Celebrating a year of food recovery
This Sunday join us at the Mar Vista Green Tent to learn about The Farmlink Project. This grassroots non-profit organization was started during the pandemic by a group of college students with the goal of combatting food waste and food insecurity. They hope to eventually put themselves out of business!
Farmlink believes they can bring an end to hunger alongside massive food waste in our lifetime. They connect farms that have surplus produce with communities experiencing food insecurity. They are on a mission to feed people in need, rebuild food systems, reduce carbon emissions, and empower the next generation of young changemakers.
In April of 2020, after securing 13,000 eggs from one farmer, Farmlink founders rented a U-Haul Truck and drove this load to an LA Foodbank. With this successful delivery, they realized a nationwide network could be created to connect farms with communities and food banks.
At the Farmlink project, they believe that Food Access is an inalienable human right. For now, Farmlink is acting as the “link” connecting the broken supply chains in the agricultural and food access industries. "Our long-term goal is to set up infrastructure which will render our work obsolete."
In the United States, farms are throwing out 20 billion pounds of food, and simultaneously have 40 million food insecure Americans.
In two years, Farmlink has:
~ Fostered a team with over 200 fellows from over 93 universities, with an average age of 21
~ Rescued 70 million lbs of food
~ Served 58 million meals across 48 states to 266 food banks
~ Moved 580,000 lbs of food in 2021 in response to disaster relief
~ Provided over $4.3 million in economic relief to farmers and truckers
~ Launched Carbonlink, a carbon offset program that has prevented roughly 26 million lbs of CO2e
This weekend at the Green Tent, join Rae Godfredsen, a member of Farmlink's Creative Team, to conceptualize the amount of how much food we waste each year, discuss solutions, and get involved.
