K-12 Food Rescue: A Food Waste Solution Podcast

High School Senior Elliot Pomper shares his journey establishing "Fruitful", an initiative focused on recovering perfectly good fruit from the trays of students that they choose not to eat for any reason and donating it to a local food pantry.

Toward Zero Waste's Megan Holler shares her journey of bringing share tables to Wake County Public Schools in North Carolina.https://towardzerowaste.org/share-program/https://www.wral.com/news/education/more-wake-schools-turning-wasted-food-into-snacks-for-students-june-2025/

Listen to the Peace Jam Club at Pittsfield HS in Massachusetts share their school food waste solutions in partnership with Mary Summers' Tommy's Composting.

Listen to the inspiring story of the Green Team at McKay Elementary in Beaverton Oregon, featuring Lauren Kelly, parent leader of the Green Team, and Emma Byrd, a 10 year old student member of the Green Team at McKay Elementary.

In our 150th Episode, Josh Rogers, Director of Nutrition Services in Greenfield Union School District in California, shares how a partnership with Waste Hunger Not Food has led to over 800,000 pounds of food being rescued since 2018.

In this episode, Camille Licate, founder of Kids for Positive Change, shares her exciting journey from a working commercial actor in Los Angeles California to founding Kids for Positive Change in Ohio. Camille has helped establish food share tables in Ashtabula Area City Schools, and actively promotes student leadership in running the food share tables.

This episode features Carin Keyes, the partnership coordinator at Manz Elementary in Eau Claire Area School District in Wisconsin, as well as Manz Elementary students Emmett Johnson and Bryant Sorenson.  All three have helped set up “no thank you”  tables and composting initiatives at Manz Elementary.

In this episode 147, Seth Williams, the Environmental Programs Facilitator for the Frisco IndependentSchool District in Texas, shares the journey of the Frisco ISD to reduce school food waste in their district.

In this episode, Lexi Gross, a senior at Otsego High School in Michigan and Julie Guthrie, the Otsego High School food service director, share their journey establishing share tablesat Otsego High School.

In this episode, Wendy Peterson, South Washington County Schools Director of Student Nutrition in Minnesota, shares about the partnership between Washington County Schools and Basic Needs, a local not for profit feeding children and families in need in the community.   Working together, they rescue nutritious school food that is unopened and unwanted from the trays of students that they choose not to eat on a given day. The program feeds families instead of landfills!

In this episode, Haley Schulman shares her  journey about learning about food waste in her time in the hotel industry, to becoming a co-site director for Fairfield Food Rescue US, where she helps manage 34 partnerships with individual schools to rescue their surplus food.

In this episode, Princeton HS students Alexandra Sandt andSara Shahab Diaz share their journey to rescue school food waste from New Jersey landfills and compost it instead.

In this episode, current supervisor of school nutrition in TheNew Richmond School District in Wisconsin, and former president of the Wisconsin School Nutrition Association, Bobbie Guyette,  shares her story of learning about food waste in Minnesota at the very beginning of her career, to implementing share tables and school food waste solutions in New Richmond.   “We want healthy kids, not healthy trashcans” is one of her favorite quotes.   To learn more about share tables in New Richmond schools, you can contact Bobbie at bguyette@newrichmond.k12.wi.us

In Episode 140, Meg Lembo, Director of Outreach of Share My Meals in Princeton NJ, and Shannon Barlow, Food Systems Literacy Coordinator at Princeton Public Schools, share about their partnership rescuing surplus meals in PrincetonPublic Schools.  If you are interested in learning more about their partnership in New Jersey, contact Meg at meg@sharemymeals.org or Shannon at shannonbarlow@princetonk12.org

Listen to the inspiring stories of Alexander Black with Recycle Your Food in Burbank California, MarthaWalter, principal at Bret Harte Elementary, andKreigh Hampel who served the City of Burbank for 17 years as a Recycling Coordinator and has been volunteering his time at Bret Harte Elementary.Alex, Martha, and Kreigh have developed a student leadership program called “Eco Kids” that educates students on food waste solutions, as well as other sustainability practices and responsibilities.   Enjoy the podcast!

In this episode, New Jersey HS junior Veer Agarwal shareshow in the summer of 2024, he started noticing how much food was wasted, and the steps he took to do something about it, founding RESQFOOD, a group of volunteersin his high school committed to finding surplus food in restaurants willing to donate, and to picking it up and delivering it to a local caring agencies.  

In this episode of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast, DanaHendricks, a parent of a student  in theStevenson Carson School District in the state of Washington, along Somer Meade,who works with  the Green Team in hercapacity as the local  Washington StateUniversity Extension representative,   sharehow they built a K-12 Food Rescue program after Dana's son noticed so much foodbeing wasted in his school.  Dana wasable to discover the resources at FoodRescue.net, and connect with Food Rescueto walk through the steps of establishing a food waste solution in her sonsschool. 

Listen to the inspiring story of 3 Appleby College studentsin Canada.  Myra Datta, Dyanne Jiang, and Ishaan Grotra have led a food waste reduction movement in their school district by implementing some unique ideas through their WasteZero Project to encourage student participation!  Enjoy our first Canadian episode of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast.

Listen to the inspiring journey of Josey Crew, the Directorof Child Nutrition at Hardin County Schools in Kentucky.   In this episode, Josey shares about her background serving children and families need through the WIC program, and then subsequently becoming the Director of Child Nutrition at Hardin County Schools.  Hardin County Schools delivers an amazing Food Share program and Share Table program that is a model of all school districts in the U.S.A. 

Listen to the exciting journey of Table To Table Executive Director Heather Thompson. In this episode, Heather shares about her 20 plus year journey in the not for profit world, which includes learning about food waste, and then pursuing solutions to school food waste through a program called I-Rescue Lunch.

Listen to the inspiring story of Oklahoma's first partnership between a public school district and a food bank to provide one solution to a component of school food waste. After Oklahoma recently passed state legislation clarifying school surplus food donations are safe, legal, and encouraged, Emily McNally and Meagan Quickle started conversations about a potential partnership between The Broken Arrow Public Schools and Broken Arrow Neighbors starting with 2 pilot schools that have resulted in over 1,000 pounds of rescued food preserved to feed families instead of landfills in the Broken Arrrow community. Emily McNally is The Director of Child Nutrition for Broken Arrow Public Schools in Oklahoma, and Megan Quickle is The Executive Director of Broken Arrow Neighbors.

Listen to the inspiring school food waste solution journey of Livia Fleming, who works with schools in New York to rescue food, leading the #FoodIsNotTrash movement to make sure nothing is wasted.

Jenn Duncan, 4th grade teacher in Fairbanks Alaska, shares her inspiring story about school food waste solutions in the 132nd episode of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast. Alaska is the 41st state featured on the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast! Thank you Jenn for sharing your story!

Bellevue East HS Nebraska Science teacher Rachel Carraher, and Lisa Connell, a student in the Bellevue East Green Initiative Club, share their school food waste solutions that have led to an estimated 140 items per day being rescued since January of 2020, and thousands of pounds of food composted, rather than feeding a landfill.

Listen to the inspiring school food waste solution story of a current student, Kellen Bees, at Bellevue West HS in Nebraska, and current University of Nebraska Freshman, Jacki Petrow, in Nebraska. Both Jacki and Kellen share how the schools partnership with Green Bellevue was resurrected after Covid, and how it is currently thriving today at Bellevue West HS.

Listen to Newark Academy students, and their Science teacher, Debra Taveras, discuss their I-Rescue Lunch initiative, which encourages K-12 students to rescue, recycle and reduce food waste while feeding hungry neighbors. Through the use of the nonprofit's app, Table to Table I-Rescue and key partnerships with school ambassadors, wholesome unopened food like applesauce, fruit, yogurt as well as prepared cafeteria entrees are placed in crates for pickup by Table to Table volunteers and delivered to partners such as shelters, group homes or soup kitchens.

Listen to the inspiring story of the Great Plains Food Bank in North Dakota and their school meal repack program. Jill Ambuehl is the Hunger Free North Dakota Coalition Coordinator, and in this 128th episode of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast from our 39th state to share a school food waste solution story, Jill shares about the Coalitions efforts to make sure nothing is wasted in North Dakota schools.

Listen to the story of the Waste Warrior Program at Richmond Elementary in Rhode Island, featuring 3rd grade students Ethan Heys and Emma Ferguson, principal Mrs. Sharon Martin, and teachers Mrs. Daigle and Mrs. Stahl.

Jacqueline Richard is the School Nutrition Program Director of the Calcasieu Parish School District.  Four years ago she noticed food waste at one elementary school, and developed a program that could be replicated in each school for students to participate in a share cart program.   After a hurricane and covid stifled the program for a few years, the program has been rebuilt, and Jacqueline shares her story in this episode of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast.  This episode represents the 38th state we have shared a school food waste success story from.

Listen to the inspiring story of Grace Klein Community founder Jenny Waltman, and author of "God Chose the Wrong Person". Grace Klein Community in Birmingham Alabama has 600 food rescue drivers, and is able to provide 2 million pounds of food to 500,000 children and families in need from multiple Grace Klein Community locations. In addition, Grace Klein Community partners with 62 schools, and has a vision for every school in Alabama to adopt share table and K-12 Food Rescue policies in the future.

Paul Tolar is the General Manager of Operations at The Eau Claire Area School District in Wisconsin. In this episode, Paul share about the origins of the composting and share table programs, and provides compelling data from school food waste audits that demonstrate the importance finding school food waste solutions nationwide.

Listen to the inspiring story of Jim Conklin, co-founder and Executive Director of Cultivate Food Rescue in South Bend Indiana.

Listen to the inspiring story of Rachel Ni, who recently graduated from Centennial HS in Maryland. Rachel noticed food was being wasted at an alarming rate, and she took action. Listen to her testimony at the 5:06 mark of the link below at a board of education meeting. https://hcpsstv.v3.swagit.com/videos/270604

In this episode, soon to be freshman at Yale Lamia Ayaz, looks back on her experience acquiring grants for composting and share tables at Howard High School in Maryland, as well as several other schools. 

Listen to the inspiring story of Ginny Johnson, the Sustainability Coordinator of The Boxerwood Education Association in Rock Bridge Virginia. Ginny helped establish the Waste Busters composting program in 5 elementaries Rock Bridge County, which also features share tables. Last year, the schools composted 3.5 tons of wasted food combined in all 5 schools.

Violet Hart, Emmet Brick, and Milcha-Hulen Posnak are all former students from Fayetteville High School in Arkansas, while Sylvia Smith is headed into her senior year. Each of them had Mr. Clay Morton as an AP Environmental Science teacher. Listen their journey of finding a solution for school food waste not only in their school, but their entire school district.

The impact of K-12 Food Rescue has reached world wide! Nghia Luu, from True North International School in Hanoi Vietnam, discovered K-12 Food Rescue resources online while working oh his Zero Waste Project, in in this episode he talks about his journey developing the project, and how the resources he found online helped him along the way. Their are many differences in he way school breakfasts and lunches are administered in Vietnam compared to the United States, but Nghia did not let those differences prevent him from developing a school food waste solution True North International School. We hope you enjoy this episode!

Finbar Heaslip is the Food Waste Diversion/Compost Manager at Quincy Public Schools in Massachusetts. In this episode, Finbar shares about pilot programs in two high schools in the school district. The program focuses on composting and share tables, and Finbar shares not only the story and mechanics of both programs, but also some data collected. Finbar asked me to mention that in addition to food scraps from the trays of students, they compost back of the cafeteria food waste as well.

Listen to the inspiring story of Gerin Hennebaul, a a 27 year educator at Lovin Elementary in Georgia who has worked tirelessly on school food waste solutions in her school district. Gerin chronicles Lovin Elementary School's implementation of composting and share table program, and details the importance of student involvement and leadership in these programs.

Listen to the inspiring story of a K-12 Food Rescue student leader, Tanvi Modugula, a student at Hebron High School in Montgomery County in Maryland.

Hear the story of how the Vermont South Burlington High School Share Fridge came into existence, and the impact it makes, as told by assistant principal John Craig.

Listen to the inspiring 13 year school food waste solution journey of Jennifer Trent, the program manager of the Iowa Waste Reduction Center at the University Of Northern Iowa.

Listen to the inspiring stories of Iris Saxer and Dave Hudacsko, school food waste solution leaders in Teton Valley Idaho. Dave is the owner of RAD Curbside, who manages all waste hauling and curbside recycling in Teton Valley, and Iris has been championing food waste solutions in Teton Valley Idaho for several years.

Listen to Amy Hammes, a Recycling Specialist In Burbank California, share her story of learning about school food waste and finding successful solutions.

Listen to the Child Nutrition Director of the Umatilla School District, Rikkilyn Starlipper, as well as Food Corps member Lourdes Yparraguirre, share their inspiring journey to reduce food waste in the Umatilla School District in Oregon.

Listen to Rhode Island High School Students Bella Quiora and Emma Pautz share their journey fighting school food waste with the Youth Composting Campaign Initiative, and several other action steps they have taken to battle school food waste.

John Gregg Elementary School student leaders know that #FoodIsNotTrash! Listen to their inspiring story, as well as the story of their 5th and 6th grade science teacher, Tally Pasiuk.

Listen to the exciting journey of finding school food waste solutions at IPS 39 William McKinley Elementary, as told by Instructional Coach Sharon Sellers and students Addyson Hall and Malaya Loredo.

Listen to Erin Dorr, a facilities management consultant for Bedford Public Schools in MA, share how she first became interested in the subject of school food waste, and the steps she took to make a difference and lead the #FoodIsNotTrash movement in Bedford Public Schools.

Hear the inspiring story of the founder of The Should Project, Andrew Plotkin, as he shares how he learned about wasted food in schools, and what he did to make sure 40 pounds a day of food in one school is given to a local caring agency instead of feeding landfills. https://www.theshouldproject.org/

Fountain Valley Food Rescue is featured on the 104th episode of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast. Students Stella Rhee, Annabelle Cabaniss, and Gunnar Mason, along with the science department chair of Fountain Valley, Danielle Llewelyn, share the story of Fountain Valley Food Rescue in Colorado.