FRP Stakeholders:

We have been receiving and fielding questions about COVID-19 and food donation. Please know there is no correlation between food and COVID-19, other than the risk of increased food waste because of canceled events and business closures. Food donations are still being accepted by non-profit hunger-relief agencies.

Just yesterday, Christina coordinated freshly prepared corned beef brisket, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots to Café on Vine. Yolanda rescued Happy Joe’s Pizza from the West Locust Street location.

The FRP Board added a food donation message to the homepage and Lea continues to keep our Facebook page updated. We would also like to highlight community efforts that have begun taking place without direct Food Rescue Partnership efforts, and were inspired by pure compassion and willingness to adapt to follow COVID-19 recommendations:

1. Chef Chris Carton established a “QC Safe Community Kitchen Operation” under the RiverCenter’s food license to prepare and distribute perishable food that would have been otherwise wasted. You can read about his efforts on our Facebook post here.
2. River Bend Foodbank, The Salvation Army, Red Cross, and Scott County Emergency Management are collaborating to accept and distribute shelf-stable food.

This is an important time to provide food rescue education and awareness.

What You Can Do

• Please reach out to your favorite food establishments and help facilitate food donations. If possible, track of your efforts and report back to the FRP board so we can document our efforts in the work plan.
• Like, comment, and share FRP Facebook and food rescue messages. We’re wanting to get the word out that food donations can still happen, especially with all the perishable foods in danger of being thrown away at closed businesses.
• Let us know if there are other community efforts, food rescue, or donations we can help share – we want to recognize that these efforts ARE happening in the Quad Cities to help get MORE of them to happen.

Together, we can make a direct impact in the Quad Cities by keeping food as a valuable resource.

Sincerely,

Your FRP Board – Christina McDonough, Pete Vogel, Lea Hensel, and Larry Linnenbrink