AmpleHarvest.org and GreenFaith are teaming up to help feed the 50 million American families who are hungry with the $218 billion worth of food wasted in the U.S. each year. The interfaith initiative invites home and community gardeners to donate their excess produce to nearly 8,000 local pantries across the country.
Food Waste Weekend, the first organized interfaith initiative to address the widespread waste of food in the United States, is scheduled for September 23–25.
AmpleHarvest.org and GreenFaith are teaming up for the first time to help feed the 50 million American families who are hungry with the $218 billion worth of food wasted in the U.S. each year.
“The goal of Food Waste Weekend is to encourage and enable clergy of all faiths to speak from their own religious perspective, not only about hunger as they have in the past, but also about hungers root cause—the waste of food,” said Gary Oppenheimer, founder and executive director of AmpleHarvest.org.
AmpleHarvest.org’s solution to reduce food waste and hunger involves creating the opportunity for home and community gardeners to donate their excess produce—as much as 11 billion pounds that had been going to waste—to nearly 8,000 local pantries across America.
“This is a critical issue,” said Claudia Marshall, spokesperson for Gardener’s Supply Company, a key sponsor of AmpleHarvest.org. “Food waste hurts more than the hungry, it also contributes to climate change and damages the environment.”
“The food we’re wasting creates a massive carbon footprint. Food Waste Weekend is an extraordinary vehicle for empowering the people of diverse faiths to address these critical issues,” said Rev. Fletcher Harper, executive director of GreenFaith.
Visit www.FoodWasteWeekend.org to learn about the waste of food. Clergy can then download a customized sermon specific to their own faith perspective, and speak to their congregants about the issue of food waste and hunger, giving easy “calls for action” such as tips on reducing food waste at home and learning more about food expiration dates.
Contact [email protected] or visit www.FoodWasteWeekend.org/FAQ for additional information.
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