Last Mile Food Rescue
1775 Mentor Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45212
Increasing Czapacity to Close the Hungar Gap
Last Mile is seeking funding to support the strategic expansion and growth of our operations. Adding to our team, finding new food donors, and widening our reach will allow us to remain on our glidepath to increase the volume of food we rescue and the number of food insecure individuals we serve in our community. Funding will make transformational growth possible to help close the hunger gap for our most vulnerable neighbors in Greater Cincinnati. Building capacity will allow us to continue on our trajectory to rescue 5 million pounds of food and to continue to scale our model to reach more children, families, and adults in poverty.
Program Goals:
In 2023, Last Mile Food Rescue received $75,000 from the Charles H. Dater Foundation to support the strategic expansion and growth of our operations. To achieve this expansion and growth, our three main priorities were:
• Increasing our staff and, as a result, our volunteer base
• Growing the number and size of food donor sources
• Expanding geographic reach
We projected that by achieving these growth and expansion priorities, we would see an increase in pounds of food rescued from 2022 to 2023 with a goal of 3.2 million pounds rescued, which translates to an additional 2.6 million meals for those in our community living with food insecurity.
Program Results:
Thanks to this generous gift from the Charles H. Dater Foundation, we have continued to expand our operations at a steady pace. We came very close to our pounds of food rescued goal, reaching 3.19 million pounds rescued. Achieving this 3.19 million still shows incredible growth – a 35% increase from 2022.
In 2023, we added several new staff members to our team. We hired a Marketing Manager and Public Relations/Social Media Manager who are tasked with recruitment and retention of additional volunteers, as well as an additional Food Rescue Process Coordinator and an Assistant Manager for the Last Mile Mobile Market. These additions to our team have been essential to our expansion efforts and daily operations, increasing our efficiency and allowing us to ultimately rescue more food and work with more food donors.
We also saw incredible growth in our partnerships with food donors across our service area last year, increasing from 242 donor locations to 300. Kroger stores alone donated 1,062,663 pounds of food that were redistributed to those in need, and UDF stores donated 765,733 pounds of food. Last Mile distributed this rescued food to an incredible 127 nonprofit partner locations including large nonprofits, smaller church food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, schools, senior centers, and day care centers. Based on these partnerships, we know that we served fresh, nutritious food to at least 400,000 individuals and families below the poverty threshold who often don’t know where they will get their next meal or need safety net support temporarily.
Website:
http://www.lastmilefood.org Amount: $75,000
Date: May 2023
