Welcome to the Food Rescue Partnership – a Quad Cities coalition that promotes rescuing food for its best possible use.

Food Availability in the Quad Cities

One of the problems for those in need of food is availability. The Food Rescue Partnership worked with Augustana College to map out this problem. The snapshot below features areas further than one mile from a grocery store (those not within a circle), meaning that 15.2% of Quad Citizens are considered to live in a food desert** with limited options for healthy and fresh food. Additionally, 25.2% of Quad Citizens surveyed in the 2024 Community Health Assessment have difficulty buying fresh produce. Adults who reported adverse social experiences or conditions are 16 times more likely to have difficulty buying fresh produce.

Click the image and to navigate the interactive map to see where food is available and where food deserts exist.

Why Food Rescue?

Because in America, 40% of all the food produced is not consumed annually. It gets thrown away, even though in our area alone, 38.5% of Quad Citizens surveyed in the 2024 Community Health Assessment are food insecure. How can we throw away so much of this valuable resource when so many are in need? Hunger does not affect one type of person or one geographic location: young or old; rural or urban. Hunger affects 1 in 7 people throughout the United States. You can learn more about food insecurity through the Community Health Assessment and Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap project.