Kudos to the Portland Press Herald for highlighting the issue of food waste (“Our View: Food we throw away could help solve hunger,” Jan. 4) and to U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree for introducing legislation to encourage diverting healthy, nutritious foods away from landfills and toward people who need it (“Pingree proposes law to reduce food waste,” Dec. 7). As director of the South Portland Food Cupboard, I couldn’t agree more!
At our pantry, we strive to provide a week’s worth of groceries to the 295 eligible families who seek our help each month. We are extremely fortunate to have community partners like the Mill Creek Hannaford, which donates daily to make sure that high-quality food does not get thrown out.
Many fresh and nonperishable foods that reach their “best by” dates are still good or can be frozen to maintain freshness. Our clients have long benefited from Hannaford’s generous donation of bread, meat, bakery and prepared food items that have reached the “best by” dates, but still offer healthy nutrition.
Similarly, we routinely accept donations from other local retailers, caterers and restaurants that would rather see their surplus food feed the hungry than go to waste.
Keeping food away from landfills requires effort and coordination, but I think we can all agree that it makes no sense to throw away food when so many in our community are going hungry. I hope we can continue to push to make food rescue a priority.
Sybil Riemensnider
director, South Portland Food Cupboard
South Portland
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