The abundance of restaurants, banquet halls and shopping center food malls in Israel results in thousands of excess meals being discarded late each evening. In order to both prevent the needless waste of this high quality prepared food and provide an important after hours volunteer opportunity, Table to Table in 2003, established the Nighttime Food Collection Project. The project works with over 100 caterers, restaurants and banquet halls in central Israel. Most are contacted by an administrative assistant on Wednesdays and Thursdays regarding availability of functions for the coming week. Through this project, Table to Table serves 20 non profit organizations including homeless shelters, children's shelters and soup kitchens. The program has also recently established a separate non kosher food run delivering rescued food to a non profit organization working with African refugees. In 2008, Table to Table rescued $5 worth of food (wholesale prices) for every dollar donated (spent). Today, the project rescues 5,000 meals (meat and two side dishes) a week from 125 functions.
The paradox of nutritional insecurity and the large scale food wastage led to the establishment of Table to Table in 2003. Today, operating from warehouses in Ra'anana and Nesher, Table to Table's staff and thousands of volunteers distribute 12,000 meals and 60 tons (132,000 lbs) of produce and manufactured perishable items that would otherwise be discarded from hundreds of suppliers on a weekly basis (using seven delivery trucks and volunteers' private vehicles) . The food is then redistributed free of charge, to a wide range of non profit organizations including soup kitchens, shelters for children at risk, homeless shelters and community centers for the elderly.
Day and night, Table to Table rescues excess, unserved food that would otherwise be destroyed from catered events, bakeries, army bases, perishable food manufacturers, farmers and packinghouses. The organization then transports the food to non-profit organizations throughout Israel serving people in need.
Table to Table plans to develop the Nighttime Food Rescue Project throughout Israel. In the coming six months the organization will intensify the recruitment of food donors in Central Israel and work to set up gleaning teams in the cities of Haifa and Be'er Sheva. In Be'er Sheva, the organization will work in cooperation with the local municipality, which has offered assistance in the recruitment and coordination of volunteers. Table to Table will recruit food donors in the area and provide the knowledge, experience and logistic support needed to ensure the project's success in the south of the country.
In Haifa, the program will be coordinated by Table to Table's regional coordinator working from the Nesher warehouse. The coordinator will be responsible for recruiting both the volunteers and banquet halls, caterers and restaurants to the project. As the project grows, the organization will recruit volunteers to become regional coordinators. The regional coordinators will be responsible for 10-30 volunteers and will be on call late at night to answer volunteer and food donors' queries.
The greatest challenge to the project is recruitment of volunteers. Table to Table will address this problem by (a) working with Israeli corporations encouraging volunteerism amongst company staff as part of their contribution to the community, (b) make use of volunteer organizations working in coordination with local municipalities and (c) make use of public relations to publicize the project in the local media.
Name of Organization:Table to Table
Number of Paid Staff:3
Number of Volunteers:Thousands
Total Organizational Expenses:$3,200,000
% of Organizational Overhead Expenses:4%
Table to Table is the only organization in Israel that coordinates a large-scale nighttime food rescue program from hundreds of caterers, wedding halls, and restaurants. The fact that the Nighttime Food Rescue Project rescues three meat meals for less than a dollar makes sense for our economic future and independence. Food rescue makes best use of existing resources and is environment friendly preventing the needless dumping of edible food in landfills. The project addresses nutritional insecurity amongst all those in need living in Israel, regardless of age, race, or religion.
The UJA Toronto Family Mission was delighted to be part of “Project Leket.” Our group of 74 people, between the ages of 6 years & 81 years, all participated & enjoyed the opportunity tremendously!
The brief introduction motivated us to do our best for those less fortunate. The kids especially felt proud that they were doing something to help the needy in Israel. We picked peppers for about an hour and we know we will never look at peppers without recalling our fun & meaningful experience.
We thank you for giving us this opportunity to do something special for the community in Israel. It was a wonderful family experience that will certainly hold many memories.
Sincerely, Stephen Altbaum and Abe Glowinsky
Chairs, Toronto UJA Federation Family Mission 2005
Do not waste
Ending Hunger
Gleanings
Israel
Poverty
Unharvested Corner
Volunteers receive a list of collection opportunities by email and then notify the organization of their choice of activity. In cases where a pick up has not been chosen, an administrative assistant will phone volunteers encouraging them to assume responsibility for the food collection. Volunteers are provided with the details of the function and a contact name. They call the contact person towards the end of the evening to verify that leftover food is available and then go out in their own vehicle to collect the food. Food is packed by the volunteer in single use containers and delivered directly to the non profit recipient (regular volunteers generally have a key to the non profit's kitchen) or to Table to Table's warehouse, where it is placed in cold storage and delivered the next day.
Name:Paul Leiba
Title:Director of Development
Address:P.O. Box 2297 Raanana Isreal
Telephone:(972) 974-4175 x7
Email:paul@tabletotable.org.il
Website:www.tabletotable.org.il