“Hello! Did you eat? We have bread and sandwiches. Do you need them?” When volunteers were distributing food, they would discover new faces. He was a South-Asian that we had never seen before and he looked pale.   

“Thank you! Thank you very much! Thank you, pretty boys and pretty girls!”. After receiving food, he was surprised and grateful and kept saying thank you. It was like he got a big present.  

Although we did not understand about his situation, one serving of collected food comforting him for the moment was much more worthwhile than sending it to the landfills. 

Food Commons Foundation and the district partners collect and share surplus food in different areas every day. In the past year from August 2022 to July 2023, a total of 459,483.80 kgs of food were collected and 456,245.396 kgs were distributed reaching 99.30%; the total number of beneficiaries was 485,077.  From June 2009 to July 2023, a total of 10,607,379.66 kgs of food were collected and the total distribution volume was 10,084,655.63 kgs accounting for 95.07%; the total number of beneficiaries was 9,155,152. 

In the last two weeks, there have been many new faces in our volunteer team. No matter whether they are new or old, all of us have a giving and kind heart. It is really inspiring to work together for the purpose of saving food and helping others!

This episode introduces the influence that the Food Commons Foundation has on the community when providing services and the difficulties that we face when we provide help to the beneficiaries.