click here to see more about our partnership with Grace Community Church.  And here!!!

Spoke at Shamrock Springs Elementary in Westfield,  kicking off their Hats for Hunger week.

Spoke at Legacy Christian School in Noblesville about local, national, and world hunger issues, and how they can be involved in helping their fellow citizens.

Food Rescue Partners with Northwest Indiana Food Bank

Food Rescue Radio Interview in Indy

X103 Interview Stuck in the Morning “Now Hear This” segment

Food Rescue and House of Hope in South Bend

The following is a blog post from Josiah Martino of  the Girls House of Hope in the South Bend.  Here is a link to the wonderful things they are doing in their community.  http://www.sonnyvilla.com/  The House of Hope is an approved agency of the Northern Indiana Foodbank.

Being an approved agency with the Food Bank of Northern Indiana has been of tremendous help this cold winter season. Hundreds of donated Little Caesars pizzas have been providing meals for countless families in the community each week.  Every Monday, Sonnyvilla House of H.O.P.E. youth pass pizza’s out to their neighborhood and peers, dozens are dropped off at The Crossing School to provide meals for students and their families, Southgate Church Men’s Group take the pizza’s to bus stops all around South Bend to provide warm food on cold nights, and Southgate church also uses many in their food pantry to provide meals for even more families!  This wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of Dan Hancock of Little Caesars in Plymouth, IN and the hard work of Sonnyvilla Board Member Dave Melander, who coordinated the process.  Thanks to these partnerships, dozens of youth and their families will eat hot, quality pizza this winter! season!

Food Rescue Partners with Northern Indiana Food Bank

Food Rescue partners with the Northern Food Bank of Indiana to rescue thousands of pizzas in Plymouth, Laporte, Michigan City through Food Rescue’s partnership with Little Caesars.

Food Rescue in Logansport Indiana

Food Rescue partners with the Emmaus Mission Center in Logansport.    Jason Mitchell organizes volunteers to pick up an average of 100 pizzas per week!