Bridging the Gap Between Hunger
& Food Waste in Oklahoma
Q .Where does Oklahoma rank in hunger and food waste?
A . Oklahoma ranks 4th in the nation for food insecurities, yet we are 6th in the nation for restaurant food waste .
Q. How many people suffer in Oklahoma from food insecurities?
A. With a population of approx. 500,000 in OKC, 22% of families suffer from food insecurities. This equals about 100,000 people going hungry every day, just in our city.
Q. What are some the diff. ranges of food insecurities?
A. Of the 22% of food insecure people, about 30% of the people do not get adequate nutrition balanced meal , and about 69.9% do not receive enough nutrients to sustain an average healthy lifestyle, such as fighting off basic colds, disease, or infections, or sustain the energy needed to stay focused in school or work. About 1 ten thousandths of 1% of these food insecurities are fatal- about 46 people die as a result of malnutrition, just in OKC, and 75% of those deaths are under the age of 12.
Q. How many restaurants are in the state of Oklahoma, and how much edible food is thrown out daily?
A. There is roughly 9500 restaurants in Oklahoma. Roughly 30lbs of hot foods per restaurant per day, about 100 lbs. breads/pastries per restaurant /day . If we were to collect from only 28% of those restaurants in the metro area we could collect over 90,000 lbs. of food per day
Q. How much would it cost our state if we were to purchase 3 square meals for each person that goes hungry in OKC?
A. The average meal for breakfast lunch and dinner is approx. $6.25/meal =”s about $20/person each day. There are about 100,000 hungry people in Okc, this would cost OKC about $70 million /month.
Q. How much does it cost the Needs Foundation to deliver food to needy Oklahomans ?
A.It costs the Needs foundation less than $.09 cents per lb. of food . This is calculated by dividing the total amount of food collected daily by the total amount of overhead costs daily.
Q. What are some environmental and cultural consequences of food waste in Oklahoma?
A. $100 billion dollars is spent each year transporting perishable food to landfills.
The second leading item filling our landfills is organic food. When the food begins to rot, decompose and ferment, it lets off methane gas, which is 21 rimes more toxic than carbon monoxide.
Food insecurity is a leading cause of illness; Over $200 billion dollars in medical cost is spent annually on this issue.
Q. Why was the HB14-18 Anti-Hunger Act so important?
A. It encouraged companies to donate their food surplus without the issue of their good deed being superseded by liability. In turn, this would allow us to collect a substantially larger amount of food.
Q. Logistically, how does The Needs Foundation deliver this food?
A. We find grocers, restaurants, and other food distributors that would have moderate to high amounts of food surplus daily or weekly. The distribution destination will usually be within a close proximity to the food donor. We load and transport the food in our temperature controlled trucks, and enforce strict health procedures, and ensure that the distribution facility does so as well.
Q. How will we be able to prevent cross contamination?
A. Each employee and volunteer will have the proper training for handling of all types of food. The food will be sealed and packaged under strict guidelines according to health codes.
Q. How will we alert people of allergens?
A. All food will have an allergen ingredient notice attached to all food packaging provided by the restaurants/Food vendors.
Our Operation Relies
Solely on Donations
2014 Needs Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Needs Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization.
