K-12 Food Rescue: A Food Waste Solution Podcast

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...

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...

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@princetonk...

Listen to the inspiring stories of Alexander Black with Recycle Your Food in Burbank California, MarthaWalter, principal at Bret Harte Elementary, and Kreigh 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 st...

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. ...

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 prog...

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 A...

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 pr...

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.