FeedMore Club
Food waste and food insecurity are two serious issues in the U.S. About 1/3 of the food produced globally is never even consumed, while 10% of the world population is food insecure. The FeedMore Club at Skidmore College is making it their mission to limit food waste while simultaneously helping eliminate food insecurity in the greater Saratoga Springs area. FeedMore achieves this by taking food from the Skidmore dining hall that would be discarded and donating it to local organizations which serves two important purposes: reducing food waste – and thereby reducing Skidmore’s greenhouse gas footprint, as food waste also exacerbates the climate change crisis – and redirecting excess food to the people in the community most in need.
The FeedMore Club meets twice a week to do deliveries. The club meets at the dining hall where they collect uneaten food that is left by the dining staff to be donated and would have otherwise been discarded. The club starts by weighing and packaging the food before loading all the food into a car to be taken downtown. FeedMore partners with the non-profit organization LifeWorks, which operates a food pantry, food deliveries, and a food kitchen that provides daily free meals. FeedMore donates the packaged premade food to the LifeWorks kitchen in downtown Saratoga. There the food can easily be reheated and served to those in need. FeedMore makes the job of LifeWorks much easier, as the deliveries from Skidmore mean that the kitchen receives pre-cooked meals and does not have to spend as much time preparing their meals. LifeWorks works with other non-profit organizations in the capital region so any of the food donated by FeedMore that is not used by the kitchen is sent to other kitchens in the surrounding region.
Skidmore’s FeedMore Club is connecting the campus to the community of Saratoga Springs. In the fall of 2023 alone, FeedMore helped Skidmore donate 3,532 pounds of food. This food would have ended up being discarded and wasted, contributing to greenhouse gasses and climate change; and instead, went to help those in need in the Saratoga Springs community.
Calder Appel (’24)