Dade Students and Helping Hands Ending Hunger Take Ownership of Food Rescue

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The nonprofit Helping Hands Ending Hunger (HHEH) started working with Dade County Schools last year, with significant involvement from Dade County High School students. HHEH works to “rescue food” from landfills, using this food to feed families instead.

Carla Howard founded HHEH at her daughter’s school in 2016. The project grew rapidly and is currently implemented in 120 schools across Georgia while also expanding to other states. Dade County Schools joined in January 2023.

Howard explained that all states have a code requiring that once cafeteria food is served to a student, it can’t be reserved. Intended to ensure food safety, this code inadvertently causes significant food waste. For example, an otherwise untouched apple sitting on a student’s lunch tray will end up in the trash.

Howard worked to find a way around this code to safely save food items. She said, “We’re the only program that’s been approved by the state’s health department and department of education to save factory packaged, shelf-stable food, but also cold food. Food is not trash. There’s plenty of food; we just need to know where we need to get it.”

The nonprofit also sources fresh produce and additional foods to enhance what is rescued from cafeterias.

While food banks typically require a family to have a form of transportation to delivery stations, HHEH uses students for the delivery. Students whose families have a need for the food collect food bags at school once a week. The insulated bag is returned to school each week to be filled again.

Kristin Barrett (school social worker) and Martha Baker with Dade First Family Connection helped integrate the program in Dade. Baker said, “Food insecurity was a major issue we saw in the schools. Kristin and I heard about Helping Hands four years ago, and we worked on implementing it here for over two years.”

On the HHEH team, Pedro Avila works as a community program manager. He connects with schools, checks in to make sure the programs and deliveries are running smoothly. As the point of contact, he is able to hear insights from one school and share these ideas with other schools.

One goal of the nonprofit is to reduce food waste by educating people about ways to rescue food. Howard cited two statistics: According to Feeding America, nearly 40 percent of all American food goes to landfills, and according to the Georgia Department of Human Services, 1.6 billion pounds of food are thrown away in Georgia each year.

HHEH encourages students to eat the food on their plates, but if something is unopened, they have the option to donate it at the cafeteria’s collection point. The food is inspected, stored, and packaged to be sent home.

Howard said that Dade’s program is unique from some schools because students help with packaging and delivering the food. Various clubs and the Food and Nutrition Classes package and transport the food bags to both elementary schools and the middle school for those students to take home weekly.

The Food and Nutrition classes also develop recipes to send along with the food. One time, a large amount of bananas were about to be unusable, but the class made banana bread and added it as a treat to the weekly bags.

To supplement the food rescued from cafeterias, HHEH connects with food banks and other local partners. For example, the Dade County Public Library’s Food for Fines program donates all collected food to HHEH. Hunter’s Salvage Grocery also donates approximately 30 loaves of day-old bread to HHEH each week. A grant from United Way of Greater Chattanooga has also helped fund the nonprofit’s work locally.

One of the companies in the industrial park, Teleflex, came into the picture by helping with a unique twist on a food drive. Teleflex employees donated shelf-stable foods and brought them to David Howard’s construction classroom for an event called “Can-Struction” on November 16th. Two teams, with four students and four employees on each team, had an hour to build any sized structure they wanted with the food containers. Students then judged their favorite structure.

Lisa Reyes, senior HR generalist with Teleflex, explained that the company wants to involve employees in the local community. Through a connection with Baker, they learned about HHEH. The company, the nonprofit, and the school all pitched in to make the event a fun success. Hopes are to continue it in future years and involve other local companies.

This event is a perfect example of one of HHEH’s goals: to engage as many folks as possible, both in and outside the schools. Howard said, “That’s how we’re going to end food insecurity – when everyone is aware of it and no one’s ashamed.” She hopes students will view the project as “kids helping kids,” saying, “If it’s just my friends helping me get food, it’s no big deal.”

Another goal of the nonprofit is to educate families about healthy foods. Howard said, “So many kids are struggling with heart disease, diabetes, etc., but we know that food is medicine.” Along with the food bags, HHEH sends home educational materials and healthy recipes.

The nonprofit is flexible, allowing schools to do what works best for them. Howard said, “At Dade, the school social worker and some teachers identify families. Some schools open it up to all families and let them tell us when they need the food.”

Baker reported that currently, 15 Dade County families are signed up to receive food through HHEH.

Howard added that since January 2023, 455 families have been served through HHEH. Dade County students have rescued 30,365 pounds of food and prevented 15,000 pounds of greenhouse carbon emissions by saving food from the landfill.

You can follow along with how much food Dade County students are rescuing by periodically checking the tracking tool at www.foodrescue.net/live-impact-dashboard.

Howard concluded, “Having students involved builds those soft skills: teamwork, cooperation, goal setting, and basic human compassion. These kids are going to be our future leaders.”