Even though a lot of areas in the world are struck by starvation it baffles the mind that food is wasted, without a second thought, in other places on Earth. The USDA states that more than 30% of consumer and retail food is thrown away on a daily basis which means that every year, more than 400 billion pounds of food ends up in the trashcan!
While Arizona has a lot to be proud of, it isn’t without its food-related problems. According to USDA, a total of 24.2% of Arizonian children, under the age of 18, don’t know when there next meal is going to be. Statistics show that one child out of 4 children goes to bed hungry each night in Arizona. That is a sad picture indeed.
However, the Waste Not organization is working on changing things. The Arizona Public Service isn’t without a conscious and has provided a much-needed grant to Waste Not’s Child, Youth and Family programs.
The provided grant is for $10,000. The Child, Youth and Family programs serves 35 agencies around the state. This current funding will successfully cover the complete expenses for an entire month for this program for the year 2016.
The drivers and the trucks of the organization hit the road six days a week and collect an average of 10,000 pounds of extra perishable food from grocers, caterers, restaurants, resorts, and other food purveyors. All of the collected food is the kind that these establishments would’ve thrown out by the end of the day.
The organization then delivers this collected food to diverse agencies that work towards feeding the hungry that are present at day care centers, senior facilities, transition homes, rehabilitation centers, and schools on the same day.
APS customer operation director and board secretary of Waste Not, Kelly Coats, stated that learning about the impact the organization was making on the families, and in particular the children, in Phoenix, compelled her to work with the organization. She added that it is heartening to witness the community work together in order to address the food insecurity issue via her involvement with the organization.
Apart from the $10,000 grant, APS, according to the Go Paperless Campaign, has also decided to donate $10 for each customer that opts for paperless billing in November.
With APS making an effort with Waste Not to provide food to hungry children and families for the remainder of 2016, the continuation of such an endeavor for the year 2017 also holds a lot of promise.
