412 Food Rescue Receives $25,000 Grant from Bayer Fund

412 Food Rescue announced today that it has received a grant for $25,000 from Bayer Fund, a philanthropic arm of Bayer in the U.S. This grant will be used towards building a better future by supporting the work of the 412 Food Rescue’s Good Food Project, which prevents food waste by transforming good-quality surplus ingredients into meals for communities experiencing food insecurity.

This is the third year that 412 Food Rescue has received a Bayer Fund grant for the Good Food Project, which works with donations from partners including Gordon Food Service, made up of food that is still perfectly good to eat but cannot be sold due to aesthetic standards, sell-by timelines, or transit mishaps. This food would be normally headed to a landfill, but the zero-waste kitchen instead turns it into healthy, balanced meals, contained in compostable packaging and frozen so recipients will have longer to use them.

Good Food Project Assistant Kitchen Manager, Alexa Waugh, emphasizes nutrition and dignity in her meals, which each include a main dish, side dish and dessert – for example, chicken chili, spinach dip and pita chips, and rice pudding. Every month, with the help of volunteers, the project turns on average 9,000 pounds of donated food into 1,800 meals. It has produced over 97,765 meals since 2019.

“Bayer Fund is proud to support 412 Food Rescue and their work to make real, sustainable impacts on some of our most challenging problems,” said Al Mitchell, President of Bayer Fund. “Their efforts are critical, with programs like 412 Food Rescue’s Good Food Project helping our neighbors and making our community stronger.”“Powered by our shared goal to see the communities we serve flourish, this grant from Bayer Fund will support our work to create innovative solutions at the intersection of food waste, food insecurity, and climate change,” adds 412 Food Rescue CEO Alyssa Cholodofsky. “As much as 40% of the food we produce in this country goes to waste. The Good Food Project transforms that problem into an opportunity, turning once overlooked food into nourishment and abundance.”

The announcement of the grant comes ahead of Giving Tuesday, December 3, which 412 Food Rescue is celebrating with a call to save-the-date for its transformative, community-driven movement.

To learn more about 412 Food Rescue, visit 412foodrescue.org.