Lakeshore Food Rescue works to put an end to food waste
Dear friends,
Good food belongs with people, not landfills. Yet each year, nearly 40% of food in the U.S. goes to waste (Feeding America, n.d.). That’s millions of pounds of perfectly good food ending up in landfills while over 32,000 neighbors in our own community struggle to access the nourishment they need each day (Feeding America, 2022).
This month, in celebration of Global Recycling Day on March 18th, I’m excited to share an update on Lakeshore Food Rescue! Food rescue is an often-overlooked (but super impactful) way to recycle, and helps us build a stronger community. Our efforts through Lakeshore Food Rescue turn excess food into food access–nourishing our neighbors while protecting the planet.
End Food Waste
Every time food is thrown away, all the water, energy, and labor that went into growing, harvesting, transporting, and storing that food are wasted, too. And the impact doesn’t stop there. When food sits in landfills, it doesn’t break down like natural compost. Instead, it rots and releases methane, a greenhouse gas 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2025). Oftentimes, wasted food is still fresh, healthy, and safe for us to eat. This is where Lakeshore Food Rescue fits in.
Through LFR’s food rescue efforts, in 2024 we:
Prevented 5,825.89 metric tons of CO2eq emissions - Equivalent to 1,388 passenger vehicles driven for one year!
Saved 236.81 million gallons of water - Equivalent to 359 olympic swimming pools!
Fight Hunger
Lakeshore Food Rescue works across sectors to capture surplus food from grocery stores, restaurants and farms to direct it away from landfills, keeping perfectly good food in our community. Since 2019, we’ve rescued over 8 million pounds of food!
Our network of Nonprofit Partners are essential to the success of this initiative, distributing rescued food to families and individuals that need it most. We partner with community organizations, shelters, and pantries like Coopersville Cares to ensure neighbors across the lakeshore have access to the healthy food they need to build a brighter future.
“The impact [LFR] has had for Coopersville Cares has been incredible. We have had large amounts of food come into the pantry for our food distributions. We have had milk, chicken, and produce, all items that we have a hard time keeping a supply of. We are grateful for all that has come our way. I can’t say enough good things about what their support has meant to us!”
— LeeAnn Rosel, Coopersville Cares
Mobilize Community
By harnessing the power of volunteers, we keep food local, matching donations from food donors to Nonprofit Partners that can connect food to those who need it most.
Here’s how LFR works:
Food Donors—including grocery stores, restaurants, and farms—contact our team when they have surplus food available to pick up. For large donations, we send one of our refrigerated Lakeshore Food Rescue trucks to transport the food either to our Food Club & Opportunity Hub, or a local food distribution Nonprofit Partner. We have 3 refrigerated trucks and the largest has the capacity to carry 30,000 lbs of food.
For small donations, volunteer drivers pick up the food and transport it to our Food Club & Opportunity Hub or directly to a Nonprofit Partner.
In our warehouse at Food Club, our team sorts the donations and distributes them to our Nonprofit Partners, our Food Club, and the Community Kitchen!
Ready to join the movement to end food waste and fight hunger?
As we celebrate Global Recycling Day this year, I’m filled with gratitude for our Food Donors, Volunteers, and Nonprofit Partners who make this work possible. Lakeshore Food Rescue is a community-powered solution to food waste and hunger, and I’m excited to see what we can accomplish together in the years to come!
Gratefully,
Krista Burgett | Senior Manager of Lakeshore Food Rescue
Get Involved
Become a Volunteer
Volunteer on your schedule! Sign up for food rescue routes whenever it’s convenient for you.
Become a Food Donor
Have excess food? Become a Food Donor to increase food access in our community!
Become a Nonprofit Partner
Increase access to fresh, healthy food for your guests and become a Nonprofit Partner!
References
Feeding America. (n.d.). Fighting food waste and hunger through food rescue.
Feeding America. (2022). Map the Meal Gap 2022: Overall Food Insecurity in Ottawa County, Michigan. map.feedingamerica.org/county/2022/overall/michigan/county/ottawa
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2025). Importance of Methane.