Food Recovery Network (FRN) announces significant achievements in its efforts to combat food insecurity in the Washington, D.C. area. Through a partnership with the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center, FRN has successfully saved 67,853 pounds of food in just two years to support local organizations fighting hunger. Food Recovery Network volunteer with packed surplus food ready to deliver to hunger-fighting community partner.
“Our partnership with Gaylord National Resort has been transformative. In just two years, we’ve recovered over 67,000 pounds of surplus food. We’ve been able to work with 8 area hunger-fighting nonprofits – which means those pounds of precious food have provided the equivalent of over 56,000 meals for people in our community experiencing hunger,” said Regina Harmon, Executive Director. “This collaboration demonstrates the power of partnerships to create meaningful, sustainable change for communities.”
The positive impact extends beyond the number of meals provided. The recovered food has also resulted in significant environmental benefits. FRN’s work has helped save 7.81 million gallons of water鈥攅quivalent to 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools鈥攁nd mitigated nearly 43.76 metric tons of CO2 emissions, comparable to removing ten passenger vehicles from the road for a year. This success underscores the power of collaboration in addressing both hunger and environmental sustainability.
FRN and Gaylord National began their official partnership in June of 2023. Since then,聽FRN’s team has picked up surplus food from Gaylord National every other week. On average, over two weeks, Gaylord’s culinary team saves about 1,200 pounds of perfectly good food, simply prepared in excess, from all of the meetings and events held in their conference and resort center. This is enough food to allow FRN to support multiple agencies in the extended community every time we receive a donation.
FRN is the largest student-led organization in the U.S. dedicated to recovering surplus food and ending hunger. With over 200 chapters nationwide, FRN has three active university chapters in Washington, D.C.: American University, Georgetown University, and George Washington University. Together, for more than 10 years, these chapters have successfully redirected an impressive additional 20,000 pounds of surplus food to fight food insecurity in the area.
This impactful work aligns perfectly with several upcoming awareness dates: March 30th (Day of Zero Waste), April 7-13th (Food Waste Prevention Week), April 22nd (Earth Day), and April 30th (Stop Food Waste Day). These dates highlight the importance of our collective efforts to reduce food waste and FRN’s commitment to shaping a future where food is not wasted and all people have access to nutritious food. FRN’s achievements demonstrate the tangible results possible through partnerships and community engagement.