Have you ever gone to an event and wondered what happened to all the left over food? Darraugh Collins did.
Darraugh: My partner is in the hospitality industry he managed a large hotel and I said, “what is happening with all this food after an event?” and he said, “you know we have to throw it away” and that impacted me.
Darraugh began her research to see if something existed to address this issue and she stumbled across Food Rescue US – an app you can download on your phone.
Darraugh: I thought that’s brilliant because it addressed the issues that I thought were facing both food donors and receiving agencies and that is the scarcity of resources. Food Rescue US operates in 22 other markets and growing in the United States but there wasn’t anything here in Detroit.
Darraugh immediately got involved and volunteered to start the Detroit chapter where she identifies food donor opportunities and pairs them up with recipients like homeless shelters and soup kitchens – all in the hope that no good quality food goes to waste.
Darraugh: Restaurants, hotels, your normal groceries and super markets but even offices. Its just really about getting more awareness to food waste in our community.
Mitch: How quickly does it go from let’s say the back of the restaurant to actually getting served to needy people?
Darraugh: Oh immediately. We can pick it up usually that same day and often it is served that same day. We’ve delivered 4000 meals. And it’s just about growing those food donors and getting more donors out there to help our receiving agencies and feed our population here in Detroit.
Connecting the source to the receiver, Darraugh Collins is working to eliminate food waste right here in the heart of Detroit.
