Volunteers Save Millions of Meals from Waste

Quick Smiles:

• 412 Food Rescue and Food Rescue Hero saved 250 million pounds of food from waste.
• Volunteers transformed 70 million pounds of rescued food into 57 million meals.
• Their work prevented an estimated 450 million pounds of emissions nationwide.

Since its launch in Pittsburgh, 412 Food Rescue has empowered thousands of volunteers to collect and redirect food that would otherwise end up in landfills. Their innovative app, Food Rescue Hero, connects local businesses with people in need, ensuring that surplus food serves a positive purpose.

By 2025, their reach extended beyond Pennsylvania to several other states, creating a massive nationwide effort that rescued tens of millions of pounds of food. Volunteers deliver the rescued food to a community kitchen, where it’s cooked into hundreds of meals daily for nonprofit organizations.

“We were founded on the principle that people are wired for good,” says Food Rescue Hero CEO Alyssa Cholodofsky.

Cholodofsky adds, “Ours is a story of regular people helping each other and working together to take on some of the biggest challenges facing our world. Two hundred and fifty million pounds is just the beginning.”

These dedicated efforts have also spared the environment from the effects of food waste, preventing emissions equivalent to removing thousands of cars from the road for a year. It’s inspiring proof that collective action can bring about meaningful change, one meal at a time.

If you’d like to support their mission, there are many ways to get involved locally in Pittsburgh or with the Food Rescue Hero partnership around the country.

Source