RESCUING FOOD – THE LEFTOVERS FOUNDATION

The Leftovers Foundation reduces waste by directing edible food that would otherwise end up in a landfill, to agencies who fight hunger.

The tech-enabled food charity originated in Alberta and arrived in Winnipeg during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We found ourselves necessary in that COVID landscape. With the closures and the isolation, everyone had to pivot. We were responsive to a lot of what happened through COVID. We’re

Using the Rescue Food App, Leftovers connects food donors like grocers, restaurants, and caterers to volunteers who pick up unsellable but still edible food, delivering the donations to one of more than 100 agencies, including family resource centres, neighbourhood associations, and sober liv-

The Leftovers Foundation began with the goal of combatting food waste. It believes throwing away food is an unnecessary business expense and is detrimental to the environment; the ability to donate to feed people in need has an impact on both the business’ bottom line, and is meaningful to donors, volunteers, and agencies.

Fighting hunger and diverting food waste from the landfill situates the Leftovers Foundation as both a social action and climate action organization. “We are striving for a Winnipeg without hunger, but we're also in the climate space, a big impact of our program is the reduction in C02 emissions and greenhouse gas emissions - we interact in each of those worlds,” says Kraemer.

The work of The Leftovers Foundation in food security connects to one of the key findings in Winnipeg’s Vital Signs® 2022 report: an increase in hunger. Food insecurity is an indicator of poor health, chronic illness, depression, and a lack of emotional and practical support. Since 2019, the number of food hampers distributed to Winnipeg households has doubled.

To read more about The Leftovers Foundation visit rescuefood.ca.