Introduction:
The Food Recovery Network is a small, student-led organization at the University of Maryland dedicated to recovering surplus food from the dining halls and giving them back to the homeless and needy in the community of College Park, Maryland.
Every weekday night, small teams of roughly 10 members--including volunteers from Greek life organizations--travel to each of the three dining halls on campus to recover as much food leftover as possible, usually working with the dining hall staff to do so.
Afterward, they deliver it to the Christian Life Center in Riverdale, Maryland, where it is then distributed to multiple homeless shelters, churches or other organizations that deliver food to the needy.
I followed them one night to the 251 North Diner, capturing as much detail as I could with my camera and lightly interviewing each of the subjects.
Their story is told here.
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| David Xu delivers a tray of food to the table on April 29 at the 251 North Diner. |
A Greek life volunteer scoops macaroni into a bin on April 29 at the 251 North Diner.
Volunteers work together to sort where the food goes at the 251 North Diner on April 29.
Shaanit Sen, a Greek life volunteer from Alpha Phi Mega, scoops ribbon macaroni into a bin on April 29.
Shaanit Sen and Natalie Moir help each other scoop eggs into an aluminum bin on April 29.
The Food Recovery Network meets every night at 8:30 p.m. to recover food at the 251 North Diner. Other diners, such as the one in South Campus Commons, is typically recovered after 11:30 p.m. when it closes.
Nick Bennett, a co-recovery leader for April 29, writes down the amount (in pounds) for each bin of food they recover. They typically recover anywhere from 40-60 bins of food, or hundreds of pounds.
After recovering all the surplus food, the team cleans the tables. Recoveries can take up to an hour.
Natalie Moir, a co-recovery leader on April 29, delivers the recovered bins of food on April 29 to the outside waiting area.
Nick Bennett takes a bin of food from a volunteer outside the dining hall on April 29.
Nick Bennett loads the bins into the trunk of the recovery team's car to be delivered to the Christian Life Center.
Eric Thomas, Deborah Seymore and Frances Thomas, church volunteers at the Christian Life Center, mark the food bins according to the food inside.
Eric Thomas checks inside a food bin on April 29 at the Christian Life Center in Riverdale, Maryland. The foods range from rice and brownies to cornbread, pasta and meat.
Eric Thomas brings the cart of food bins to the refrigerators, where they will be stored until tomorrow morning.
Eric Thomas and Bernard Johnson store the food inside five refrigerators in the church on April 29.
The food is marked and stored by Eric Thomas. Organizations such as Trinity Church, Meals on Wheels, and reverends in the community will pick the food up in the morning.
The last of the food goes into the refrigerators.
Eric Thomas marks every refrigerator with the consecutive organization, each of which will pick up the food the next morning for delivery to the homeless.
