Feeding Hope ~ Recognizing Restaurants that Support the Homeless

Food Recovery Certified is a new program that rewards restaurants that donate their extra food to those in need with a sticker on their front door. It’s a project of The Food Recovery Network, a national system of college students that takes cafeteria leftovers to homeless people. Founder Ben Simon started the group in 2011 at the University of Maryland, and the network has saved more than 320,000 pounds of food from the dump in its first three years.

If a restaurant donates unsold food to the hungry at least once a month, it can apply for the certification. Then Food Recovery Certified verifies with local nonprofits that the donations actually occur before awarding its approval. Simon states, “Every food business should be donating its extra food.”

For more information, visit FoodRecoveryCertified.org.