Yippee we had our first Zoom meeting this week and it was amazing and fun! Not only did everyone catch me with Smooth Jazz Secretary Deb Skinner grooving to some hip-hop music; but also we were able to see Bruce Frasier relaxing by a pool making us all jealous of the sunshine. Thanks to everyone that tuned in and many thanks and kudos to Leigh Sittenauer for working diligently to put this together so we can all stay in touch through the health crisis. Thank you, thank you Leigh! Our first speaker was Tracy Wells from Saving Grace Food Rescue who was willing to be a part of our first Zoom meeting experience. Tracy gave us information on the situation of hunger and food waste in America. 30-40% of all food ends up in landfills instead of hungry people’s mouths. 133 billion tons of food is wasted in the United States. This is the largest contributor to the landfills in the United States. One in seven people in Douglas County are food insecure which covers every zip code in our community. Gases that are associated with food waste amount to roughly 37million passenger vehicles on the road; this is one of the top most 100 impactful things that could be done to address climate change. Food waste prevention is number 3 among the most impactful things that could help curb climate change. We could feed the world 4 times over with the food that is wasted. Ways to combat this problem consists of reducing the amount of food we buy, feeding people in need which is what Saving Grace does, feeding livestock and composting for renewable energy. Tracy mentioned how we have stopped using our common sense to determine whether food should be thrown away or not. By using our noses and eyes we can determine the safety of the food we have and not necessarily through the expiration date. Saving Grace will pick up food from their partners to redistribute food to those in need. Recently they picked up from 18 extra businesses and were able to rescue and redistribute 22,071 pounds of food. They work with 58 food vendors and 43 non-profit food recipients. It is important to match food to the recipients for effective usage. It isn’t just about preventing waste but providing nourishment and access to warm nutritious meals. Saving grace bridges the gap between those who produce food that is ultimately wasted and those with a need for it. Tracy let us know there are so many ways to help including financial donations and also becoming business partners. Tracy shared these neat links to help us all use what we have - those refrigerator remains: Thanks so much Tracy Wells for letting us know about the food deserts in Omaha and how Saving Grace is addressing that issue. Don’t forget to tune in next week for our second Zoom Rotary meeting! Our speaker Jeff Niebaum from BBB has already confirmed! ~ Camille |
