Written by: Caroline Hissong, We Don’t Waste, Marketing and Communications Coordinator

This month we are excited to announce that we have launched the Fork and Spoon Club! We have always offered a monthly giving option, but decided to launch a formal program to thank our current monthly donors and to reward anyone that chooses to join from this point forward!

Why Donate Monthly?

Your donations go directly towards supporting the foundation of the organization. We recover food from our donors and distribute it to the 100+ hunger relief agencies that we’re proud to partner with, or to one of our mobile markets. 

Monthly commitments to our organization play a pivotal role in us operating year-round. Many donations are seasonal, as most donors consider giving during holidays or events, but the need for food support is always present in our community!

By choosing to continuously support us, it helps We Don’t Waste remain sustainable into the future. Because we can better predict our funds, we can better apply our resources to fight year-round food insecurity. It keeps gas in our trucks and the freezers running! A stable budget also means we can be more reactive when disasters like COVID make an immediate impact on the community. In 2020 we were able to mobilize a much more expansive program with our Mobile Food Markets because we knew that we had the support of the community. 

How do I decide what I can give?

If you have ever planned a budget, you have probably heard of the “latte effect”. That is, consider how often you go out to a cafe to get a coffee. $5 in one purchase might not seem like a large purchase at the time, but multiply that by the number of times in a year you go out for coffee and you would be shocked at how many hundreds of dollars it adds up to. All of this is to say, any amount you choose to give adds up quickly! If you can commit just $5 or $10 dollars a month, you probably won’t miss the change from your wallet, but after a year you’ve made a much larger impact!

It is completely up to you to decide what you can afford to give, but any amount you can give goes straight back into making our community a healthier and happier place. Your support leads to a stronger community, and we could not be more thankful for your decision to help!

What are the perks for joining? 

So you’ve decided to join the club, that’s great! You have our love and thanks for your generosity, but you also get access to some fun perks so you can get to learn more about our organization and the impact you’re making!

All monthly donors will receive a VIP invitation to We Don’t Waste Wednesdays––a monthly gathering at our distribution center to tour the facility, meet our staff, and enjoy food and beverages! If a behind the scenes peek at the operation isn’t enticing enough, we are a pretty fun crew to get to know as well!

Monthly donors can also look forward to an exclusive invitation to our fundraising events throughout the year. If fancy dinners and cocktails from local chefs are your thing, you’ll want to join us at our annual Fill A Plate for Hunger celebration. We recognize the work of our donors and sponsors, enjoy food from dozens of wonderful local chefs, and raise a truly awesome amount of funds to help us grow our impact the following year. If creativity and sculpture is more your style, you do not want to miss the Canstruction® event! Teams from local architecture and construction companies compete to build sculptures out of canned food Canstruction® has definitely become a cult-favorite among the participants!

Commit to donating in May, and the annualized amount of your commitment is matched by the PB and K Family Foundation! That means your donation is effectively doubled! If you choose to donate during the month of May and commit to $25 dollars a month or more, you will also receive a reusable We Don’t Waste Tote Bag! The tote features our logo on the front so that you can rep your pride on your next grocery trip. 

So with all of that being said, consider if monthly giving is right for you. It’s quick and easy to sign up, just a few minutes of your time can help keep good food out of landfills and feed hungry people instead!

There’s a lot to love about February at We Don’t Waste. Our biggest news is that our 1,000-sq-ft refrigeration system is up and running. We were busier than ever in January, continuing to install racking and set up our new office space, and still managed to surpass our numbers from January 2017 by more than 260,000 servings of food!

As we continue to grow our impact, we’re so thankful for our many partners that make this possible. One new partnership that we’re excited about is at Denver’s South High School, where community members, school volunteers and a local nonprofit, Food for Thought, collaborate to run a Friday food pantry for students. Serving over 100 students a week, the South High School Food Pantry is a way to ensure that hunger doesn’t have to hit home for high school-aged students. They follow a choice model, allowing students to select the items and amounts of food that they then take home to their families. Since the beginning of 2018, We Don’t Waste has provided 4,670 servings of food to the pantry, allowing students to access items like fresh fruit, vegetables, and yogurt.

South High School’s student body is made up of students from 62 countries, according to a September 2017 article in the Denver Post. Designated as a “newcomer school,” South High School accepts students who may not have formal education or might not speak English. Many of the students are immigrants and refugees, sometimes having fled oppressive governments and wars. Whether they’re rebuilding their lives in the US or were born here in Denver, students should not have to go without healthy, fresh food, and this is essential to our mission at We Don’t Waste. Thanks to all of the South High School volunteers, community members and Food for Thought for making the pantry happen, allowing us to to feed more of Denver’s youth.

Our mission at We Don’t Waste is first and foremost to feed the hungry. This is a mission we are proud to accomplish every day. Year to date, the food we recovered has provided 12.2 million servings – nearly double the 6.8 million servings we collected all of last year. This provides many children and families life-saving, nutrient-dense food that may otherwise be unavailable to them.

In a single month we received 74.6 thousand pounds of strawberries, and in one day we have been called to pick up 53.2 thousand pounds of cabbage. For many families around the Denver Metro area, strawberries would be too expensive to buy or just plain unavailable; and cabbage is a nutrient-dense super-food that has an incredible variety of uses. If it weren’t for the food reclamation that We Don’t Waste provides, all this food would be rotting in a landfill. All of the strawberries and cabbage we picked up made it into the hands of families who needed food. This is exactly why our supporters get behind our mission – we give food to those in need every single day.

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Pallets of fresh Strawberries

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Boxes of fresh Cabbage

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As we reflect on the food we have provided to those in need, we cannot ignore the fact that this food would have otherwise been wasted and never gone to a hungry person. However, something we do not consider as much is how reclaiming unused food affects our environment. One of the largest parts of our environmental footprint is in the water required to grow our food. The water footprint of our food supply is huge – 92 percent of the world’s fresh water goes toward producing food.^[1] That cabbage we distributed to the community was grown with approximately 1.5 million gallons of water.^[2]

Members of our hunger fighting network also provide us with high quality protein – beef, chicken and pork. In 2016, we have recovered over 94.1 thousand pounds of protein. This food is incredibly valuable to low-income families. Colorado families with SNAP benefits (food stamps) receive only $4.20 per day.^[3] While the impact of this low budget on the hungry is obvious, the impact on the environment is not as well known. It is very difficult to approximate the amount of water it takes to produce an item based on size alone. According to the USGS, 1/4 pound of hamburger takes an estimated 460 gallons of water to produce. This lead us to wonder – about how much water did it take to produce the protein We Don’t Waste recovered so far this year? Looking at the average water footprint per pound of the protein we have collected, we can conservatively estimate that it took 91.4 million gallons of water to produce all that protein.^[2] The amount of water will fill 92 percent of the Empire State Building!

Food waste is unacceptable at any level. Not only is the cost of food waste high, but it also wastes a precious resource – water. Since 2014, we have recovered over 5.3 million pounds of food. Food that instead of being a drain on our planet’s resources, gets to enrich the lives of the hungry around the Denver Metro Area.

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Happy Earth Day!

Every day We Don’t Waste recovers restaurant quality food and distributes it to community based organizations. This not only allows us to augment the food supply in the Denver Metro area but it also helps the planet. When we recover food we ensure our planets precious resources are not wasted, we ensure food never enters a landfill and we are feeding our community.

We recently received a truck load of cabbage. This food is high in Vitamin C, Fiber, Vitamin K, and powerful antioxidants. Nothing is better then giving nutritious food to those in need. Cabbage is good for much more then just coleslaw. Throw it on the grill with some salt and garlic or chop it up and throw it on some tacos. Either way there is lots of cabbage to go around.

This is our best year yet!

5,253,575 Servings Diverted and Counting

We Don’t Waste is making a bigger impact then ever and so are your donations. For every $20 donated we are able to provide 125 meals to people in the Denver Metro area.  We need your help to keep this momentum up. Click hereto feed the hungry in Denver. Donate $20 now.

Our Team:

The work the team puts out on the road every day, the relationships that are built are what makes We Don’t Waste so successful.

There are big changes coming to there We Don’t Waste team in April. Our Director of Operations, Scott Van Daele is moving to Duluth, MN and is leaving huge boots to fill. His passion for helping others has always been  a driving force for We Don’t Waste’s success. We are sad to see him leave but wish him the very best of luck on his next adventure.

With Scotts departure we have made several changes to our amazing team. Congratulations to Tim Sanford who will take over the role of Director of Operations. We also welcome Dana Van Daele to the team as Program Manager and Matt Karm, who  has put in great work and is now promoted to Assistant Program Manager.

Congratulations to all!

The Trucks:

Last year you helped us to add two new trucks to our fleet. We are growing quickly picking up more food then ever before.

January: 1.1 million Servings
February: 1.5 million Servings
March: 2.5 million Servings

Thank you for your continued support to your community as we work to increase food security and reduce food waste!

Our Partners:

Aurora Public Schools and We Don’t Waste began partnering in August of 2015 and have recovered 52,000 servings from just one school .

We are proud to announce this partnership is expanding. Four more schools will be  committed to recovering unused food. This will have a great impact on the food available to those who are food insecure in our community. It will also help to eliminate nutrient rich food from entering landfills therefore helping our environment.

Thank you to Aurora Public Schools as well as all of our food donors. Here’s to another great year!

Social Venture Partners:

We Don’t Waste has been recognized by the  Social Venture Partners of Denver. Together we are committed to a year long partnership focused on our supply chain management and corporate sustainability measures.

Upcoming Events

Bacon and Beer Classic

Saturday, April 16

Do you like bacon? That was a rhetorical question because everyone does! Come eat bacon and drink beer. We Don’t Waste has been asked to recover the unused food after the event. Click here to get your tickets and receive 20% off

Dumpster Dinner Dinner

Friday, May 21

The Modern Eater is hosting a benefit dinner for We Don’t Waste on Friday, May 21st. Click Here to listen to an episode of the Modern Eater. Segment 1 talks about the Dinner.

Aloy Modern Thai Community Nights

Every Monday in June

Aloy Modern Thai is a fantastic new restaurant located at 2134 Larimer St, Denver. We Don’t Waste has been selected for June as their “nonprofit of the month” Head to Bo Bean any Monday in June for some delicious food and 20% of the proceeds go to We Don’t Waste. June 13th some of our staff and board will be there so don’t miss out!

Fill A Plate for Hunger

September 15, 2016

Fill A Plate for Hunger is our annual fundraising event. We had a blast last year. More details to come.