Nestlé USA recently closed their frozen distribution center in Indianapolis. Thousands of pounds of food could potentially have ended up like 40% of all food in the United States: wasted. Nestlé regularly donates to Gleaner’s Food Bank of Indiana, who contacted Move For Hunger to see if we could help connect them with a moving company who might be able to deliver the donation.
Since movers don't have cold storage trucks, we reached out to Roadtex Transportation, which specializes in refrigerated, temperature control, and LTL transportation. Roadtex generously agreed to help and, on December 13, delivered more than 44,200 lbs. of frozen food, pizza, and ice cream to Gleaners. This massive donation provided 36,800 meals to Indiana families in need.
Even though 40 million Americans face hunger, 40% of food grown, processed, and transported in the U.S. will go to waste. . According to The National Resource Defense Council, if we were able to rescue 15% of food waste, we could feed 25 million Americans each year. But food waste does not just affect those who are facing hunger, it also has a huge effect on the environment and our economy. American consumers, businesses, and farms spend $218 billion growing, processing, and discarding food that is never eaten. Businesses are losing $74 billion on food waste every year. More than 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions are produced by agricultural waste. By donating instead of discarding food, we can make a postive impact in so many ways!
This was Move For Hunger’s first time collaborating with a transportation company like Roadtex that specializes in moving temperature controlled foods, but it will hopefully not be the last! Thank you so much to everyone at Roadtex for helping us reduce food waste AND fight hunger in the Hoosier State!
Learn more about food waste in the United States, and what you can do to help.
