Three non-profits in the San Gabriel Valley will serve as food recovery hubs for a program aimed at keeping extra food from restaurants and grocery stores out of landfills.
Food Recovery for Equity, Sustainability, and Health, or FRESH SGV, was launched in 2021 by the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments.
Tim Hepburn, mayor of La Verne and president of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, told KNX News’ Margaret Carrero that FRESH SGV is one of the largest regional food recovery programs in the state due to the number of cities and non-profit organizations it’s brought together to streamline the collection and redistribution edible food.
“Basically the goal of maximizing edible food recovery benefit[s] food insecure residents and enhance[s] public health in the San Gabriel Valley and creating sustainable communities by basically keeping it out of the landfills,” he said.
The non-profits distributing the food are Heart of Compassion in Montebello, Foothill Unity Center in Monrovia, and God’s Pantry in Pomona. He added that the hubs have been able to distribute the food using grant money given to the program.
Hepburn said that since the program launched nearly 300,000 people have been fed.
“It's going to expand because as cities jump on with the recovery program, it's going to even increase and hopefully we get some more hubs that will be able to distribute [food],” he said.
For more information on the program, click here.
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