“Food For Free” Feeds Thousands Of Homeless People

It’s shocking to learn that the total value of food wasted globally stands at about $400 billion. It’s also shocking to discover that, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, that’s enough money to feed all the hungry people in the world.

For the last three years, Sasha Purpura from Cambridge, Massachusetts has diverted more than 2 million pounds of leftover food to homeless shelters and food pantries. Her aptly named “Food For Free” program has since expanded, forming partnerships with 12 other partner cities.

To quote her:

“We have a tremendous opportunity to capture as much of that as possible and solve food insecurity in this area.”

Each week, ”Food for Free” gathers nearly 2,500 pounds of fresh and frozen produce and then has the food shipped into various shelters and homeless cafeterias. The homeless are extremely grateful for the help and call the organization members good Samaritans.

And who wouldn’t? What they are doing is a wonderful thing, and it is raising awareness of the problem at hand.