Tinker ☀️ on Nostr: Ok. Now that the seed library is built, I'm moving on to the next project. Food ...
Ok. Now that the seed library is built, I'm moving on to the next project.
Food Rescue.
Currently, I volunteer at my local community refrigerator and pantry....
....and by that I mean a literal refrigerator and pantry that sits outside.
Anyone can come up to it and put food in. And anyone can come up to it and take food out. No means testing. Mutual aid. Give a food, take a food.
Right now, it's being stocked with individual donations (people buying extra food while doing their own grocery runs or putting in extra food that they thought they were going to use but ended up not using all of it), overflow from food pantry distributions, and home garden and hydroponics for fresh produce.
That's great and I want to expand that, especially the home garden and hydroponics for fresh produce (see the Seed Library and hydroponics bin build pinned posts for efforts in that area).
All of that said, my local town is not doing a lot of food rescue.
We have grocery stores, convenience stores, and restaurants throwing away good food at the end of the day.
I want to get that food away from the dumpsters and into the community fridge / pantry.
So that's my next project. And I'll document it here. (I swear at some point, I'll put all of this together up on hacker(dot)solar - I just really suck at that. I don't know why.)
I'm currently looking at foodrescue(dot)us 's web app for food rescue coordination. It costs money, but I'm not sure how much. I'll find out and let y'all know.
I'll start with grocery stores. Then convenience stores. Then finally hot food from restaurants.
Cool thing. A lot of people worry about liability issues. That's not a thing anymore!!!
In the US, we have the Bill Emerson Food Donation Act that removes liability from donators, gleaners (food rescuers), and distributors:
"The Bill Emerson Food Donation Act establishes Federal protection from civil and criminal liability for persons involved in the donation and distribution of food and grocery products to needy individuals when certain criteria are met. In order to receive protection under the Act, a person or gleaner must donate in good faith apparently wholesome food or apparently fit grocery products to a nonprofit organization for ultimate distribution to needy individuals. The Act also provides protection against civil and criminal liability to the nonprofit organizations that receive such donated items in good faith. "
See FAQ here (PDF): https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/usda-good-samaritan-faqs.pdf
Ideally, I'll be able to keep our fridge stocked with this and even start building out other fridges/pantries throughout town.
Heck, Richmond Virginia has FOURTEEN free fridges!!! We're not as big a town as they are, but we can do better than one!
#solarPunk #mutualAid #foodRescue #freeFridge #communityPantry
Food Rescue.
Currently, I volunteer at my local community refrigerator and pantry....
....and by that I mean a literal refrigerator and pantry that sits outside.
Anyone can come up to it and put food in. And anyone can come up to it and take food out. No means testing. Mutual aid. Give a food, take a food.
Right now, it's being stocked with individual donations (people buying extra food while doing their own grocery runs or putting in extra food that they thought they were going to use but ended up not using all of it), overflow from food pantry distributions, and home garden and hydroponics for fresh produce.
That's great and I want to expand that, especially the home garden and hydroponics for fresh produce (see the Seed Library and hydroponics bin build pinned posts for efforts in that area).
All of that said, my local town is not doing a lot of food rescue.
We have grocery stores, convenience stores, and restaurants throwing away good food at the end of the day.
I want to get that food away from the dumpsters and into the community fridge / pantry.
So that's my next project. And I'll document it here. (I swear at some point, I'll put all of this together up on hacker(dot)solar - I just really suck at that. I don't know why.)
I'm currently looking at foodrescue(dot)us 's web app for food rescue coordination. It costs money, but I'm not sure how much. I'll find out and let y'all know.
I'll start with grocery stores. Then convenience stores. Then finally hot food from restaurants.
Cool thing. A lot of people worry about liability issues. That's not a thing anymore!!!
In the US, we have the Bill Emerson Food Donation Act that removes liability from donators, gleaners (food rescuers), and distributors:
"The Bill Emerson Food Donation Act establishes Federal protection from civil and criminal liability for persons involved in the donation and distribution of food and grocery products to needy individuals when certain criteria are met. In order to receive protection under the Act, a person or gleaner must donate in good faith apparently wholesome food or apparently fit grocery products to a nonprofit organization for ultimate distribution to needy individuals. The Act also provides protection against civil and criminal liability to the nonprofit organizations that receive such donated items in good faith. "
See FAQ here (PDF): https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/usda-good-samaritan-faqs.pdf
Ideally, I'll be able to keep our fridge stocked with this and even start building out other fridges/pantries throughout town.
Heck, Richmond Virginia has FOURTEEN free fridges!!! We're not as big a town as they are, but we can do better than one!
#solarPunk #mutualAid #foodRescue #freeFridge #communityPantry