For over 30 years, Loaves & Fishes has worked to solve one of Greenville County’s most urgent challenges: food insecurity. Every day, their small fleet of drivers and dedicated volunteers rescue surplus food from grocery stores, restaurants, caterers, and wholesalers and deliver it, free of charge, to over 100 partner agencies across the county.

Mission and Impact

Their mission is simple and urgent: make sure no good food goes to waste while helping the people around them who need it most. By keeping food out of landfills, they also protect the planet. Loaves & Fishes’ food rescue creates a ripple effect of impact, with rescued food becoming hot meals at shelters, groceries at food pantries, and critical nourishment for neighbors facing food insecurity.

Each year, they rescue over 2.5 million pounds of food and deliver it to food pantries, shelters, afterschool programs, low-income housing, and more. That means $9 million in food feeds those in need rather than going to landfills.

Leadership and Events

Loaves & Fishes is led by a board of directors, including Zandr Tesolowski, chair, and Lindsay Niedringhaus, vice-chair. They also host various events, such as Taste of the Upstate, Grow a Row, Rock Out Hunger, and Stock the Shelves Food & Funds Drive, to support their mission.

Volunteer opportunities are available, and every dollar Loaves & Fishes receives equals $19 in food distributed in the community. Their support helps the critical work of over 125 agencies and the more than 67,000 people experiencing food insecurity in Greenville.

Original reporting: Greenville Journal — read the source article.