With the sunset of the Mobile Community Market at FareStart, this year’s gleaned produce will be going solely to the Community and School Meals Programs within the organization. And while the program still relies on gleaning, there is a decrease in the amount that can be immediately utilized. Therefore, there will be a surplus of product and a need in the community for fresh produce. The recurring question became: how can the regular gleaning season continue and even grow without leaving food to go to waste? The approach: redistribution.

To begin this redistribution effort, Sydney began contacting foodbanks across King County in search of potential partners with the ability to receive and distribute excess donated produce from the local farms whom FareStart partners and gleans with. She connected and formed partnerships with Ballard Food Bank, North Helpline, and West Seattle Food Bank. The key to success? With the help of FareStart’s amazing volunteer base, Sydney proposed a low-effort, high-yield plan to food bank staff. FareStart volunteers will help glean and transport goods to food banks making it accessible to distribute in their area and furthering the life of fresh food.

The main goal of this project is to not only reduce food waste and increase food security- but to also consider how much food is readily available locally, yet 11.2% of folks in King County are food insecure. With grocery prices rising and SNAP funding decreasing, Sydney is radically imagining how Washington State can use unconventional methods to tackle this issue. The term “radical imagination” was coined by Greek-French Philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis, and challenges existing social and political order by imagining new possibilities and alternative futures. Throughout this project, Sydney will have specific questions in mind: what would the world look like if all food “waste” was redistributed or found another purpose? Can local food systems support local communities? And how do we get there on a larger scale? This summer, Sydney will be working with an incoming University of Washington intern to research and potentially answer these very questions. In the meantime, Sydney is excited to continue building new partnerships for FareStart and seeing what’s possible in a radically imagined food system.