Where does the leftover food from Denvers biggest venues and events go? To the city's hungry

[ehrnst]

thanks to this group.

For We Don’t Waste, the sum of mercy is found in a simple equation: Forty percent of the food produced in the U.S. is wasted, according to the National Resources Defense Council, while one out of 10 Coloradans is “food insecure.” We Don’t Waste “rescues” food, as the group calls it, so it can settle in bellies instead of landfills.

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Until last year, We Don’t Waste operated out of a tiny office in the RiNo district with barely enough room for a couple of desks shared by five people and no place to store food. Then, in November, the operation moved into an 11,570-square-foot facility in Adams County, its Food Rescue and Distribution Center near Furniture Row. It has a cooler that is more than 40 percent larger than the size of the entire former office.

“It’s a major game-changer,” said Arlan Preblud, We Don’t Waste’s founder and executive director. “All of the food we would pick up prior to November 2017 had to be delivered out (immediately). It took us over a year to find this property because we were competing with the marijuana industry, which has tied up most of the warehousing in Denver. And they obviously have the cash dollars to pay whatever the price is.”

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We Don’t Waste typically gets more than 4,000 servings just from the luxury suites after every Broncos game — wings, barbecue chicken and pork, pork tenderloin, even prime rib. We Don’t Waste volunteers sweep the suites after a game, recovering leftovers and storing them in a refrigerated cooler at the stadium overnight for pick-up the next day.

“The agencies we deliver to get excited when the Broncos play, because they know in a couple of days, they’re going to have excellent prime food,” Preblud said. “Not that the other product isn’t good, but it’s special for them.”

https://www.denverpost.com/2018/04/01/we-dont-waste-non-profit-denver/

[kentuck]

1. Denver has been a very generous city for a long time.

http://www.uwrc.org/history.html

[Me.]

2. Bravo!

Stunning/Astounding..."We Don’t Waste typically gets more than 4,000 servings just from the luxury suites after every Broncos game"

[Igel]

4. More states should allow this.

When I was in Calif., the organization I was with had hundreds of meals left over at the end of the day. Used to donate them to homeless shelters, provided transportation and everything. Then the lawyers said, "You know, if anybody gets sick after eating that food, they can sue you."

The insurance company said "stop" and we stopped.

California law also forbids handing out leftover food to the homeless directly.

Where I live now north of Houston a group of local churches have it worked out with a deli chain that every Friday night somebody shows up at closing and picks up all the leftover bread and baked goods. They go into bins, and the churches take turns on Saturday morning making meals and distributing the meals and bread and any desserts to the homeless (or whoever) that hang out along the local interstate.

The company's taking a chance with liability suits, but bread seems safe. Since it's not kept warm in the store and it's kept overnight by the churches, the churches pick up some of the responsibility.

[ehrnst]

5. The Good Samaritan law prevents being sued for donated food

The Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act protects the donor and the recipient agency against liability, excepting only gross negligence and/or intentional misconduct. In addition, each state has passed Good Samaritan Laws that provide liability protection to good faith donors. Each of the Harvest Programs we coordinate have established procedures to ensure that safe food handling and storage is built into their donation program.

Federal Law: The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act
In 1996, President Clinton signed into law The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act.

Why the Emerson Act is important
Each year, 14 billion pounds of food are sent to landfills. Meanwhile, nearly 30 million Americans, including 12 million children, are at risk of hunger. Potential donors most often cite fear of liability as the reason they refuse to donate to feeding programs. Before passage of the national law, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had adopted laws protecting donors. Yet, differences in language and applicability between states often discouraged national and regional companies from donating. With the national law in place, regional and national donors have the uniform language that protects them from civil and criminal liability.

What does the law do?
The law protects good faith food donors from civil and criminal liability, should the product later cause harm to its recipient. The Emerson Act gives uniform federal protection to donors who may cross state lines.

Who is protected?
The law protects food donors, including individuals, and nonprofit feeding programs who act in good faith. While exceptions are made for gross negligence, the law states that test groups will not be subject to civil or criminal liability. More specifically, the law protects individuals, corporations, partnerships, organizations, associations, governmental entities, wholesalers, retailers, restaurateurs, caterers, farmers, gleaners, nonprofit agencies, and more.

What sort of food is protected?
The Emerson Act provides protection for food and grocery products that meet all quality and labeling standards imposed by federal, state and local laws and regulations even though the food may not be "readily marketable due to appearance, age, freshness, grade, size, surplus or other conditions."

http://www.foodtodonate.com/Fdcmain/LegalLiabilities.aspx

[Angry Dragon]

3. A Good News story

[generalbetrayus]

6. Denver and neighboring communities, like Boulder, Louisville, and Lafayette,

have food banks that have been very aggressive about collecting left-over/not-so-pretty food from local grocery stores and restaurants, Food Bank of the Rockies and Community Food Share among them.

[eleny]

10. Food Bank of the Rockies has an excellent charity rating

It's on our giving list.

[Laffy Kat]

7. That's wonderful, but we still need to do a better job...

Denver Police have been taking blankets and tents away from the homeless population and issuing citations for unlawful camping during extremely cold weather. There is always an excuse, i.e., they don't think it's "healthy", etc. It's shameful.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/denver-pd-defends-officers-confiscated-blankets-homeless/story?id=44236705

[Cha]

8. Mahalo.. Good to Know, ehrnst! My

Hometown, Denver, Colorado!

[sheshe2]

9. K&R