orange park, florida – This month’s Positively Jax winner is feeding the masses. Have you ever wondered where those bags of expiring food or slightly defective produce go when they no longer sell?
The non-profit organization Waste Not Want Not strives to ensure that some of it ends up in the hands of those in need, rather than in the trash.
Volunteers go to Trader Joe’s every day to buy food. Former Volunteer Sandra Stout Killea is now Executive Director of Waste Not Want Not. She’s a former lawyer who now saves food.
“We have everything from a produce bakery, bread, pizza, dough, cheese, milk, eggs,” said Stout Kirea.
The organization began in 1990 with a simple request to donate short-lived food to local supermarkets to help support soup kitchens in Jacksonville.
“We convinced stores and restaurants to donate instead of dumping,” said Stautkirea.
Since then it has been rescued and given over 27.5 million pounds of food.
“We have about 300 volunteers and we are open every day of the year, so we definitely need as many volunteers as we have now, if not more,” said Stautkirea. rice field.
Volunteers like Mary Cobb started in 1991 and are the longest serving volunteers.
“That’s what drives me. I mean. I’m in my 70s. So I have all kinds of aches and pains. But Friday morning I’m here, and I could be here.” I’m happy,” Cobb said.
You can’t eat that much food without a lot of preparation. So the volunteers label each rack of food with an organization that says, “I’m going to turn unwanted waste into a well-oiled machine.”
“I think it’s great to see that perfectly good food that we as a society just throw away is stopping it. It’s great for feeding people and it’s good for the environment.” It’s also very good, and we keep it out of landfills and use it.
This is definitely an example of Positively Jax, a winning organization and wise use of all its resources.
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