Lenbrook Partners with Second Helpings Atlanta to Help Fight Hunger and Food Waste
I’m thrilled that Lenbrook has officially kicked off its partnership with Second Helpings Atlanta (SHA), an Atlanta-based nonprofit food rescue organization!
Since April 24th, we are donating surplus fresh, perishable food from Lenbrook’s five different dining venues on a weekly basis – food items that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill are now be used to reduce hunger right here in our community. Lenbrook donated 1,262 pounds of food in May, enough to provide 1,052 nutritious meals to those in need and1,577 pounds so far during 2019.
At Lenbrook, we appreciate the opportunity to give back. We are also focused on sustainability and green living – and reducing food waste helps our environment in a significant manner. I learned about Second Helpings Atlanta’s mission and unique 90-minute model last year and proposed this partnership to our Leadership Team and our residents, who quickly agreed for Lenbrook to become an official SHA Food Donor. This is how the program works:
SHA volunteer drivers, using their personal vehicles, are matched with routes that allow them to drive to a Food Donor’s location, pick up nutritious surplus food, transport and deliver it to a Partner Agency – and return home or their place of work within 90 minutes or less. All food is donated free of charge, which enables participating Partner Agencies to redirect money they previously spent to buy groceries to providing additional core services and make a bigger impact in the community without having to raise more funds.
Second Helpings Atlanta, with its more than 450 Volunteer Drivers, serves as the link between its network of over 80 Food Donors, now including Lenbrook, and more than 50 Partner Agencies who feed Atlanta’s hungry on a daily basis, while fighting hunger and reducing food waste. SHA volunteers rescue 100,000 pounds of food every 22 days, enough to feed more than 3,800 people per day (364 days).
In 2018, SHA rescued a total of 1,635,945 pounds of food, enough for 1,363,287 healthy meals! At the same time, SHA saved 3626 Metric Tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions, which is the equivalent of driving 8.18 million miles.
Just imagine: all this food would otherwise have ended up in a local landfill. I am proud of Lenbrook and our residents. Together, we help make our world a better place.