2024 Food Waste Prevention Week Highlights

Food Waste Prevention Week kicked off Monday, April 1st, 2024, and ran through April 7th, 2024. As with the year before, Manna Food Center’s Community Food Rescue program partnered with other organizations and institutions in the DMV area to raise regional awareness. Check out this webpage to see all the events that happened locally with all our partners. Below are the events CFR partnered on for the week: 

On Sunday, March 31st, local sustainability organizations spent the evening sharing resources about their work at Lost Generation Brewing Co., in D.C. Among the event highlights was the debut of Gravenhook Dark Lager, a tasty remix of their classic Grave Shift dark lager infused with RavenHook Bakehouse’s raisin pecan sourdough. At 7pm, the brewery’s Sunday trivia embraced a special theme: food waste prevention! Co-organizers Food Rescue US – DC contributed trivia questions about the global issue of food waste and what individuals can do to minimize their footprint. All in all, the night was as fun and delicious as it was informative and insightful! 

Dig in Bethesda partnered with Manna Food Center and Community Food Rescue all week long by selling their Low Waste Plate. The Low-Waste Plate featured brown rice, chili roasted brussels sprouts, roasted sweet potatoes, and wild Alaskan salmon with a side of garlic aioli for $13.40. $2.00 from each bowl was donated to Manna Food Center. Tricia Thomas, Manna’s Food Resources Coordinator, tabled at the restaurant on Tuesday, April 2nd, to let the community know about the CFR network and bring awareness to Food Waste Prevention Week.  

Prior to Food Waste Prevention week, the recently graduated cooks from STEP made Root-to-Stem recipes for cooking demos to reduce food waste. These videos were released throughout the week to demonstrate how to cook delicious recipes with items that most would throw away, like the skins of sweet potatoes, and the tops of carrots. Check out all the videos HERE. STEP is a not-for-profit union-employer training fund that provides free technical skills and life skills classes to hospitality workers in the DMV. To learn more about STEP’s mission and work, click HERE.

On Monday, April 1st, Morgan Crull, Manna’s Senior Program Manager for Food Resources participated in a panel hosted by the Maryland Department of the Environment entitled “Connecting People with Recovered Food.” She shared information on the history of, operating, and the impact of the Community Food Rescue Program. 

On Tuesday, April 2nd County Executive Mark Elrich, Department of the Environmental Protection (DEP) Director Jon Monger, DEP Chief of Waste Reduction and Recycling Section Eileen Kao and Manna Food Center’s Director of Programs and Policies Jenna Umbriac gathered for an event at the Manna Warehouse in Gaithersburg. They spoke to some of the ways Montgomery County is working to reduce wasted food and address food insecurity. As part of this event, Jenna shared about the work and impact of the CFR program.

On Wednesday, April 3rd the Montgomery County Food Council (MCFC) hosted a happy hour event at 7 Locks Brewing in honor of Food Waste Prevention Week. Manna Food Center and Compost Crew were also in attendance. Jack Ewart, the policy and outreach coordinator for the MCFC, shared some post event commentary: 

“We would like to express our gratitude to our co-hosts, Manna Food Center, Compost Crew, and everyone else who joined us at Food Waste Prevention Week happy hour. County Executive, Marc Elrich, presented us with a proclamation and dedicated the week of April 1-7, 2024 as Food Waste Prevention Week. Thank you, County Executive, Marc Elrich for presenting us with this honor and supporting Montgomery County’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in the implementation of their ‘“Food is Too Good to Waste” campaign which is meant to provide training and technical assistance to Montgomery County residents and organizations in food waste reduction.” 

On Sunday, April 7th the Bethesda Central Farm Market graciously hosted Compost Crew and Community Food Rescue for demos on creating a bucket to collect food scraps. Lowe’s Home Improvement in Gaithersburg generously donated 100 5-gallon buckets and lids for the occasion. Participants could take home their own bucket and information on where to drop off their food scraps. Tim, from Compost Crew answered questions and provided visual on what should and should not be collected in a food scraps bucket. 

 We had an amazing time connecting and working alongside all our partners for DMV Food Waste Prevention Week. We can’t wait to do it again next year! If you or someone you know is passionate about reducing food waste and fighting food insecurity, CFR is always looking for new donors or volunteers. Please share the CFR webpage with anyone who may be interested in joining our network: https://www.communityfoodrescue.org/.