Food Rescue app reroutes over 2 million pounds of food to Kentucky’s hungry

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WLKY) – According to the nonprofit Feeding America, 38% of all the food in America ends up in the trash.

That’s 92 billion pounds every year.

However, a group called Kentucky Harvest is working to funnel that food to nonprofits who feed the hungry. WLKY reports the group developed a special app to streamline the effort.

Since Bobbie Scofield started volunteering to rescue food with the Kentucky Harvest app, she’s kept almost 11,000 pounds of food from being thrown away.

She says she can use the app any day and offer what’s available, plus users can get directions and how many bags to expect.

Scofield says it usually takes around 30 minutes to complete a run with the Kentucky Harvest app.

Deja Jackson, director of community engagement at the Family Scholar House, says Kentucky Harvest volunteers like Scofield have delivered over 28,000 pounds of food to the Family Scholar House alone this year.

“We really need partners and volunteers who will help provide that, fill in that gap, for not just our participants, but everyone in the city who is really needing food right now,” Jackson says.

Aaron Moore, a Food Rescue program manager with Kentucky Harvest, says, “Our volunteers are really the bread and butter of our operation. So, you know, those 2.1 million pounds of food that we rescued last year, we would not be able to do without our volunteers.”

Moore says the app has benefitted more than 80 nonprofits this year by collecting excess food from over 191 businesses and restaurants across Louisville.

Moore says, “We’re not a food pantry, we’re not a food bank, but we’re helping fill in the gaps of the existing system that’s out there.”