With the level of need for food support at a 10-year high, Food Bank of the Rockies and pantries across the region are doing everything they can to provide food to neighbors facing hunger. To source this much food, food banks like Food Bank of the Rockies “rescue” food from going to waste. Our Food Rescue Program has saved millions of pounds of surplus food from the landfill by bringing together a wide-ranging network of community partners to collect and distribute it to local individuals and families experiencing food insecurity.
How Does the Food Rescue Program Work?
Our Food Rescue community partner network is composed of more than 800 Hunger Relief Partners, including nonprofit organizations such as The Action Center in Lakewood, Colorado; SECOR Cares in Parker; Joy’s Kitchen in Lakewood; and Metro Caring in Denver; as well as more than 70 mobile pantries. These partners receive food from hundreds of the Food Bank’s local Donation Partners, which include retailers like Walmart, Target, and Sprouts; food distributors like Shamrock, Amazon, and US Foods; farms and ranches; and manufacturers like Mountain View Foods and Pepperidge Farm.
Our Hunger Relief Partners can send their own drivers to pick up the surplus food directly from select retailers or place an online order with Food Bank of the Rockies’ distribution center. We also send out our own program drivers to pick up donations from across the food supply chain. Once the food reaches our distribution center, volunteers sort, itemize, and repackage it so it is ready for pick up or delivery.
According to Food Bank of the Rockies Director of Food Sourcing Mark Weslar, who heads the program, more than 50 percent of the total food the Food Bank distributes comes in through the Food Rescue Program. In fiscal year 2024, the Food Bank made over 47 million pounds of nutritious surplus food, the equivalent of more than 39 million meals, available for free to individuals and families across Colorado and Wyoming.
The Fresher, the Better
Access to fresh food is one of the major perks of being a Hunger Relief Partner, said Jennifer Stone, Product Operations Manager for The Action Center, which also offers its clients rental and utility assistance, access to a clothing bank, and family coaching.
Among The Action Center’s most desired donated food items are fresh produce, milk, dairy, and eggs, she shared, but they also appreciate when they can order nutritious grab-and-go foods from the Food Bank for their clients to take and eat without needing access to refrigeration or cooking appliances.
“I think it’s exciting for our community to be able to broaden their palates and try different foods they are not normally able to purchase. For instance, we receive a lot of expensive items from Whole Foods grocery rescue, and these are simply too expensive for our community members to purchase regularly,” Stone said. “It’s great to see faces light up in our self-select grocery when community members find food items they have been looking for or see new foods they’ve never tried.”
As far as donated items, the Food Bank accepts high-quality, nourishing foods from our 880+ donation partners such as proteins, fresh produce, bakery items, deli items, dairy, frozen foods, and shelf-stable groceries, as well as non-food items like hand sanitizer and paper products.
From Grocery Shelf to Dinner Plate
Many of the Food Bank’s larger donation partners, like Kroger, parent company of King Soopers and City Market, have an established relationship with national food relief organization Feeding America and work with its affiliated food bank partners, like Food Bank of the Rockies, to execute their grocery rescue strategy.
According to Jessica Trowbridge, Corporate Affairs Manager for King Soopers, Food Bank of the Rockies’ Food Rescue Program aligns closely with Kroger’s Zero Hunger, Zero Waste mission to end hunger in local communities and promote sustainability.
“This program is incredible — it touches our community in so many ways, and it takes the work of so many people,” Trowbridge said. “Food rescue helps King Soopers make sure that any surplus food we have doesn’t end up in a landfill but instead ends up on plates and helps provide people in our community with nutritious food to eat.”
Taking Action to Nourish Neighbors
Food Bank of the Rockies’ Food Rescue Program has been an important element of The Action Center’s overall food relief program, shared Carolyn Alexander, Senior Director of Operations at the nonprofit.
“Food Bank of the Rockies provides the backbone and coordination of all of our grocery rescue efforts,” she said. “They assign the retail stores and pickup days to the various agency partners and provide support if there are issues or modifications needed.”
The Action Center drivers go out five days a week to pick up food from local stores, while the Food Bank sends drivers to The Action Center one Monday and two Fridays a month, delivering an overall monthly total of about 30,000 pounds of rescued groceries.
The Action Center also receives food from the Food Bank in several other ways, including through government programs like The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and Everyday Eats, which provides monthly grocery boxes for older adults.
While the chief purpose of the Food Rescue Program is to provide essential food aid to community organizations like The Action Center, the program also reduces carbon emissions by steering surplus food away from landfills, promoting environmental sustainability, and bolstering our donation partners’ corporate sustainability goals. In fiscal year 2024, the program prevented over 10,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere.
Ultimately, Food Bank of the Rockies’ Food Rescue Program has been successful over the years thanks to the strong community partnerships forged with local nonprofits and retailers, said Weslar.
“Food rescue has been part of [the Food Bank’s] DNA from the beginning, but we couldn’t do the work we do without having great partners across the food ecosystem helping to provide the surplus food we use to feed folks in need,” he said. “It’s really a collaborative web of people working to make it happen.”
Retailers interested in participating in the Food Rescue Program can contact Mark Weslar at mweslar@foodbankrockies.org or 720-885-8424. To find food in your location, check out our Find Food locator.
