Turning Surplus Food into Millions of Meals

Stat: 40%: Up to 40% of the food supply in the United States is wasted each year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Story: When you see the perfect displays of produce in grocery stores, do you ever wonder whether it’s all sold before it spoils? It isn’t, and stores often pay to send unpurchased produce to landfills. In this episode of “After the Fact,” Evan Ehlers, founder of Sharing Excess, shares how his organization is working to solve what he calls “the world’s dumbest problem.”

As a college student in Philadelphia, Ehlers saw how this problem of food waste could be prevented and hunger could be addressed in the United States, where millions of people lack access to three healthy meals per day. In just a few years, Sharing Excess—which receives support from the Pew Fund for Health and Human Services in Philadelphia—has evolved from a group of college volunteers to a growing organization that redistributes millions of pounds of food across the country to people in need.

Pew’s Kristin Romens discusses the factors that contribute to food insecurity for individuals and families—and how funding organizations that support economic mobility projects can improve community outcomes.

Related Resources:

• Philly Was Wasting Tons of Produce. Then a Scrappy Start-Up Stepped In.
• Food Sharing Program Prevents Waste and Sparks a Movement
• Our Impact: The Numbers Behind Sharing Excess