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As the Food Rescue Program Coordinator VISTA with FISH, Grace is building a food rescue program that increases the amount of fresh foods at the pantry. Grace will coordinate the collaborative efforts of farm and restaurant donors, volunteers, and the staff at FISH to divert still good but unsellable food from landfills into the hands of the community.

At FISH Food Bank, grocery rescue increases access to fresh, nutritious food for its customers. Grocery rescue is the act of recovering edible food that would otherwise go to waste from grocery stores and businesses and distributing it to food banks like FISH. 

Every day of the week, volunteers go into town to collect food donations from partners like Safeway, Fred Meyer, Super One Grocery, Subway, Starbucks, 18th Street Deli, and Happy’s Market. These donations include a wide variety of fresh items such as baked goods, meats, vegetables, fruits, and other perishable foods.

This program is incredibly important in FISH’s mission meeting the nutritional expectations of customers. In 2019, the CDC ran a survey that found that 85% of food bank customers believed it was important to have fresh fruits and vegetables. Due to grocery rescue, FISH is able to meet those expectations, while also helping reduce food waste in our community.

How a typical grocery rescue run works:

1. Volunteers check out a refrigerated van from the food bank and load it with collapsible crates.
2. They depart at 9:30 AM to begin their route.
3. They drive to the participating stores scheduled for that day.
4. At each store, they check in with department managers to let them know they’ve arrived.
5. Volunteers collect food from designated donation areas—typically found in coolers, freezers, and carts in the backrooms.
6. It often takes multiple trips between the backroom and the van to load all donations.
7. Steps 3–6 are repeated for each store on the route.
8. The entire food rescue run usually takes about an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how much food is recovered that day.