For All’s Mission and Purpose
The mission of For All is to reduce and bring awareness to individual and societal waste, distribute and share resources, and create positive ripple effects that strengthen communities and benefit us all collectively. Since 2012, our nonprofit 501c3 organization has enacted this mission in Greater Seattle through programs that serve and engage communities in a unique and holistic way. Though our mission is not food exclusive, we have primarily used our organizational talents and resources to specialize in preventing food and its packaging from going to landfills through surplus food recovery, grocery and meal distribution, health and nutrition programs for kids and adults, and uplifting activities for all ages.
We Recover and Redistribute Resources to Reduce Waste and Uplift the Community
For All recovers and redistributes surplus food (and its packaging) from grocery stores and retailers that would have otherwise been thrown away and shipped to landfills on a nearly daily basis, including holidays, through our Food Recovery Program.
- This food becomes from-scratch meals shared with kids and teens when school is out for free through the Meals for Kids and Art in the Park programs.
- This food becomes dietary Vegan, Halal, Kosher waste-less burritos packaged in compostable wrappers shared freely through the Free Burrito Project.
- This food is distributed to the public as free groceries through the Really (Really) Free Markets and Community Resource Centers.
- This food is assembled into Community Boxes and delivered to high-need residential buildings through our For All Service and Delivery Program as a mobile food bank, and offered to local Buy Nothing Groups and neighbors.
THE DETAILS
Food Recovery and Distribution Process
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Step 1: Reclamation
Partner with food retailers to recover edible food that would otherwise be thrown away to keep viable resources out of landfills. |
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Step 2: Team Assembly
Collaborate with volunteers to sort and assemble reclaimed food into healthy meals, burritos, and groceries for our programs. |
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Step 3: Follow Through
Deliver food and share resources with kids, families, and adults throughout our community. |
The Truth About Grocery Store “Donations"
We live in a society that operates on surplus, which necessitates overproduction, overstock, over purchasing and inevitably, waste. It is fortunate that cities like Seattle have developed a culture in which grocery retailers allow organizations to recover their surplus food waste rather than throw it in a dumpster. However, the organizations that recover and redistribute food donations (aka grocery store waste) to the public for free are not directly compensated by the stores themselves for processing their overstock. In fact, stores benefit from donation tax credits. While a grocery store will factor in waste removal or trash and (hopefully) recycle and compost into their annual budgets, they are not obliged to compensate organizations small or large for handling their surplus food. This leaves charitable and community organizations who recover grocery store surplus, like For All and many others, to bear the financial burden of operational costs to safely handle and redistribute food for free without the financial support of the companies that produce and perpetuate the waste in the first place.
For All relies on volunteers and community supporters whose values align with our mission to show support through financial investment in our organization. A monthly financial pledge of support to For All helps to offset your carbon footprint and supports For All’s operational costs including vehicle maintenance, insurance, volunteer management, and facility rental.
For All relies on volunteers and community supporters whose values align with our mission to show support through financial investment in our organization. A monthly financial pledge of support to For All helps to offset your carbon footprint and supports For All’s operational costs including vehicle maintenance, insurance, volunteer management, and facility rental.
The majority of nonprofit and community based organizations have limited financial and material resources, and often feel obligated to do their charity work in the cheapest way possible. We believe that this is why groups wanting to share food and alleviate hunger make choices that ultimately create more waste and inadvertently put upward pressure on society’s resources, pushing more people into poverty and continuing the cycle. When charitable organizations serve nutrient deficient foods packaged in single use plastic containers and packages to resource lacking individuals, they are in actuality adversely affecting the health of those individuals served as well as creating more plastic trash and waste with every meal. The reality is that the plastic fork used to serve one meal to one person was likely manufactured in a country overseas with questionable labor practices and shipped around the globe only to be used once and thrown away, all in the name of charity, affordability, and convenience. When meal programs can only afford to purchase commercially farmed animal products such as meat, cheese, and milk to serve as a part of a free meal to a resource lacking person, their purchase is contributing to an industry that perpetuates environmental waste, cruelty, and nutrient deficiency, though their work is done with charitable intentions.
In this way, For All distinguishes itself from charity organizations like the traditional food bank and meal program. The lens through which we view our actions is centered around reducing waste wherever possible, redirecting and redistributing resources, and uplifting communities in the process. For All is not a numbers game, i.e. our goal is not to serve whatever food we can get our hands on to as many “hungry” or “needy” people as possible. (Side note: we all experience hunger and we all have needs, don’t we?). Our goal is to create and operate programs that recover and redirect resources in a holistic manner and by a standard of efficiency, quality, and equity for all beings.
In this way, For All distinguishes itself from charity organizations like the traditional food bank and meal program. The lens through which we view our actions is centered around reducing waste wherever possible, redirecting and redistributing resources, and uplifting communities in the process. For All is not a numbers game, i.e. our goal is not to serve whatever food we can get our hands on to as many “hungry” or “needy” people as possible. (Side note: we all experience hunger and we all have needs, don’t we?). Our goal is to create and operate programs that recover and redirect resources in a holistic manner and by a standard of efficiency, quality, and equity for all beings.
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