As an avid foodie I see wasted food whenever I dine out or sadly even when I cook in my own kitchen. It is depressing to see this food go to waste when are millions who are starving and don’t have the luxury to be able to put food on their plates let alone pay money for food that looks more like art than it does raw fish and rice.
When in Massachusetts I volunteered at a homeless shelter in Cambridge for a semester and saw first hand how the process of food distribution worked for the homeless. What struck me most was how difficult it was just to give free food to people. Cities around the country create laws around its distribution; and quite frankly, I believe they care less about the safety of the homeless and more on limiting the number of homeless people in their cities. For instance, in Orlando, police arrested a man who served food to 30 people in a public park for violating a city ordinance that prohibits sharing food with more than 25 people without a permit. He faced a penalty of up to a $500 fine and 60 days in jail for violating this law. In Dallas, anyone caught sharing food with a homeless person without a permit may be fined up to $2,000 and/or jailed for up to six months.
My plan is not to just use this blog post as a rant but to help spread the word as to how absurd these laws are. A nonprofit concept that I have been toying around to start in LA tries to tackle the problem around serving for to homeless people. If anyone knows a way around the roadblock of LA ordinance let me know.
The non-profit concept would work with LA’s large restaurant and homeless population like this:
The restaurant notifies the customer before the meal is served that they can sign up for the “Share your leftovers” program. The customer would sign a consent form stating that the restaurant will not be held responsible for sharing the leftover food. The restaurant would store the leftovers in a refrigerator. The nonprofit would do daily pickups from the restaurants and would give the food to homeless shelters. The homeless person would also sign a consent form that they will not hold the shelter, restaurant or person liable for the food.
If I have leftovers I go out of my way to take the rest home and try to find homeless people to give them to but most the time I can’t find someone and am left in an awkward situation when I do find the homeless person. I would love to see this concept roll out. If you are interested let me know and maybe we can get this going together.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
me and sharona want to help you with this. great idea, youre the best
I have this same problem in Philadelphia. I am also looking for a solution. I attend so many events at my University where they dump the leftover food and I walk out where homeless people ask if they know where they can get free food and I always ask the event staff before I leave but I always get the same excuse, “liability.”
It’s a shame it has led to the signing of consent forms to feed people, but even that solution is a solution at best and needs to be implemented.
Glad I found this on my google search, lets get the ball rolling, I am tired of feeling like a criminal for denying people free food when I know where it is.. in large portions.
Please email me:
Danamuras@gmail.com