412 Food Rescue Delivers Free Meals to Families of New Babies

New parents typically have a lot on their plates; a program being piloted in Pittsburgh aims to remove some of that burden and replace it with healthy meals. FoodRx, a collaboration between 412 Food Rescue, the American Heart Association, First Steps & Beyond, and local doulas, provides a month of free, nutritious meals to newly-delivered parents and their families, alleviating food insecurity during the critical postpartum period.

Driven by the belief that good food belongs to people, not landfills, 412 Food Rescue launched in March 2015 to divert food from going to waste by redirecting it to people facing food insecurity. Today, it is the largest volunteer food rescue organization in the country with a growing community of 24,000+ volunteers. Its Food Rescue Hero app, used by organizations across the U.S., enables volunteers to rapidly transport donations composed of 80% fresh foods.

For large local rescues, the organization makes use of its Good Food Project, a zero-waste kitchen located in the Food & Energy Hub in Millvale that transforms surplus food into complete, ready-to-eat meals. These meals go to a variety of access points for communities facing food-insecurity. Through FoodRx, those locations now include the homes of families with new babies.

“The heart of what we do is community care,” explains the Good Food Project’s Chef Greg Austin. “All of us at the kitchen are touched to be able to extend that care to new parents and their families. It’s a way to say, ‘We’re neighbors; we look out for each other.’”

Participants in FoodRx receive 48 nutritionally-balanced meals over four weeks, delivered right to their doors. 412 Food Rescue initially set a goal to serve 75 families in the program’s pilot year; they’ve already reached 85% of that goal. The families are referred by doulas and begin receiving meals as soon as they return home with their babies.

412 Food Rescue CEO Alyssa Cholodofsky says, “We’re truly excited to be piloting this vital service in our community. Over the past 10 years, 412 Food Rescue has evolved from a scrappy start-up to a national food-recovery leader, but our operation here in Pittsburgh remains at the heart of our work, serving as a testing-ground for innovations that increase the amount and variety of food we’re able to recover and the number of people we’re able to reach. FoodRx has already helped dozens of families at a crucial time in their lives, and we see potential for it to help many more.”