Newsletter - 11-01-07

They're Called "Limos"

They're called "limos." No, they're not the latest, greatest, longest, shiniest version of gettin' around town while trying to impress your friends. In the food industry, "limos" are storage bins that resemble giant shopping carts. They stretch about six feet long by three feet wide by three feet deep and sit low to the ground. Trader Joe's donates excess food to Food Runners ten times per week. Their food for donation usually fills 2-3 limos per pick up; maybe 4 on a really good day. You do the math. It's a lot of food that would otherwise be thrown in the garbage. Last Saturday the Trader Joe's on Masonic yielded three full limos of miscellaneous groceries including, meats, dairy items, produce, sandwiches, wraps, individual sized salads and two cases of eggs. Everything was in good condition as always: a typical Trader Joe's donation. Smiles spread across the faces of the kitchen staff at All Saints Episcopal Church in the Haight when the truck pulled up. Staff quickly unloaded what they needed for the lunch they were about to prepare for any homeless folks willing to wait in line for a place at the table. The line began forming at dawn. On Friday, the Food Runners truck picked up an almost identical donation from the Trader Joe's in North Beach with the addition of a shopping cart brimming with bouquets of flowers slightly beyond their prime, but still lovely and aromatic. Flowers certainly aren't food, but the ladies at CATS Women's Shelter couldn't have been more delighted to receive something so personal and pretty at a time in their lives when pretty and personal lurks far in the background out of necessity. It only took the Food Runners an extra five minutes to brighten up the ladies' day in a most unexpected way. On Sunday at 9:30AM, the Food Runners truck navigated the already choked parking lot to the SOMA Trader Joe's where they use shopping carts instead of limos to hold the food for donation. The driver loaded up eight shopping carts that morning for delivery to Next Door, transitional shelter focused on case management for homeless individuals 18 or older. Next Door provides a total of 100 beds for women and 150 beds for men. You be wondering why Trader Joe's has so much excess perishable and prepared foods on a regular basis. It could be, in part, that here in America, we are so trained to the concept of bounty that vendors never want customers to see empty shelves as they are used to seeing at the end of the day in countries like France or Brazil. At Food Runners we don't wonder too hard about the "why", but rather we just say a big thank you to Trader Joe's for all their fantastic ongoing donations. Now...if I could only I could find a parking place at Trader Joe's on Masonic without waiting in line...

Food Runners picked up and delivered 116,245 pounds of food in the month of October. Volunteers performed 858 runs and the truck did 260. Please welcome new donors Vegnews, Trugrod Photography, Restaurant Ananda Fuara, Google and RMC Water & Environment. Also welcome new volunteers Michael L., Danielle P., Gene M., Warren L., Emer C. and Josephine T. who took on a regular weekly run to the Noe Valley Farmer's Market right out of the gate.

'Tis the party season. Do you see food being thrown away at the events you've been attending? Tell the caterers about Food Runners. We'll have a Food Runners volunteer at their next event ready to pick up the excess food with a smile.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Nancy

* Restaurants participating in Food Runners Planned Overage Program prepare and donate a main course for 25-30 people, once a week, specifically for Food Runners to deliver to a shelter.

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