Author: Carrie Perry

Second Harvest has always looked to rescued food as a pillar of food sourcing and implemented a variety of programs to provide food to neighbors in need. Hard as we work, some of the food we rescue can’t be saved; fortunately, local animal farmers help us close the last gap in the system by taking the unsalvageable food. But our work is never done, so we continue to innovate and seek additional opportunities to feed more and waste nothing. That’s where the idea of our new program called Zilch takes root. The idea is simple but embodies our mission: No hunger. No waste. Nothing. None. Zilch!

The Zilch concept offers many possibilities across the food banking world, and we are eager to explore all of them. One of our first implementations is a system that continuously identifies food in our warehouses that may not remain edible through the traditional processes, consolidates those products, and distributes them directly to people facing hunger who may not be accessing their local pantry.

Our food sourcing team faces a critical daily mission to keep our shelves, coolers and freezers stocked with the right amount of food to supply our partner agencies and programs. It’s a delicate balance between shortage and waste, as much of what we source is safe and nutritious but comes with a relatively short shelf life. But it is a mission we embrace wholeheartedly!

We prepare orders daily for hunger-fighting agencies and plan weekly menus for our Mobile Market free food distributions. This process is quick, taking just a few days to move the food out of our warehouses to the next phase of distribution. But it can still take too long for some of the food to make it into someone’s meal before it spoils. That’s where Zilch comes in.

After all the orders for agencies are filled and we have identified the food available for our scheduled Mobile Markets, the Zilch team sweeps the warehouse of all perishable food and assembles what is usable but won’t last long. The team then springs into action to coordinate drops in the coming days to community centers of low-income and senior communities where folks are often unable to drive to conventional distributions. We then deploy two and three-person volunteer teams in vans with pallets of great food to the coordinated locations.

We are excited about this new program and all the Zilch opportunities at Second Harvest. Whether you’re a donor, farmer, processor, distributor, trucker, or an advocate for a waste-free, hunger-free world, Zilch welcomes your support. Let’s work together to feed more and waste nothing. Stay tuned as we dial in and add innovative Zilch ventures in food sourcing and distribution!