Food is and has always been a cornerstone of Southern culture. With a plethora of award-winning chefs and restaurants, the South is a place known for its delicious cuisine, a place where food is synonymous with hospitality. From neighborhood potlucks and cookouts to baby showers, to wakes, the supply of delicious food on crowded tables never seems to end. But, nostalgia aside, the harsh reality is that the supply does end for so many across our region.
According to the USDA, more than 38 million people in the United States, including 12 million children, lack access to healthy foods. The food insecurity rate is highest in the South at 12.3%. Data from the United Nations indicates that 40% of food in the USA ultimately goes to waste. But thanks to many organizations working tirelessly across the country, including right here in the South, we can all do our part to tackle food waste and food insecurity in our own backyards! Whether you’re available to donate food, money, or time, we’ve rounded up several regional “food rescue and recovery” organizations that make getting involved so easy.
The Nashville Food Project
Community collaboration is at the core of everything The Nashville Food Project does to provide people with access to the food they want and need. In order to create a food system that fosters health, belonging, and justice, the organization encourages folks across the city to come together to grow, cook, and share food.
One in seven people in Nashville lacks access to proper nutrition to sustain a healthy lifestyle, while at the same time, almost 40% of food in the city goes to waste. This knowledge has driven The Nashville Food Project to establish sustainable ways to alleviate hunger, such as shared meals and community gardens, as well as its food recovery program, which recovers would-be-wasted foods from grocers, farmers, markets, and restaurants and repurposes them for good.
Through partnerships with national and local vendors like Costco, Whole Foods, and Porter Road Butcher, The Nashville Food Project is able to provide nourishing food to hungry neighbors. Whether fresh produce from your garden or excess food from an event, the organization welcomes in-kind food item donations by appointment only. Interested in donating? Learn more here.
With shared meals, community gardens, a food recovery program, and more, The Nashville Food Project provides food to Nashvillians in need. Image: Instagram
Second Helpings South Carolina
Since 1992, Second Helpings South Carolina has been working to eliminate hunger in the South Carolina Lowcountry by collecting and distributing excess food to those who need it most. The volunteer-driven organization picks up food from donors and delivers it at no cost to agency partners who provide it directly to the one in seven people facing hunger in Beaufort, Jasper, and Hampton counties.
With its eight refrigerated trucks, Second Helpings collects food from local grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, schools, hotels, and vacation rentals seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, resulting in over 40 million pounds of food delivered to neighbors in need. That’s 40 million pounds of food that would otherwise have gone to waste! Learn more about Seconds Helpings here.
FeedBHM
FeedBHM is the food rescue program of Grace Klein Community, an educational and charitable nonprofit that provides relief to the poor, distressed, and underprivileged in Birmingham and across the globe. Now in its 13th year, FeedBHM mobilizes volunteers to collect, repurpose, and share food from over 120 local restaurants, grocers, and cafés with those facing food insecurity in the community.
In 2021 alone, the organization salvaged an estimated one million pounds of nutritional food from disposal in landfills and delivered it directly to the tables of over 40,000 families in Birmingham. FeedBHM makes getting involved easy through their mobile app, where you can sign up to volunteer and find information on donating food or alerting the organization to a food rescue opportunity. Learn more here.
Dedicated volunteers rescue food from local grocery stores and restaurants through FeedBHM. Image: Instagram
Second Helpings Atlanta
Driving out hunger one mile at a time, Second Helpings Atlanta serves as the link between food donors and partner agencies, who feed those in need in the Metro Atlanta area on a daily basis. Thanks to its network of over 300 volunteers, who have driven over 36,000 food rescue routes since 2004, the organization collects healthy and nutritious surplus food from across the city, diverting it from landfills and delivering it to families and individuals experiencing hunger.
Second Helpings works with more than 75 generous corporate, retail, and academic food donors, including grocery stores, school cafeterias, corporate kitchens and dining areas, restaurants, farmers’ markets, and faith-based organizations. In addition to regularly scheduled food pickups, the organization also rescues food on demand from events. Find more information on Second Helpings and details on how to get involved here.
Serving the Metro Atlanta area, Second Helpings Atlanta collects and distributes healthy food. Image: Instagram
Food Recovery Network
If students are an indicator of the future, ours is looking bright thanks to the work of the Food Recovery Network, the largest student-led movement fighting food waste in America. Through its grassroots efforts, the Food Recovery Network fights food waste and hunger by recovering food that would otherwise go to waste, ensuring people have access to healthy food while also mitigating the environmental crisis. Since 2011, chapters on over 200 campuses across the country have recovered nine million pounds of food, resulting in 5.7 million meals donated and over 3,038 Metric Tons of CO2 emissions prevented. Find a local chapter and ways to donate here.
Community Fridges
Opening the fridge out of hunger (or boredom, if we’re being honest) is a habit many of us take for granted. However, not everyone is as fortunate. Thanks to creative volunteers and social media, community refrigerators are popping up in public areas across cities like Nashville, New Orleans, and Atlanta, where people can drop off excess food for hungry neighbors. Unlike pantries, community fridges are open 24/7 to those in need who can stop by to pick up items like fresh produce, end-of-day pastries and sandwiches, milk, canned goods, and other perishable items donated by generous businesses and individuals.
Open all day, every day, community fridges offer a chance for those in need to stop by for items from perishable to pantry items. Image: Instagram
Imperfect Groceries
We all know not to judge a book by its cover, but did you know that the same can be said for grocery items and produce? Sustainable subscription services like Imperfect Foods and Misfit Market deliver less-than-perfect and upcycled grocery items to doorsteps across that South and throughout the country, all to reduce food waste. These companies work directly with farmers and purveyors to source high-quality food items with cosmetic quirks — perhaps an unusual-shaped apple or abnormally large zucchini — that traditional grocery stores would have otherwise deemed undesirable. Be sure to check out your local farmers’ market for perfectly imperfect produce. If you’ve ever tasted a ripe heirloom tomato, you know that just because it might look funny, doesn’t mean it won’t taste delicious!
Here’s to doing something good in your community!
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