DETROIT (WXYZ) — A Detroit nonprofit is working to keep food out of landfills and on tables of families that are struggling with food insecurity.
Make Food Not Waste was established in 2017. The environmental organizations' works with professional chefs to turn food materials that would otherwise be thrown out into gourmet meals.
"Our purpose is to make sure we’re keeping food out of landfills and we know that one of the best ways to keep food out of landfills is to get it to people," said executive director Danielle Todd. "When we landfills, our food it has a huge impact on the environment. It’s also really important to keep our food local. Keeping our food local means not only sourcing our food locally but keeping it local once it’s here."
Todd says whatever is not usable will be composted. She compared the meal prepping process with the usable scraps to the popular Food Network show "Chopped."
"We take in surplus food from just about anywhere you can think of; grocery stores, farmers markets, food distributors, restaurants," said Todd. "This week it was a beef and vegetable pot pie, last week it was jerk chicken and dumplings, sometimes it's chili. It can be all kinds of different dishes."
The nonprofit uses two kitchens, one at the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church and another at Salvation Army Detroit Harbor Light on Lawton St. in Detroit. The chefs make about 4,000 meals weekly.
Friday morning, volunteers stood outside of the Jefferson Avenue church handing out meals, grocery items, hygiene products and diapers.
"Times are hard for everybody and there’s no shame, no issue with coming to get food," said Chelsea Gilbert who started volunteering during the pandemic. "The prevalence of food insecurity in Detroit became a huge issue and it was important to do anything that I could to help because I had the ability to."
Volunteers not only pass out food, they also deliver it directly to other missions and people who don't have transportation.
"It’s just so helpful and shows how if we work together we can succeed and we can help the people who are less fortunate than us," said volunteer Marge Zurack who delivers food to Motor City Mitten Mission in Saint Clair Shores.
Every week, the organization says they see around 60-100 people line up for the items.
"I think the need is great right now, especially with the way prices have gone up," said Paul Booker with the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian Church. "Many people got caught in that vacuum. It’s hard for them to afford things they were already struggling to afford."
The organization says there are volunteer opportunities for anyone interested in helping their mission. They also take monetary donations on their website.
If you would like to donate to support the efforts of Make Food Not Waste, click here to visit their website.
