By: Grace Hoening – Social Media Coordinator
Ellen Schoenberg is a Project Coordinator with FoodRecovery.org and the fairy behind the newsletter magic you receive monthly. In a series of interviews I am working on to feature our superstars, here’s what Ellen had to say about the inspiring work she does on our team. If you want to see these interviews early, make sure you sign up to receive our newsletter!
What is the most meaningful part of your job?
I love working on the large donations team! Each day we see hundreds of thousands of pounds of food that are about to go to waste being donated. It’s such an honor to make such a huge impact across America. We move anything from 40,000 pounds of dairy to 20,000 pounds of frozen meat. It’s rather impressive!
Tell me about a donation that stands out to you:
A donation that stands out to me happened last month. I heard 20,000 pounds of milk was about to be wasted in California. Within 13 minutes of hearing about it, I found a nonprofit that could distribute all of it and give it back to their community.
Is it normal for large donations to be recovered so quickly?
Donations like this happen all the time! Another example was when there was a truck load of mangoes, lettuce, and peppers that unfortunately got into an accident. Since the driver wasn’t able to complete the delivery, I was called and asked to help recover all the food. Again, in less than 20 minutes, we found a local nonprofit called Operation Food Search that could use it and give it to the communities it serves.
How does it feel to move such large amounts of food so quickly?
These accomplishments make me feel proud to work for an organization that can make such a difference in food waste and food insecurity. For me, it’s just a couple of emails but it’s making such an impact on so many individuals and countless communities. This job continually inspires me.
Most of our work is managed remotely, what have you done for work in person?
I visited Trybe in person a little bit ago. It was amazing to see so many community members that came together to use shipping crates under a highway as storage and serve thousands of people around them. Their passion inspires me to continue getting food to organizations like Trybe.
What keeps you motivated?
I love seeing pictures of the recovered food. Since I can’t always be there in person, seeing pictures of the pallets of food reminds me of all the people, and especially families with kids, who will now have meals on their tables.
Can you comprehend what 20,000 pounds of food looks like?
It’s hard to picture, but when I hear 20,000 pounds of produce, I’m not thinking about the number of pounds. I’m thinking about the number of people this amount of food can help.It’s so difficult to actually understand because it’s so many pallets stacked high and filled in a Semi. But it is even more difficult to understand how all these massive trucks full of food were going to be thrown away. I am grateful they now have purpose and can nourish someone in need.
Can you tell me a little about your work in California?
There’s this new law called SB-1383 that requires businesses to donate their excess food to nonprofits. We are part of an amazing network called the Alameda County Food Recovery Stakeholder Network. It’s great to partner with all these organizations because we all have the same goal and together we can accomplish more than we could separately.