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