Refood picks up extra food from local restaurants to bring to the hungry.
While living in Lisbon, Portugal, Richmond native Hunter Halder started riding his bike around to restaurants and “rescuing” food that was going to be thrown away, later delivering it to a local church. Over the course of a month, he collected enough food to create 1,000 meals and was actively feeding about 40 people. Others around him took notice, and a nonprofit was born. Now, almost a decade later, there are more than 60 established chapters of Refood in Portugal, and the first North American chapter recently launched right here in Richmond.
“Very few people don’t want to save the food they throw away,” says Halder, Refood’s founder, speaking during the inaugural Richmond meeting in early January. “Every community has excess food, and ... yet people do not have the food they need.”
The grassroots nonprofit operates entirely with volunteers. Halder believes that in order to find solutions for food waste, change must first begin on a local level, as communities work to bring together neighbors concerned about food waste, businesses with excess food and people unsure of their next meal.
Carolina Catering owner Robyn Carter became interested in Refood after spotting a flyer in a coffee shop. At the initial gathering Halder, who has now returned to Portugal, asked for someone to lead the Richmond chapter, and her hand shot right up.
Hunter Halder, founder of Refood, delivers meals in Libson.
“As someone who has been in the industry for 25 years, I see a lot of food waste,” says Carter, an Austin, Texas, transplant. “Most industry people feel the same way I do about food waste, and in many ways, this is the perfect answer.”
Carter and the pioneer team of about a dozen volunteers, who range from a Chesterfield teacher to a retired tugboat captain, are currently searching for supply partners — restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores and urban farms, particularly in the Fan — that can donate excess food. The goal is to target a specific area of the city and then slowly build and expand the network of partners. Once established, Refood will work to coordinate a streamlined pickup schedule that minimizes interruptions to businesses.
“Because the rescued food is picked up, it’s such a great convenience to offer the industry,” Carter says. “It makes it a lot easier to participate in something like this, and [people will be] more likely to stick with it.”
Initially, Refood will drop off donations directly to beneficiaries, although the goal is to establish a designated location where volunteers can package the food into well-balanced, complete meals that are then delivered to those in need. (Refood had its first local pick-up in early March from Positive Vibe Cafe, which donated food that was then delivered to CARITAS.) Although the Richmond Refood chapter is still in its early stages, Halder says that when this model has been replicated by the other chapters it has been successful, and the results have been gratifying.
“It’s not about capital investment — we’re talking about inviting the community and all the pieces of the puzzle coming together,” Halder says. “Everybody in the game is needed. If people don’t have the food they need, and right beside them someone is throwing that food away, it’s not unrelated.”
For more information on how to get involved with Refood, visit facebook.com/richmondvirginiausa. Refood's next meeting will take place Monday, March 23, at Tabernacle Baptist Church, 1925 Grove Ave., at 7 p.m.
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