2020 Year in Review

Dear Food Rescue Partnership Stakeholders and Friends,

Thank you for your tremendous commitment through this unprecedented year. We found ourselves adapting to a global pandemic, national injustice crisis, and Midwest derecho on professional and personal levels we did not anticipate when we rang in the New Year.

In 2020, we transformed the biennial Food Rescue Workshop to a 100% live webinar series with recordings available for replay. The webinar series explained why wasting food is such a problem and how health inequity and COVID-19 changed the landscape of food insecurity. The concluding webinar in the series launched a new feature to the FRP biennial event; the announcement of the Quad Cities first-ever Food Rescue Warrior and Member of the Year.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the Food Rescue Partnership earned the 2019 Food Recovery Challenge Regional Award, our second year receiving regional recognition! The recognition is possible because of our strongest asset, Food Rescue Partnership Stakeholders and Community Partners. Through all of the uncertainty in 2020, our partnerships increased food rescue and used resourcefulness and innovation to ensure the best use of resources. We prioritized safety for our donors, recipients, and volunteers during the entire food rescue process more so than ever before.

To date, the Food Rescue Partnership has diverted more than 53,588 pounds of food from the landfill by making connections to feed hungry people, feed animals, and/or compost.

Ringing in 2021, I look forward to continuing to modify and improve our food rescue education and outreach efforts. None of which would be possible without your dedication to make the Quad Cities a community dedicated to eliminating food waste. Your hard work and collaboration is making a direct impact to keep food as a valuable resource. On behalf of myself and the Food Rescue Partnership Board, thank you.

Happy New Year,