For many of us, Thanksgiving is a day we eagerly await each year—when we get to spend time with family and friends over a plentiful feast. Yet, while we load our plates with second servings of turkey and stuffing, millions of Americans across the country cannot afford a meal at all, let alone a turkey dinner. Knowing how many people would be struggling with food insecurity this Thanksgiving did not sit well with us at The Farmlink Project, and, about a month ago, we realized we needed to do something big to help. Committed to our mission of fighting food insecurity, we pledged to do something bigger and more challenging than we have ever done before—a nationwide delivery of one million Thanksgiving meals.
It was not an easy task locating enough turkey and fresh produce to supply a million Thanksgiving meals and coordinating the logistics to get that food to communities in need, but with a full team effort and the help of our generous supporters and volunteers, we are proud to announce that over the last week we have successfully delivered over a million Thanksgiving meals. To accomplish this, we facilitated deliveries spanning across the country in 17 states and Washington, D.C. From coast to coast, members of The Farmlink Project team came out to attend these deliveries and distributions this week, allowing them to see firsthand the hard work of the food banks and organizations we partner with as well as the wide array of families and individuals we serve.
Food insecurity is not a narrow category; it is not limited to only those living in deep poverty in the poorest areas of the United States. Food insecurity pervades this country through and through, afflicting not only the homeless person you passed on the street, but also your next door neighbor who lost their job in the pandemic and can no longer afford both rent and groceries. Food insecurity is not new. It was not created by this pandemic—it was simply exacerbated by it. The scope of what it means to be food insecure has expanded to include those who had never before experienced hardships such as these, many of whom enjoyed a typical Thanksgiving meal only a year ago. This increase in food insecurity motivates us to push forward in our mission and move as much food as we can to those in need. As our co-founder and CEO, James Kanoff, noted, “Everyone deserves a Thanksgiving meal. The Farmlink Project is making sure they get one.
Mission Impossible could never have happened without the dedication of our farmers, hard work of our food banks and community partners, and, of course, the incredible generosity of our supporters. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we at The Farmlink Project would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who made this mission possible.
To read more about Mission Impossible, check out these articles on our Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and South Dakota deliveries and distributions.
These changes are great. But how’s it all going to be funded?
During the comment process, Farmlink, as well as other food rescue organizations and coalitions, raised critical questions about how the strategy would be funded and, as a result, which measures are feasible. In particular, we hoped for more clarity beyond the draft’s statement that the USDA would use American Rescue Plan Act and Inflation Reduction Act funds and the EPA would use Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds. Of the 86 programs or initiatives reviewed in the final strategy, only 15 are completely new programs announced in the strategy.
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The other 71 are existing programs or initiatives that either already have a food loss and waste focus or that the national strategy has repackaged as food loss and waste solutions. While we had hopes of new, innovative programs being included in the strategy, the good news with these 71 programs is that most, if not all, are already funded, meaning that they are not reliant on an increasingly turbulent Congress for implementation. Of the 15 new programs, which included the EPA’s new consumer education campaign and several new cooperative agreements with land-grant universities, only 2 had specific funding mechanisms. It has become increasingly clear that food rescue organizations and other stakeholders in the food and agriculture space should not consider this strategy as a new rollout of FLW solutions, programs, and funding but rather as an evaluation of the current resources and solutions and how each can be most effectively utilized to achieve the strategy’s goals. In particular, the framing of many of USDA’s programs as FLW solutions offers opportunities to utilize existing funding, data, and infrastructure to solve one of the United States’s most pressing problems.
Whats next?
Now that we have the strategy, it’s time to truly take advantage of the opportunities it presents. In the immediate future at Farmlink, we’re excited to continue optimizing Section 32 as a critical on-farm food loss solution as we anticipate significant surplus recoveries in the fall. As we move forward, we continue to advocate for dignity with food distribution, emphasizing cultural appropriateness and quality in every pound of food we rescue. As outlined in our comments, food rescue organizations are critical stakeholders and thought partners for the agencies. Our inclusion in the strategy as such is an opportunity we are taking full advantage of to help guide federal action to support farmers, feed communities, and heal the planet.
< BackFor many of us, Thanksgiving is a day we eagerly await each year—when we get to spend time with family and friends over a plentiful feast. Yet, while we load our plates with second servings of turkey and stuffing, millions of Americans across the country cannot afford a meal at all, let alone a turkey dinner. Knowing how many people would be struggling with food insecurity this Thanksgiving did not sit well with us at The Farmlink Project, and, about a month ago, we realized we needed to do something big to help. Committed to our mission of fighting food insecurity, we pledged to do something bigger and more challenging than we have ever done before—a nationwide delivery of one million Thanksgiving meals.
It was not an easy task locating enough turkey and fresh produce to supply a million Thanksgiving meals and coordinating the logistics to get that food to communities in need, but with a full team effort and the help of our generous supporters and volunteers, we are proud to announce that over the last week we have successfully delivered over a million Thanksgiving meals. To accomplish this, we facilitated deliveries spanning across the country in 17 states and Washington, D.C. From coast to coast, members of The Farmlink Project team came out to attend these deliveries and distributions this week, allowing them to see firsthand the hard work of the food banks and organizations we partner with as well as the wide array of families and individuals we serve.
Food insecurity is not a narrow category; it is not limited to only those living in deep poverty in the poorest areas of the United States. Food insecurity pervades this country through and through, afflicting not only the homeless person you passed on the street, but also your next door neighbor who lost their job in the pandemic and can no longer afford both rent and groceries. Food insecurity is not new. It was not created by this pandemic—it was simply exacerbated by it. The scope of what it means to be food insecure has expanded to include those who had never before experienced hardships such as these, many of whom enjoyed a typical Thanksgiving meal only a year ago. This increase in food insecurity motivates us to push forward in our mission and move as much food as we can to those in need. As our co-founder and CEO, James Kanoff, noted, “Everyone deserves a Thanksgiving meal. The Farmlink Project is making sure they get one.
Mission Impossible could never have happened without the dedication of our farmers, hard work of our food banks and community partners, and, of course, the incredible generosity of our supporters. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we at The Farmlink Project would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who made this mission possible.
To read more about Mission Impossible, check out these articles on our Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and South Dakota deliveries and distributions.
Mission Impossible: One Million Thanksgiving Meals
50 Deliveries Nationwide
For many of us, Thanksgiving is a day we eagerly await each year—when we get to spend time with family and friends over a plentiful feast. Yet, while we load our plates with second servings of turkey and stuffing, millions of Americans across the country cannot afford a meal at all, let alone a turkey dinner. Knowing how many people would be struggling with food insecurity this Thanksgiving did not sit well with us at The Farmlink Project, and, about a month ago, we realized we needed to do something big to help. Committed to our mission of fighting food insecurity, we pledged to do something bigger and more challenging than we have ever done before—a nationwide delivery of one million Thanksgiving meals.
It was not an easy task locating enough turkey and fresh produce to supply a million Thanksgiving meals and coordinating the logistics to get that food to communities in need, but with a full team effort and the help of our generous supporters and volunteers, we are proud to announce that over the last week we have successfully delivered over a million Thanksgiving meals. To accomplish this, we facilitated deliveries spanning across the country in 17 states and Washington, D.C. From coast to coast, members of The Farmlink Project team came out to attend these deliveries and distributions this week, allowing them to see firsthand the hard work of the food banks and organizations we partner with as well as the wide array of families and individuals we serve.
Food insecurity is not a narrow category; it is not limited to only those living in deep poverty in the poorest areas of the United States. Food insecurity pervades this country through and through, afflicting not only the homeless person you passed on the street, but also your next door neighbor who lost their job in the pandemic and can no longer afford both rent and groceries. Food insecurity is not new. It was not created by this pandemic—it was simply exacerbated by it. The scope of what it means to be food insecure has expanded to include those who had never before experienced hardships such as these, many of whom enjoyed a typical Thanksgiving meal only a year ago. This increase in food insecurity motivates us to push forward in our mission and move as much food as we can to those in need. As our co-founder and CEO, James Kanoff, noted, “Everyone deserves a Thanksgiving meal. The Farmlink Project is making sure they get one.
Mission Impossible could never have happened without the dedication of our farmers, hard work of our food banks and community partners, and, of course, the incredible generosity of our supporters. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we at The Farmlink Project would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who made this mission possible.
To read more about Mission Impossible, check out these articles on our Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and South Dakota deliveries and distributions.
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