Boulder Food Rescue aims to create a more just and less wasteful food system. We facilitate the sustainable redistribution of healthy food that would otherwise be wasted to low-income communities, by bicycle. We work with communities to facilitate their own food redistribution and create decentralized systems to bypass barriers to food access. Our work envisions a world in which everyone has equitable access to healthy food.
HOW IT WORKS:
Step 1: We coordinate with 20+ food donors to donate soon-to-expire or overstocked food – primarily fruits and vegetables – that would otherwise be thrown away.
Step 2: Our donors load this food into boxes and set them aside for our volunteers to pick up and sort.
Step 3: Couriers load the donated food into bike trailers or their cars and haul it to one of our 36 recipient sites that is scheduled to receive it.
Step 4: Our recipient sites – including low income housing, food pantries, and senior community centers – use the donated food within 24-48 hours. About 2/3 of these sites are No Cost Grocery Programs, and these communities facilitate their own food redistribution and create systems to bypass barriers to food access.
QUICK FACTS:
- Our decentralized food rescue model doesn’t require storage, allowing us to deliver fresh food directly to our recipient sites.
- By delivering food using bicycles, we have developed a sustainable food rescue model that is quick, economical, and gentle on the environment.
- In addition to delivering food to recipient sites, we also work with residential volunteers to help them set up No Cost Grocery Programs. These Grocery Program Coordinators live at low income housing sites, senior centers, or work at after-school programs and preschools. By enabling them to direct their own systems for distribution, they actualize their own food access security.