Food Shift's Alameda Kitchen

The Alameda Kitchen will transform fruits and vegetables that would otherwise be wasted into nutritious, affordable food products and meals for low-income populations.

Food Shift works collaboratively with communities, businesses and governments to develop sustainable solutions that reduce wasted food and hunger. In our quest to solve these challenges we’ve learned that the community needs a kitchen facility to process the abundance of surplus food. A kitchen facility will also allow for the creation of affordable food products that can generate revenue for more food recovery while increasing access to nutrition.

This leads us to the Alameda Kitchen. The Alameda Kitchen will transform fruits and vegetables that would otherwise be wasted into nutritious, affordable food products and meals for low-income populations. Food Shift will be utilizing the kitchen at Alameda Point Collaborative (APC) – a housing community for formerly homeless individuals and families – and provide job training to their residents.  The revenue generated will help us pay fair wages to these workers and allow us to expand our program to reduce waste and increase access to affordable healthy food.

We have the kitchen, the food, and the people to make this vision a reality. What we need now is your support!

How It Works

By rescuing surplus food and bringing it into the kitchen we can transform slightly bruised apples into applesauce for seniors, overripe bananas into muffins for school children, or misshapen veggies into an affordable Food Shift soup!
This is the magic of the Alameda Kitchen.

The Alameda Kitchen will sell food products made from fresh fruits and vegetables from farms, distributors, and grocery stores that don’t meet strict cosmetic standards. In partnership with local chefs, we will design and sell premium products to local businesses, which will allow us to subsidize products at low costs for agencies that serve food insecure populations, including senior centers, after-school programs, and homeless shelters.

In Food Shift’s history, we have recovered 100,000 lbs of food from farms, grocery stores, events, and more. Food Shift received 5,000 pounds of perfectly good food that wouldn’t have made it to the grocery store in September 2015 alone, most of which was donated by our friends at Imperfect. In a 3 month period Food Shift helped keep 45,000 lbs of food out of the waste stream from Andronico’s Community Markets. In one day, Food Shift recovered an entire pallet of peaches from an Oakland produce distributor – totaling 1600 lbs! All of this high-quality food is the type of food we will be bringing into the kitchen to process. We’re also in the process of creating new relationships with farms, distributors, and stores who want their food to benefit the community.

Why Jobs?

Over the past year Food Shift has learned that there are multiple challenges APC residents face, including difficulty accessing food, health issues, financial instability, and isolation.  99% of APC residents have incomes below the poverty line and as a result the majority of residents use the food bank and/or depend on low cost foods. Only 10-15% of the APC population is employed. Many residents feel isolated from the broader community and stuck in their socioeconomic position.
Food Shift cares deeply about ending the cycle of poverty and hunger and we know that food alone won’t solve hunger.  APC residents want to get back to work, and the kitchen will provide hands-on-experience and support to make it possible.

Perks

If you believe in Food Shift and the Alameda Kitchen vision and want to give for the sake of giving, please do!  To show our gratitude we have some pretty awesome perks lined up for you all, so check them out, show us your love, and please share this campaign with others!

*Shipping free within United States

  

  • $10 – Food Shift Stickers: Sport our spiffy Food Shift logo on your laptop, bike, water bottle, or anything else with our awesome stickers! 2 stickers included.
  • $25 – Earth Island Journal: Get a year’s subscription to the Earth Island Journal to stay up to date on news, analysis, and commentary on vital environmental issues and activism.
  • $25 – Dive! DVD: Get a copy of Dive! on DVD, a fun documentary about the adventures of dumpster diving and the realities of food waste.
  • $35 – Week of produce from Imperfect: We’re excited to partner with Imperfect to offer this coupon for one week of delicious fruits and veggies that usually would be too “ugly” to sell! Available for residents in Oakland, Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville, CA.
  • $35 – Waste Free Kitchen Handbook: Want to waste less in your kitchen but don’t know where to start? Get a copy of Dana Gunders’  “Waste Free Kitchen Handbook” for tons of information and tips to help you waste less and save money.
  • $40 – Food Shift Tote Bag: Prevent waste from using paper or plastic bags and show off our Food Shift tote bags – perfect for your next trip to the grocery store, farmers market, or local farm.
  • $50 – Back to the Roots Tour + Mushroom Kit: Our fellow-Oakland based friends from Back to the Roots are offering a tour of their facility! Learn firsthand how this local startup went from recycling coffee grounds & growing gourmet mushrooms to producing US farmed organic breakfast products. In addition you will receive a mushroom kit so you too can become a mushroom farmer!
  • $75 – Thrive Market Subscription: Thrive is offering subscriptions to save on products for a full year. Thrive Market is the first socially conscious online store offering the world’s best-selling natural and organic products at wholesale prices.
  • $100 – Recover over 3,000 lbs of Food: For every $100 we receive, we are able to recover over 3,000 pounds of food. Your donation will help this food stay out of the landfill, cover transportation to the Alameda Kitchen, and ensure it is stored properly until it can be processed in the kitchen.
  • $100 – Launch Party at APC: Get one exclusive ticket to join us for the official launch of the Alameda Kitchen! You’ll be able to see the kitchen and enjoy wine and menu options made from food that would have gone to waste.
  • $125 – Dinner with the Director: You can join Food Shift Founder & Director Dana Frasz for a special dinner at her home in Oakland, made from food that would have otherwise gone to waste!
  • $150 – Video Chat Food Waste Tutorial: Want to reduce the amount of food you waste at home? Get some personal attention from the Food Shift team! We’ll schedule a video chat on a date convenient for you to check out your kitchen and give you advice and tips on how to reduce food waste, make your groceries last longer, and save money.
  • $200 – Launch Party at APC: You and a friend can attend the official launch party for the Alameda Kitchen. Join us at the Alameda Point Collaborative to check out the kitchen space and enjoy wine and menu options made from food that would have gone to waste!
  • $250 – Dinner with the Director: You and a friend can join Food Shift Founder & Director Dana Frasz for a special dinner at her home in Oakland, made from food that would have otherwise gone to waste!
  • $500 – Cooking Class at APC for 5: Itching to see how the kitchen works at APC? You and four friends can join us for an exclusive cooking class in the Alameda Kitchen to learn how to make something delicious from food that would have gone to waste!

Food Shift is an Earth Island Institute sponsored project. We are a non profit 501(c)3 organization, and any donation above $100 is tax deductible.  You can also mail a check to: 

Food Shift

c/o Earth Island Institute
2150 Allston Way #460
Berkeley, CA 94704

Timeline

  • Now – Early 2016: Program planning, fundraising, partnership developing, food product testing and market research with Stanford ACT

     

  • January 2016 – March 2016: Hire program personnel and work with Stanford ACT to develop revenue model.
  • April 2016: Alameda Kitchen launch!

 

Show Me the Money!

Funds from our campaign will go towards wages for APC residents, hiring a part-time chef, cooking equipment, food storage, and transportation.

Raising $30,000 will give us a substantial start! Here’s how your donations will break down:

Food Shift will be raising additional funds over the next year to cover full program costs including administrative and overhead costs.

Your contribution will help strengthen local food systems by highlighting a holistic solution that exists within every community! 

Food Shift’s Previous Work

Food Shift has established itself as a key educator, innovator, and leader within the movement toward a more sustainable use of food. Food Shift has built strong cross-sector relationships, co-hosted a 300 person national conference to discuss solutions to wasted food, and implemented innovative solutions to tackle wasted food and hunger.  We have conducted research, launched campaigns, and designed food recovery, waste tracking, and redistribution programs for schools, grocery stores, technology companies, major events, and county governments.  We have a deep understanding of the challenges, opportunities, and players within the complex ecosystem around food production, food waste, and food access.
Food Shift’s key accomplishments include:

  • Designed and implemented a food donation program with 13 Oakland schools that redistributed 14,000 pounds of food to students, families, and community agencies. Food Shift is currently developing an implementation guide to expand the program.
  • Launched two public transit ad campaigns in 2013 and 2014 to raise awareness of wasted food and hunger. The ads were seen by millions and 67% of those surveyed said they would be less likely to waste food as a result of seeing the ad.
  • Co-hosted and planned the Zero Food Waste Forum conference and Feeding the 5000 to discuss solutions to wasted food, to spark national collaboration, and to build movement momentum.
  • Set up and managed a food donation and waste tracking program for Andronico’s Community Markets that recovered almost 50,000 pounds of food in 3 months, saved the store $27,000 in reduced waste disposal costs, and increased the reported happiness level of 87% of store staff.
  • Hired by the Santa Clara County to conduct a study on barriers and opportunities surrounding food recovery, and make recommendations for county-wide action to improve food recovery. Food Shift will serve as an adviser to Santa Clara County in the upcoming months to assist them in implementing the suggested steps of action.
Food Recovered from Imperfect – this is the kind of produce we’ll be using in the Alameda Kitchen!

 

The Food Shift Team

Food Shift is a scrappy, organized, passionate, and focused team. We aim to radically shift the system from tossing away good food to using wholesome food to feed people and provide good jobs. Our mission is to develop innovative models that address the structural causes of wasted food and hunger and to develop a more effective and sustainable system for food recovery and redistribution.
Food Shift has 3 full-time paid staff and a core team of 12 volunteers who contribute 5-10 hours/week. Last year, our volunteers contributed over 10,000 hours of work for Food Shift! Our team is dedicated to spending our money wisely and putting every dollar to good use.

Dana Frasz, Founder & Director

Dana is a fearless, collaborative, and determined innovator with over a decade of food recovery and entrepreneurship experience. In college Dana launched an award-winning food recovery program while at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. She then spent the next three years working at Ashoka.  Applying her knowledge of social innovation and systems change to the food waste crisis, Food Shift has developed a national network and become a key influencer within the movement. This year, Dana was selected as an honoree for the inaugural Mic50, which recognizes “the next generation of leaders, innovators, and cultural influencers.”

Hanna Morris, Program Coordinator

Hanna has worked as the Program Coordinator at Food Shift for over the past year and has extensive background in zero waste, food waste prevention, and working with at-risk populations. At Food Shift, she helped set up a food recovery and waste tracking program for a local grocery store chain; planned a meal of all recovered and foraged food for attendees at a food waste awareness conference; and produced a report on food recovery for Santa Clara County.

Megan Mubaraki, Outreach and Development Coordinator

Megan joined the Food Shift team in July 2015 as the Outreach and Development Coordinator, and has a background in sociology, agroecology, and food justice at UC Berkeley. Megan recently graduated and completed a thesis on nonprofits in the East Bay Area doing food justice work. During her time as an undergraduate, she enjoyed volunteering with the Student Organic Garden as a facilitator of a weekly urban gardening class.

The Alameda Kitchen Team

Robert Egger

Robert Egger is the Founder and President of the DC Central Kitchen and LA Kitchen, where unemployed men and women learn marketable culinary skills while donated foods is converted into balanced meals. Robert is a passionate changemaker that provides mentorship, guidance, valuable introductions, knowledge about the nonprofit sector, feedback and a never ending dose of enthusiasm and inspiration.

Douglas Biggs

For the past 7 years as Executive Director of Alameda Point Collaborative, Doug has been providing leadership to largest supportive housing program for homeless families in the East Bay. APC serves 500 residents on 34 acres of land and 200 units of housing. Doug is an advocate for affordable and supportive housing on a regional and national basis.

Bill Brownell

Bill is a Board Member at ACT Program Management Board and a Board Chair at SV2. He has extensive experience consulting in business growth strategies, particularly in the technology sector. He is working as the Project Lead in Stanford ACT, a group of Stanford Business School alums that is working with Food Shift in conducting research and developing a revenue model for Alameda Kitchen.

Help us bring this kitchen to life!

At Food Shift we know that food alone won’t solve hunger.   People need opportunity, skills, jobs and support. Join us in launching the Alameda Kitchen to ensure all food is eaten and all people are fed. The Alameda Kitchen is more than just a kitchen – it’s a new system that redefines how food and people should be valued in community.

Please share this campaign with friends, family, and co-workers. We’ve provided some sample text below to make it easy. Feel free to copy/paste from the examples below, or add in a line or two about why you are passionate about this issue and why you believe in our work!

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