(left) Angie Gregory, MHC's Sustainability Program Manager and FRN Chapter Advisor, and (right) Charlotte Cai, FRN Co-Founder and Mount Holyoke College Graduate 24' When we first considered activating Mount Holyoke College’s (MHC) Food Recovery Network (FRN) chapter, my friends and I weren’t sure whether we qualified. At a school where one centralized dining hall keeps careful track of pre-consumer, recoverable kitchen scraps, it turned out that the majority of food waste came from post-consumer scraps—food that students took onto their plates and threw away at the end of a meal.&nb ..read more

At FRN, we are big fans of Food Tank. This global nonprofit powerhouse is dedicated to transforming food production and consumption, focusing on education, advocacy, and collaboration to make a tangible difference. With FRN’s very own Executive Director, Regina Harmon, on its Board of Directors, we aim to contribute to this work and the on-the-ground solutions it champions. In case you missed it, Food Tank published this fantastic blog post in June, curating a list of 22 podcasts that explore diverse aspects of food and agriculture systems globally. This roundup is ideal for anyone interested ..read more

It's been a month since a tornado devastated parts of Hardin County in Kentucky. That kind of devastation continues to harm residents far beyond the initial tragedy. Like many parts of the United States, the residents of Hardin County need access to financial resources to reclaim their safety for the long term. Resources deployed in the immediate aftermath of a disaster aren’t designed to help with long-term recovery and long-term financial security. We have an opportunity to support the 15,420 Hardin County residents who were food insecure before the tornado hit. In Hardin County, 13.9% of th ..read more

At FRN, at the start of almost any meeting we have, we start our time together with a check-in question to ground us all into the space together. In honor of Earth Month, at a recent FRN meeting, our check in question was, “What is your favorite tree?” As an admirer of my natural surroundings, as an avid hiker, tree planter and tree lover, I’d never reflected on that question before. And, many in this particular FRN meeting hadn’t either and for the next 15 minutes, we all talked about trees: we shared stories about trees, we googled trees we hadn’t heard of, we oohed and ahhed about which tre ..read more

Four years ago when I began my position as the inaugural Chief Operating Officer (COO) at FRN, I was delighted. I came to the organization shortly after I completed my Results Count fellowship with The Annie E. Casey Foundation.  My fellowship experience equipped me to use data to bring a cohesive vision across the programmatic, communications, and operational function areas I oversee. To learn how this work started, evolved, and how it influences our daily operations and future planning, please watch our mapping webinar, How FRN’s Data is Driving Impact.  Through combining and anal ..read more

Gratitude to everyone who attended and listened to the March 2024 Roundtable Talk. We appreciate your time. And for those of you who’ve yet to hear directly from us about the halfway point of our 2024 program year, can I encourage you to find some time to listen to the recording of our biannual Roundtable Talk? The conversation refamiliarized everyone with FRN’s longstanding vision to recover surplus food to feed everyone who is hungry in the U.S., and reiterated the scope of our work to achieve that vision. This biannual conversation celebrates the accomplishments of Food Recovery Network’s e ..read more

This year, two of the best football teams in the country faced off in an epic game to bring home coveted championship rings. At Food Recovery Network (FRN), we were vying to bring home something else: thousands of pounds of delicious, salvageable food from the annual Bullseye Event Group Players Tailgate, catered by celebrity chefs Bobby Flay and Aaron May.  On Sunday, February 11, 2024, six volunteers, including FRN alumni and local students from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, joined FRN staff at the Players Tailgate just across the street from Allegiant Stadium to recover surplus ..read more

Food Recovery Network Teams Up With Hellmann’s to Recover Surplus Food from Big Game Tailgate in Las Vegas and Fight Food Waste in New Partnership Las Vegas, Nev. (February 5, 2024) — Food Recovery Network and volunteers, including local college students from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, will be at the Players Tailgate at the Big Game to recover and redistribute surplus food to those experiencing food insecurity around Las Vegas. This is the fourth time Food Recovery Network (FRN), one of the largest student-led movements against food waste and hunger in the U.S., is collecting surplus ..read more

With the new year approaching, now is a great time to visualize the year ahead, manifest, and sketch out a plan to reach your big goals. At Food Recovery Network (FRN), we want to see more events prioritizing food recovery in 2024! Why should food recovery be a priority at your next event? Read on! Sustainability and Social Impact Climate change is widely acknowledged as the greatest modern threat to humanity, so it’s no surprise that governments, companies, and individuals worldwide are taking action to reduce carbon emissions. The event industry is no exception. In recent years, sustainabili ..read more

  Andy Whitehead is a Program Assistant at Food Recovery Network, and a recent MSW graduate from the University at Buffalo. As a social worker engaged in food recovery, they are passionate about changing the mindsets and attitudes people have towards food recovery as a whole.  On October 12th and 13th, Food Rescue Hero hosted their annual Food Rescue Conference focusing on innovative and creative solutions to food recovery. This event was live streamed for all food recovery stakeholders wanting to expand their network with other food rescue leaders.  Read about Andy’s approach ..read more