For more than 16 years, Newton-based nonprofit Spoonfuls has recovered and redistributed food throughout Massachusetts, and it’s now the largest food recovery operation in New England, keeping 140,000 pounds of food from being wasted each week. Instead of treating the work as charity, Spoonfuls emphasizes that this is a practical solution to a large problem.
Every day, Spoonfuls trucks, operated by its professional Food Recovery Coordinators (FRCs), visit stores along their routes to pick up food that stores cannot sell. The trucks pick up unsold and unused food from over 120 donors, including grocery stores, markets, and cafeterias. Every FRC is trained and ServSafe certified to ensure that the food that is recovered is of the same quality as food that would be served in stores. At each pickup location, the FRCs inspect the food and decide whether to load it onto the trucks. Everything loaded onto the trucks is then taken to community organizations like food pantries. Everything is delivered the same day that it is picked up. “We don’t bank any food,” Elizabeth Fier, a Spoonfuls communications coordinator, said to Fig City News. “We don’t have any cold storage or warehouses.”
“Everything that comes on the truck is off the truck the same day,” FRC Andrew Staiti said to Fig City News, agreeing with Fier. “Spoonfuls fills a cool niche. We provide fresh and hard-to-access food compared to what most food pantries are able to offer, and we are able to constantly distribute it.”
Recently, Spoonfuls has partnered with Captain Marden’s Seafood in Wellesley. “Not only are people receiving food, they’re receiving things like beautiful, fresh seafood,” said Staiti.
FRCs like Staiti, who are on the same route every day, build relationships with the partners, both those giving and receiving the food. These relationships not only streamline the process, but also in some instances increase the amount of food that partners will give.
For example, Staiti recalled an instance where a manager at Sudbury Farms gave him 30 dozen eggs, which he brought to the Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center. “They split their egg cartons in half, so 30 dozen became 60 half dozen, and that meant that 60 people, who couldn’t otherwise afford them, got eggs,” said Staiti. After distributing the eggs, Staiti thanked the manager, telling him how many people they had helped. Although the manager was humble, the effect was immediate. “From that moment on, that department would donate regularly, and eggs in particular, as often as they could.”
Part of the FRCs’ job is also to make decisions on how the food should be distributed. “You want to do the fairest job possible,” said Staiti, “But it’s really all about the partnerships. It’s something you learn over time, which partners want which things, and I do my best to get everyone what they’re looking for.”
While the distribution of items can be logistically challenging, Spoonfuls has safety nets in place to ensure they are able to get all of the product off the trucks to where it will be useful. At the end of each route is a ‘catch-all stop,’ an organization with enough storage and clientele to handle large quantities of food. Staiti, who has worked with Spoonfuls for multiple years, has watched his truckloads increase from taking in around 2,000 pounds of food to closer to 3,000. Despite this dramatic increase, Staiti consistently ends his days with an empty truck. “We’re in the business of recovery to prevent food waste – and obviously to feed people,” he said, “so we never want to give people food that they won’t be able to store or distribute.”
SNAP cuts’ effects on Spoonfuls and its partners
As recent legislative changes have led to major SNAP cuts, Spoonfuls has expanded its operations as demand from its partner organizations has increased. Just in the past few months, Spoonfuls has taken on more partners and added additional stops to its existing routes, while working to start new routes as well. Even with these changes, Spoonfuls has an increasingly long waitlist of organizations hoping to be added to routes.
“We’ve definitely heard a lot more anxiety from our clients,” said Sean Ahern, director of operations at the Newton Food Pantry, to Fig City News. “People who have never come here before are coming for the first time.”
Lyndsey, an employee of the Needham Food Pantry, echoed this sentiment. “We rely on Spoonfuls quite a bit, especially now,” Lyndsey told Fig City News. “In the last year we’ve increased by almost a quarter, just to meet the new need.”
As legislation cuts SNAP and similar programs, Spoonfuls is continuing to expand, doing everything possible to meet all of the growing needs.
Leah Greiner is a Fig City News summer intern, a rising senior at Newton South High School, and co-Editor-in-Chief of the Denebola.