Tuesday, August 3, 2021
www.the-papers.com
Serving Elkhart County and parts of Noble, LaGrange & Marshall hall Counties s Know Your Neighbor . . . . . . . . . . . 2➤ Good Neighbor . . . . 4 Speak Outs . . . . . 5
Vol. 49 No. 17
Goshen (574) 534-2591
134 S. Main, Goshen, Indiana 46526
H[SDQGLQJ LQ IRRG UHVFXH IHHGLQJ WKH KXQJU\ %\ /$85(1 =(8*1(5 $VVRFLDWH (GLWRU
7RS %(67 29(5$// %227+ ³ Chris Germann, associate director of planning & marketing for Cultivate Food Rescue, mans the organization÷s booth in the commercial building during the 2021 Elkhart County 4-H Fair. Cultivate Food Rescue won an award for best overall booth. Photo by Lauren Zeugner. /HIW )&'& ',675,%87,21 ³ A volunteer with The Center: Family Christian Development Center, loads frozen meals from Cultivate Food Rescue into his van for distribution. Cultivate Food Rescue saves excess food from organizations such as The Matterhorn Restaurant and the University of Notre Dame and turns it into frozen meals for distribution to those in need. Photo provided by Cultivate Food Rescue. %RWWRP :$ 1(( ',675,%87,21 ³ Cultivate Food Rescue, which is based in South Bend, provides frozen meals in insulated backpacks to Wa-Nee Community Schools. The meals go to children on the free and reduced lunch program so they have something to eat during the weekends. This year, Cultivate Food Rescue will provide weekend meals for 1,000 children in St. Joseph, Elkhart and Marshall counties. Shown are Wa-Nee School personnel with the meals distributed last year. Photo provided by Cultivate Food Rescue.
Every year vendors in the commercial buildings at the Elkhart County Fair are judged for the appearance of their booths. Prizes are given for commercial and non-profit categories and there is an overall winner as well. This year, Cultivate Food Rescue, a non-profit food rescue based in South Bend won the award for overall best booth at the Elkhart County Fair. “I think the judges really liked our mission,” said Chris Germann, associate director of planning and marketing. Cultivate Food Rescue was started by Jim Conklin and Randy Z in 2015 as a culinary training program to offer local youths the skills needed to succeed in the food industry. In 2017, both Conklin and Z learned about a food rescue organization in Indianapolis called Second Helping and realized there was an opportunity in this area to partner with local organizations to rescue excess food that would otherwise go to waste. One of Cultivate Food Rescue’s first partners was the University of Notre Dame, which was looking for an organization like Cultivate Food Rescue to help with its sustainability plan. Cultivate Food Rescue collects excess food from organizations such as 4 Winds Casino, Century Center, The Matterhorn and Notre Dame and uses it in its school backpack program. “We get a lot of food in like a food pantry and then we cook it and distribute it like a soup kitchen,” Conklin explained in a phone interview. He explained local health departments view them as food banks since there is very little risk as far as food borne illnesses are concerned. The same professionals who cooked the food in the first place are also the ones cooling it down so it can be transported to Cultivate Food Rescue. Conklin said starting in August, Cultivate Food Rescue will be providing 1,000 students in South Bend, Elkhart and Wanee Schools, as well as schools in Marshall County six frozen meals every Friday so they have something to eat during the weekend. The meals are sent home in an insulated backpack Fridays and the students bring the backpacks back to school Monday. Recently Cultivate Food Rescue has partnered with Meat Hunger, a non-profit started by two St. Joseph County 4-H’ers in 2017 with the mission to address food insecurity one protein based serving at a time. What Meat Hunger Continued on page 4
