At the end of a catered event, the decision often comes down to minutes. Trays of untouched food—still fresh, still safe to eat—can just as easily end up in a dumpster as on someone’s dinner plate. Across the U.S., an estimated 30 to 40 percent of the food supply is wasted, even as millions of families struggle to put food on the table. FoodRecovery.org was built to intervene in that moment, turning surplus into sustenance by making food donation fast, simple, and reliable.
“It’s a win from an environmental perspective,” says Emily Grant, the organization’s director of operations for Florida and Chicago, “and it’s a win for communities.”
FoodRecovery.org is a national nonprofit with a simple mission: bridge food waste and food insecurity. Founded in Washington, D.C., in 2015 by Maria Rose Belding and Grant Nelson, the organization grew out of their experiences volunteering at food pantries while in school. They noticed a recurring problem: pantries overwhelmed with surplus of one item while facing shortages of another, with no efficient communication system. That insight led them to create the MEANS Database—short for Matching Excess And Needs for Stability—the organization’s original name.
Emily, who lives in Bradenton, came to the organization in 2022 after working in food systems with UF/IFAS Extension across Manatee, Sarasota, DeSoto, and Hardee counties. “When I learned about the MEANS database, it was a lightbulb moment,” she says. “This was exactly the kind of system we needed.”
In 2024, just before its 10th anniversary, MEANS officially became FoodRecovery.org. “We wanted people to have a clearer picture of what we do,” Emily explains. FoodRecovery.org doesn’t operate warehouses or transport food as a business. Instead, it runs a free online platform that connects food donors—caterers, restaurants, warehouses, and event venues—with nonprofits that can distribute food to people who need it, including pantries, soup kitchens, church programs, and after-school programs. Food businesses post available surplus, and nonprofits receive alerts based on distance, food type, and amount, and can claim donations that work for them. The system automatically connects both parties to coordinate pickup and logistics.
Since 2023, FoodRecovery.org has helped move more than 2 million pounds of food through the Gulf Coast region from Tampa to Charlotte County. Much of that volume comes from bulk food donations shipped on pallets into Florida from out of state. Those large-scale donations are handled by partners equipped to manage them, including All Faith’s Food Bank, Feeding Tampa Bay, Food Bank of Manatee, and One More Child.
Smaller donations play an equally important role, and in Sarasota and Manatee, private events have become a growing focus. Organizations like the Gulf Coast Community Foundation regularly post leftover sandwiches, breakfast items, or boxed lunches after meetings and events. “Those smaller donations usually stay local,” Emily says. “If it can fit in the trunk or back seat of your car, we consider that a small donation—and it can still feed a lot of people.”
FoodRecovery.org also partners with gleaning organizations such as Community Harvest SRQ and works with University of Florida research farms, including one in Manatee County. When surplus produce is available—like a recent 300-pound strawberry harvest—it’s posted on the platform and claimed by nearby nonprofits, keeping food within the community where it’s grown.
At the heart of this work, Emily emphasizes, are families often overlooked in conversations about hunger, particularly households classified as “ALICE”—which stands for Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed. These are families who are working, sometimes multiple jobs, but still struggling.
“I think people often picture food insecurity as homelessness,” she says, “but a huge portion of the people we serve are working families deciding whether to pay rent or buy groceries.”
Food safety and trust are foundational to the model. Donations are protected under the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act of 1996, which shields food donors from liability when donations are made in good faith. Through the platform, donors certify that food has been handled safely—hot food kept hot, cold food kept cold—and can upload photos and track donations for tax purposes.
Operating nationwide with a small team, FoodRecovery.org relies heavily on word of mouth, volunteers, and donors.
“We may not always be in the headlines,” Emily says, “but what gives me hope is seeing how many people are doing amazing things at the local level, every day.”
For individuals, she suggests starting small: Eat leftovers first, waste less at home, support food recovery financially or with skills-based volunteering.
“We may not all agree on everything,” she says, “but feeding our community—that’s a purpose we can all get behind.”
