The Feed

Published September 23rd, by Gina Parker

I remember the first time I ever tried a Chicago Dog— outside the Chicago Aquarium on a park bench. I purchased it from a stand covered in Vienna Beef stickers and a sliding window that didn’t shut all the way. As a Colorado native and a Chicago tourist, I wasn’t allowed to order for myself, and had to leave that to the professional, local Chicagoans. Out came a speckled bun with one hotdog inside, topped high with (hopefully I get this list right) onion, relish, mustard, tomato, sport peppers, celery salt, and a pickle. It was, without a doubt, the best hotdog I have ever had.

I know I will remember the flavors of the cold pickle, spicy sport peppers, and tangy mustard for the rest of my life. Every time someone mentions firing up the grill, I am automatically transported to the chilled Chicago air, light breeze, the hot coal foil warming my hands, and being seated by Lake Michigan pondering why not every hotdog is a Chicago Dog. 

Have you ever experienced a flash of nostalgia when you smell freshly baked cookies wafting from a neighbor’s house? Or when you spot one of those strawberry-wrapped candies your grandma always had? Food, and specifically our senses, have allowed us to store memories triggered by something as simple as a reminiscent smell. We are all born into the world of food, taste, and cultural customs that have helped shape our perception of the world around us. Specific childhood meals, candies, and plastic-wrapped treats become stored as future nostalgic triggers for you later in life. 

The sensory experience of eating is profound. The tastes, feelings, and emotions evoked during dining are processed by the hippocampus, the part of our brain responsible for forming long-term and expressive memories. The hippocampus plays a crucial role in our emotions, and links the parts of the brain responsible for senses and understanding. This connection explains why certain smells or tastes can trigger strong emotional reactions. 

Additionally, the hippocampus has direct links to our digestive system, regulating appetite, digestion, and eating behaviors through hormonal signals. Because the hippocampus regulates both digestion and emotions, when eating occurs in the body it simultaneously sends out neurons that form an episodic memory while processing digestion. While this creates fun nostalgic moments now, this phenomenon is believed to have also given humans a step-up in evolution back when we were hunter-gatherers. Because of food’s necessity for our survival, the hippocampus is believed to have formed increasingly vivid memories regarding eating and finding food to ensure our ancestors could locate it again. 

This intricate connection between the hippocampus and our digestive system is pretty cool on its own, but it can also be therapeutic. The “Proustian Effect”, named after the French novelist Marcel Proust, describes how these involuntary food memories also call to mind social associations, personal events, and the people involved. This theory has been applied in social and psychological healing, as well as in the education of both young and old, using specific smells to trigger fond feelings and emotions in patients.

Survival is not the only thing food is good for. It’s a common inclination to believe that food is better when it is eaten together with others, and science thinks so too. A study conducted by The University of Oxford explored the relationship between communal eating and a person’s well-being. The more often an individual dines with others, the happier they feel. 

Alluding to the correlation between community and food, the study helped illustrate just how impactful communal dining is to social bonding across different cultures, locations, and ages. Throughout mankind, meals were always meant to be shared with one another, from weddings,funerals, birthdays, or just dinner at the end of a long day. Dining room tables, no matter look, size, or intended function, have always been gateways to human connection and joy. Food acts as our common ground, our universal way each of us can share a piece of who we are with each other. 

Taste, smell, and the power of nostalgia seem to be the common factors that help induce these strong memories and recalls. When I cook up spaghetti sauce for dinner and indulge my childhood desire (and favorite snack) of dipping a salty, crisp potato chip into the red gravy I can almost hear my mother’s voice ringing through my ears. I can smell the oregano springing from the pot as my sisters are pushing me out of the way to make their way to the stove. I can see my aunt and cousins standing, slinging a glass of deep red pinot noir and chatting about work. I can feel the cold, black tile flooring beneath my feet as I scoop the boiling-hot sauce onto the thin crisp and pop it in my mouth with excitement. 

Food gives you the power to connect with the community around you and power to encapsulate that moment within a single bite. Food is more than sustenance, it is truly a universal love language. Gathering around a table isn’t just about nourishment; it’s about forging connections that go further than geography and generations.  

At We Don’t Waste, we understand the profound connections food can create. Sadly, millions of pounds of food are wasted every year, while countless families struggle with hunger. We can change that—together.

Imagine the joy of sharing a meal and knowing it’s making a difference. By supporting We Don’t Waste, you’re helping to rescue surplus food and deliver it to communities in need, ensuring everyone has the opportunity to create their own memories around their dining room table.

Here’s how you can help:

Donate: Every dollar you give helps us rescue more food and reach more people.

Volunteer: Join our team in collecting and distributing food. Your time can make a big impact.

Spread the Word: Share our mission with your friends and family. The more people who know, the more we can achieve together. Follow our Instagram and Tiktok to stay up to date on our mission and actions!Visit the We Don’t Waste website to learn more and get involved. Let’s work together to reduce food waste, support our communities, and ensure that everyone can enjoy the powerful, memory-making experience of a shared meal.

Unveiling itself on September 19th, 2020 with giant red flashing lights that wrote out “7 yrs, 102 days, 12:01:59”, the Climate Clock in New York City brought a sobering reality to the real-world effects of climate change. Now with over five clocks spanning hundreds of feet in major cities across the globe, the numbers continue to tick down, signifying the amount of time we have left to reduce carbon emissions to prevent irreversible climate impacts. July 22nd, 2024 marks the pinnacle moment where the clock strikes below 5 years for the first time.

The Climate Clock is a climate change activist organization blurring the lines between art, science, and technology to mobilize the world to #ActInTime. The ominous ticking clock represents the amount of time before the world hits a global warming of 1.5 degrees celsius, or when the impacts of climate change become irreversible. 

At We Don’t Waste, we believe that understanding the intersection between climate change and food waste is critical for driving change towards a more equitable future for all. Food waste is not just a missed opportunity to feed those in need; it is a significant environmental issue.

When food is wasted, all the resources used to produce it—water, energy, labor, and transportation are also squandered, which adds up to 21%-30% of water wasted, or 1.3 billion tons. More alarmingly, food waste that ends up in landfills generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is over 25 times more impactful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

Globally, approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. In the United States alone, that figure rises to 40%, equating to roughly 219 pounds of waste per person each year. The United Nations estimates that if food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses after the US and China.

Climate justice recognizes the disproportionate impacts of climate change on low-income communities around the world, the people typically least responsible for the problem, and is an important part of the discussion. Underrepresented populations, including marginalized communities and individuals with lower economic status, often bear the brunt of climate impacts despite having a minimal carbon footprint. These groups are typically more vulnerable to climate-related disasters, such as extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and food insecurity, due to their limited financial resources and development of factories or waste production plants in lower income areas.  Unlike wealthier demographics, marginalized communities often lack the means to relocate, rebuild, or adapt to the changing environment, leading to greater negative impacts on their livelihoods and well-being.

Climate change won’t cause an instantaneous, end-of-the-world event like in a Hollywood movie portrayal, rather, just the end of the world as we know it. Unless we do something. The purpose of this clock is to remind us of the urgency to protect our planet.

At We Don’t Waste, we are committed to reducing food waste and its environmental impact through innovative solutions:

1. Food Recovery: We rescue food that would otherwise go to waste and redirect it to those in need. By partnering with local nonprofits, farms, and community organizations, we ensure that surplus food is efficiently distributed.
2. Education and Awareness: We educate communities about the importance of reducing food waste at home and in businesses. Simple actions like meal planning, proper food storage, and understanding expiration dates can significantly reduce household food waste.
3. Advocacy: We advocate for policies that support food waste reduction and promote sustainability. This includes supporting legislation that encourages food donation and the development of infrastructure to manage food waste effectively.

It is important to understand the scope at which our agricultural system and capitalistic tendencies of production and overconsumption are impacting the warming of Earth’s atmosphere. From the deforestation and degradation of our soil, run-off of toxic chemicals from pesticides and fertilizers, lack of biodiversity, and overproduction of crops, fostering impactful change starts with our systems. While this may be scary, we ALL have the power to start inciting real change at both a micro and macro level. 

Here’s How You Can Help

Reducing food waste is a collective effort. Here are some ways you can contribute:

1. Plan Your Meals: Buy only what you need and plan meals to make the most of your ingredients.
2. Store Food Properly: Learn how to store different types of food to extend their shelf life.
3. Use Leftovers Creatively: Repurpose leftovers into new meals to avoid throwing them away.
4. Support Local Nonprofits: Donate to local organizations like We Don’t Waste to support those in your community most effectively.
5. Call Your Local Representative: Understand the climate change and waste management protocols in your area and advocate for a more sustainable future. You can find your local representative’s information here!
6. Limit Your Consumption: Not all organizations prioritize sustainability or ethical business practices equally. Take some time to learn about how the companies producing the products you buy regularly are impacting our planet, and see if you can find more sustainable alternatives. Checkout the Ethical Consumer and their Shopping Guides to learn more!
7. Shop Small and Local: By shopping locally and in season you ensure not only the best quality of food for yourself, but you also reduce the amount of carbon emissions produced by each product with less shipping.
8. Do not give up hope! Small habit changes from each of us quickly add up to larger impacts, and demanding change in our governments and in our capitalist systems are the most effective levers of change.

We Don’t Waste recovers a lot of food. Over 97% of the food we provide to community members is recovered or donated, but did you know there are times when We Don’t Waste purchases food? It is a much smaller percentage of the food we distribute, but it is still an important part of our impact. 

When We Don’t Waste makes a food purchase, it is because we want to supplement the foods we are already bringing in to fill in potential nutritional gaps. These are often the categories of food that are harder to source, such as proteins and allergen-free options. 

We also want to ensure that the food we bring to Mobile Food Markets and our nonprofit partners is culturally relevant and provides a diverse choice of diets. Because food purchase is a necessity of our work, it’s also important for us to support local businesses. 

Businesses like Eagle Rock Ranch are at the top of the list when we’re thinking about making a supplemental food purchase. They’re a cattle ranch based in Jefferson, CO, that focuses on sustainable and ethical practices that keep their cows happy and healthy, and are dedicated to the stewardship of the land they’re on. The ranch and its staff are all registered with the Beef Quality Assurance Program as well. 

Erin, who manages the Eagle Rock Ranch Mercantile, recently spoke with us about our partnership. When asked how she feels knowing that the beef we purchase feeds people facing food insecurity, she said “It’s rewarding to know that premium, high-quality beef is going into the hands of individuals and families that need it most. As a small business, our partnership with We Don’t Waste is a wonderful way to give back locally to help reduce hunger and food waste.“ It really is a win-win-win for everyone involved!

Another way We Don’t Waste acquires food is through TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program). This program, operated by the USDA, is a program that gets food to low-income Americans through partnerships with nonprofit organizations and schools. TEFAP is a crucial and integral part of the We Don’t Waste Mobile Food Market program. 

Since We Don’t Waste operates primarily as a food recovery program, we cannot always guarantee that we have recovered all the necessary food groups to meet a person’s daily nutritional needs, including protein, dairy, fruits, vegetables, grains, and oils. For instance, during the winter months, sourcing fresh produce locally becomes more challenging due to reduced local agricultural output. The TEFAP Program plays a vital role in ensuring that we fulfill all portions of the daily dietary requirements while also supplementing our community with the diverse range of foods we have recovered. 

By having these additional modes of food acquisition, we’re able to ensure that we are always able to bring enough food to our partners and our Mobile Food Markets. If you would like to get involved with food donation, explore options for partnership, or just generally become more involved with We Don’t Waste programming, explore more of our website!

Kyle stands in the brand-new completed cooler in 2019.

Dear Friends of We Don’t Waste, 

I am thrilled to share that today is my first day as the new Executive Director of We Don’t Waste, and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve spent the past 7 years as the Director of Development, and I’ve seen firsthand the incredible passion for our mission from our growing community of staff, board members, partners, volunteers, and supporters. 

When I first accepted the position with We Don’t Waste, I shared a desk with our Director of Operations in our tiny office in RiNo. When we’d have staff meetings, someone would have to sit on the floor because there wasn’t enough room for our mighty team of six at the table. 

We’ve come a long way from those days, yet our core concept remains the same: We believe that food should go to people, not landfills, and be accessible to all. We live that out every day through our food recovery efforts, our distribution to nonprofit partners, our nutrition and environmental education, and our Mobile Food Markets.

I also wanted to take a moment to thank you for being a part of We Don’t Waste’s community, and share some of what I’m most excited about for the organization’s future:

• Programming Growth: Now that we’re (mostly) settled into our new Food Recovery Hub, we’re beginning the process of planning out additional programming that incorporates our new kitchen and the land next door to the Food Recovery Hub. These two areas open up major potential for our education program, so I’d love to close out the capital campaign and make our education opportunities even more engaging and meaningful for community groups of all kinds. 
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: We want We Don’t Waste, our programs, and our policies to reflect the diverse communities we serve, and I’d like to continue to prioritize furthering our investment into and focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and practices organization-wide. 
• More Food, More Impact: This should come as no surprise, but I aim to increase We Don’t Waste’s impact through more food recovered, so we can support more families attending our mobile Food Markets and visiting our amazing nonprofit partners. Unfortunately, the need is great, yet we know here is still more food we could be recovering with greater capacity through increased staff, fleet, and food donor partnerships. 

Our previous Executive Director and Founder, Arlan Preblud, had an incredible vision for what We Don’t Waste would be and laid a strong foundation for the work we’re doing today, and I look forward to continuing to build upon it with all of you. Thank you to Arlan for his dedication, his support, and his steadfast commitment to We Don’t Waste.

We Don’t Waste’s core values have remained at the top of my mind during this transition period: Food is a human right, champion innovation, foster inclusion, build community, and cultivate sustainability. With these values in place, our team will continue moving toward our vision of a world without food insecurity or food waste!

And we must never forget the reasons we have these values and why we do this work. Children should be able to go to school or bed full. Parents should be able to provide nutritious food, even on limited means. Our nonprofit partners should be able to provide enough food to their clients. And, ultimately, quality food should be eaten, not thrown away.

Let’s continue to make a difference and bring our community more meals and less waste!

With Gratitude,

Kyle Endres

Executive Director

Dear Friends,

I hope this message finds you well.

I am writing to share some significant news with you. After 15 unforgettable years as the Founder and Executive Director of We Don’t Waste, I am ready to retire and will be stepping down from my position as Executive Director on June 30th. 

Founding and leading We Don’t Waste has been one of the most impactful experiences of my life. Together, we have transformed a simple idea – one hatched over dinner with my wife back in 2008 – into a powerful force for good, rescuing millions of meals and providing vital support to those in need. The incredible growth and impact of We Don’t Waste would not have been possible without the dedication and generosity of supporters like you. Your belief in our mission has been a constant source of inspiration for me.

As I step down, I am filled with immense pride and gratitude for what we have accomplished together. The lives we have touched, the communities we have strengthened, and the positive change we have fostered are all testaments to the power of our community’s collective effort and compassion. 

I am excited to share that We Don’t Waste is in excellent hands with our incoming Executive Director, Kyle Endres. After nearly seven years as Director of Development for We Don’t Waste, along with significant nonprofit and education experience, Kyle is dedicated to the mission, and I have no doubt that the organization will continue to thrive with his leadership. I would invite you all to welcome him to the position with enthusiasm. 

Lastly, I would like to share a video that my team put together for our most recent Fill a Plate for Hunger event. This video is my letter to Denver, and showcases some of my favorite moments along this journey. Denver has been my home for most of my life, and my hope is that through We Don’t Waste, I will have given back some of what this community has given me. 

It has truly been an unforgettable, remarkable experience. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to pursue our vision of a waste-free, food-secure world.

With deep appreciation and warm regards,

Arlan Preblud 

Illustration by Amanda K Bailey

Juneteenth, celebrated annually on June 19th, is a significant day in American history. It marks the emancipation of the last enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, in 1865—more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Juneteenth is a time for reflection, celebration, and community, and at We Don’t Waste, we recognize the important role that food plays in these festivities.

Food and Juneteenth: A Celebration of Culture and Resilience

Food has always been central to Juneteenth celebrations. Traditional dishes like barbecue, red velvet cake, and collard greens are staples at gatherings, symbolizing unity, resilience, and the rich cultural heritage of Black communities. Red foods and drinks, in particular, hold special significance, representing the bloodshed and sacrifices of those who fought for freedom and the resilience of the Black American spirit.

However, while many celebrate with abundance, it’s crucial to acknowledge that food insecurity remains a pressing issue for many families. Access to nutritious and culturally significant foods is not a reality for all, and this disparity is a reminder of the ongoing struggles faced by marginalized communities.

Food insecurity disproportionately affects Black communities, reflecting broader systemic inequalities. In fact, the USDA reported that in 2022, 1 in 5 Black Americans experienced food insecurity. Approximately 5% of the greater Denver county identifies as African American, and about 10% of those living in the Denver metropolitan area. There are tens of thousands of Black Americans that will experience food insecurity at some point this year. 

By rescuing surplus food and providing no-cost food access across our community, We Don’t Waste aims to bridge this gap and support families in celebrating every day with dignity and nourishment. We provide food to several local Black-led nonprofits that, in turn, provide food access as a part of their programs to holistically take care of our neighbors. Some examples of these incredible partners are Struggle of Love Foundation, Street Fraternity, and the Second Chance Center. 

Food is more than sustenance; it is a means of bringing people together, preserving traditions, and fostering a sense of belonging. 

Join Us in the Fight Against Food Insecurity

As we celebrate Juneteenth, let’s keep in the mind the importance of food in our cultural celebrations and the pressing need to address food insecurity. Together, we can make a difference. Your support helps us rescue more food, reach more families, and honor the spirit of Juneteenth by ensuring that everyone has access to nutritious meals.

Join us in our mission to reduce food waste and fight hunger. Volunteer, donate, or partner with We Don’t Waste and be part of a community dedicated to making a meaningful impact!

A crowd celebrates the Juneteenth Festival in 2021 in Colorado.

As we celebrate Pride Month, it’s the perfect time to shine a light on an important issue that touches both the LGBTQ+ community and the broader quest for social justice: food equity. At We Don’t Waste, we believe that everyone deserves access to nutritious food, and we recognize that food insecurity disproportionately affects marginalized communities, including LGBTQ+ individuals. Let’s explore food equity as a larger concept and delve into the specifics of food insecurity within the LGBTQ+ community, especially here in Colorado.

What is Food Equity?

Food equity goes beyond simply having enough food to eat. It means ensuring that all people, regardless of their socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, have access to affordable, healthy, and culturally appropriate food. Food equity is about fairness and justice in our food systems. It addresses the root causes of food insecurity, such as systemic discrimination, economic inequality, and lack of access to resources.

Food Insecurity and the LGBTQ+ Community

Food insecurity is a pressing issue in the LGBTQ+ community. Studies show that LGBTQ+ individuals are more likely to experience poverty and unemployment compared to their non-LGBTQ+ peers. These economic disparities contribute to higher rates of food insecurity. Discrimination, stigma, and a lack of family support can further exacerbate these challenges, making it harder for LGBTQ+ individuals to secure stable housing, employment, and access to nutritious food.

For example, a 2020 report from the Williams Institute found that 27% of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. experienced food insecurity in the past year, compared to 17% of non-LGBTQ+ adults. The rates are even higher among transgender individuals, with nearly half (48%) reporting food insecurity. These statistics underscore the urgent need for targeted interventions to support the LGBTQ+ community.

Food Insecurity in Colorado’s LGBTQ+ Community

Here in Colorado, the picture is similar. The Colorado Health Institute’s data reveals that LGBTQ+ individuals in our state face higher rates of food insecurity compared to their cisgender, heterosexual counterparts. LGBTQ+ youth, particularly those who are homeless or in unstable housing situations, often face more significant barriers to food access. Many food assistance programs are not designed with the unique needs of LGBTQ+ individuals in mind, which can create additional obstacles for access. 

Addressing Food Insecurity through Community and Advocacy

At We Don’t Waste, we are committed to addressing food insecurity in a way that promotes equity and inclusivity. Here are some ways we can work together to support the LGBTQ+ community:

1. Inclusive Food Programs: Developing food assistance programs that are inclusive and welcoming to LGBTQ+ individuals. This means training staff on LGBTQ+ issues, ensuring that services are accessible to all, and creating safe spaces for everyone.
2. Advocacy and Policy Change: Advocating for policies that address the root causes of food insecurity and economic inequality in the LGBTQ+ community. This includes supporting initiatives that promote fair wages, affordable housing, and anti-discrimination protections.
3. Community Partnerships: Partnering with LGBTQ+ organizations to better understand and meet the unique needs of the community. By working together, we can create a stronger support network and ensure that no one is left behind.
4. Education and Awareness: Raising awareness about the intersection of food insecurity and LGBTQ+ issues. By educating ourselves and others, we can build a more inclusive and equitable food system.

Celebrating Pride with Purpose

This Pride Month, let’s celebrate by taking meaningful action to support food equity and the LGBTQ+ community. Whether it’s volunteering your time, donating to organizations that serve LGBTQ+ individuals, or advocating for policy change, every effort counts. Together, we can create a world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, regardless of who they are or whom they love.

At We Don’t Waste, we’re proud to stand with the LGBTQ+ community in the fight for food equity. Thank you for joining us on this journey, and let’s continue to work together to nourish lives and embrace diversity.

Happy Pride!

International Day for Biological Diversity is honored on May 22nd. This is a day that was first created in 1993 as a way to bring awareness to the rampant biodiversity loss being experienced across the globe due to climate change. For those who may not know, biodiversity is the number of varying plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms that live in a given area, or the wildlife that makes up an environment. The issue most commonly known in the context of biodiversity loss is species endangerment and extinction. Bringing attention to this issue and helping to enact change are how we are conserving what remains, while also reintroducing or bolstering populations of different species. 

Furthermore, it is a way to begin tackling the triple planetary crisis, which is the vicious cycle of interaction or negative feedback loop between biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution. We wanted to break down why this one portion of the crisis is an issue we care about and why you should as well.

There are 3 key reasons why this is an important issue from both a sustainability perspective and a food access perspective:

1. The majority of biodiversity loss is manmade! Over half of the planet’s habitable land is used to support our agricultural needs. When, as a country, we are wasting 40% of food, we are massively contributing to the further loss of habitats and species for no reason at all! 
2. A lack of biodiversity impacts available nutrients. To simplify a complex issue, when a reduction in flora and fauna impacts the ecosystem, it impacts water quality, pollination, and soil health, which impacts the ability to grow crops that meet the breadth of nutritional requirements in an area. 
3. The homogenization of our global diets leaves us at an increased risk for crop failure and famine. Globally, only 9 plants make up 66% of crop production and 8 species of animals make up 97% of meat production. Having such a narrow pool of genetic variation in our food systems means that a new pathogen could wipe out the majority of a crop and cause massive economic and nutritional devastation across the globe. We saw this with a recent worldwide fungal scare in bananas!

This is the ugly reality and consequences of global biodiversity loss. It is an issue that impacts everyone and everything that calls Earth home. 

This year’s theme, or challenge, associated with International Day for Biodiversity is “Be a Part of the Plan.”  Everyone can promote biodiversity, be it by planting locally relevant species, preventing local food waste, or helping pollinators. By visiting this site, you can create a custom logo for yourself to show your support for increasing biodiversity. Post it on social media, and let your friends and family know about this important issue!

May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! AAPI Heritage Month began in the 70s as several resolutions each proposing a week or two to honor the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in America. In 1990, the separate weeks of celebration finally became a full month of recognition for the rich history and culture of Asian and Pacific Islander peoples.  This year’s theme for AAPI Heritage Month is “Advancing Leaders Through Innovation”.  

Despite being the fastest-growing minority group in the country, there is also the widest wealth gap. It’s often difficult to discuss solving this issue because research into the quality of life experienced by AAPI people is incredibly minimal. Between 1992-2018, only .17% of the National Institutes of Health’s budget was for studying Asian American and Pacific Islander people. This is an incredible disservice because of how vast and diverse AAPI communities are. 

Asia is the most populous continent, and combined with all of the countries in Oceania, AAPI as a category encompasses over half of the world’s population and over 2,750 spoken languages alone. There is a wide variety of cultures present, which impacts how these groups and individuals experience integration into American culture, politics, and economics. There is not a single brushstroke statement that can be made to encompass all of these unique experiences in the American melting pot. 

Overall, AAPI Americans have a low poverty rate at 13.8%; however, when looking at ethnic groups that make up the overall stat, there are alarming rates of poverty and food insecurity including 38% of Hmong people, 29% of Cambodian, and 25.1% of Malaysians. If that isn’t concerning enough, AAPI people are the least likely to apply for and utilize public benefits and safety nets. The “why” behind that stat is immensely frustrating–the registration forms are simply unavailable in many languages. 

So what can we do to help? First and foremost, we can advocate for inclusion, research, and policy that is more considerate of the AAPI experience. We can’t make up for lost time, but we can be vocal to make sure that EVERYONE is included when we look into systemic issues and creating solutions. 

Someone who is putting in a massive amount of work to bring power to the voices of young, intersectional activists is Kevin Patel. He is the founder of One Up Action and helped create the first Youth Climate Commission in LA County. He is an environmental activist based in LA who brings to light the ways changes in the environment negatively impact quality of life. An issue we know all too well, and will be deep diving in our next blog (keep an eye out for that). 

To do our part, We Don’t Waste is proud to prioritize recovering culturally relevant foods for our food recipient partners. We do this by partnering with companies like Lee Hing Park Hill Supermarket to provide familiar foods to people attending our Mobile Food Markets and partner agencies. Offering fresh produce is another way we practice cultural responsiveness. Many times, food distribution programs and governmental organizations will prioritize providing shelf-stable, boxed, or canned foods. Simply offering a variety of produce and spices allows our nonprofit partners and Mobile Food Market participants to select the fresh foods they would have purchased! 

You can support our efforts in providing food access for all! Make a donation on our website, or volunteer with our team to support local food distribution in Denver.

I think we can all agree that keeping kids fed, especially while they’re at school, is incredibly important, and crucial for learning. It’s why we’ve seen so many states adopt free school meals for students regardless of their economic demographics. As of April 2024, 8 states have policies in practice regarding free school meals, with Colorado having adopted the Healthy School Meals for All Program just this school year! There are an additional 28 states that have similar legislation in the works, or just recently passed. This level of popularity and agreement across so many states demonstrates how much we care about keeping kids fed. 

Why then, is there a drafted Federal budget for 2025  proposing the elimination of the Community Eligibility Provision from the School Lunch Program? For those who may be unfamiliar with Community Eligibility Provision, it is a program that allows the nation’s low income schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students, without the need to collect individual household applications.  In this budget, it is proposed that the Community Eligibility Provision be cut, and only those who are financially eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch through the National School Lunch Program application receive meals at no cost throughout the school year. 

It might seem like this would be a good idea to reduce federal costs to only provide for those who are explicitly below the federal level of poverty; however, we already know that there are 1 in 6 people currently who are eligible for public benefits such as SNAP who are not enrolled, and thus are not utilizing the assistance they are entitled to. This tells us that eligibility alone for the program does not mean that people will receive their needed access to nutrition. Food insecurity continues to rise, with 11.2% of Coloradans not having enough to meet their nutritional needs, 25% of whom are children.

The “why” behind this proposed cut is stated to be preventing “widespread fraud.” The citation is coming from this report, which states that there is a higher rate of students using FRL programs than there were rates of improper payment, or the number of kids who were not able to pay for their meals in full, or pay off any balance owed to the school for meals, in schools. However, this report is older than the Healthy School Meals for All Program, which ensures that all kids in an eligible school can eat for free and thus have better cognition, which leads to improved performance in school. The citation doesn’t make sense as an argument to punish kids who need access to nutrition, especially when the need is so blatantly evident. 

Here in Colorado, Healthy School Meals for All has been a massive success. Every eligible district has enrolled in the program, and there has been a 36% increase in breakfast and 31% increase in lunch provided to students. With food costs continuing to rise, with a projection of yet another price hike, these programs can be what makes or breaks a family’s budget. On average, a family saves $1,250 per child each year because of Healthy School Meals for All. 

If you’d like to show your support for keeping school kids fed, please contact your representatives. This form will send an email to applicable representatives to show your support for Healthy School Meals for All.