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Food Rescue US in Detroit: Nourishing the Community & Protecting the Planet

August 25, 2021
Food Rescue US is an app-based, volunteer-driven food rescue organization whose mission is to protect the planet by keeping good food out of the landfill and using it to nourish the community. Darraugh Collins, whose husband works in the hotel food industry, launched the Detroit chapter of Food Rescue US in June of 2019 after realizing how much food goes to waste in the hospitality and food service industries. By the end of 2019, they kept 35,000 pounds of food out of the landfill. Through partnerships with The Farm Link Project and the USDA Farmers to Families Program, Food Rescue US – Detroit has already provided over 400,000 pounds of food to social service agency partners throughout Metro Detroit while also supporting the neighboring cities of Flint, Saginaw, Midland, and Ypsilanti.

Food Rescue US partners with 29 food donors, 268 volunteer food rescuers, and 91 receiving agencies.

Program Information 

  • They rescue ANY amount and type of food from any business with excess usable food: grocery stores, restaurants, farmer’s markets, catering companies, hotels, convention centers, event spaces, schools, or from receiving agencies who cannot use all that they have received elsewhere.
  • They operate door-to-door, which means they can handle fresh, highly perishable food.
  • They provide yearly tax documentation for all food donors.

Darraugh Collins of Food Rescue US- Detroit recently told Detour Detroit that “We don’t have a lower limit; we will pick up any amount, “and because it’s our volunteers picking up in their own vehicle, and they’re delivering it to a specified agency, we’re able to really get into the nooks and crannies of Detroit that are forgotten.”

Every Friday, with the help of over 20 local volunteers, Food Rescue US – Detroit uses the loading dock at TCF Center to receive and distribute produce boxes.

Food Rescue US has found a way to meet an unfilled niche in the food rescue ecosystem by moving smaller quantities of food that would otherwise go to waste from donors like restaurants and hotels to those in need.

To get involved with the weekly distributions, click here. To make a donation in support of the Food Rescue US – Detroit, please visit the Food Rescue US COVID-19 Response Fund and designate your donation to “Detroit”.