How One Seed Blossomed Into A Food Recovery Success Story
Joint Venture's mission is to foster proactive solutions to issues that challenge the quality of life in Silicon Valley. With its Food Recovery Initiative, Join Venture has tackled a problem faced by far too many in this affluent area: hunger. It is estimated that one-third of the food produced in America is wasted before reaching a human mouth, with significant environmental, social, and economic implications. While Silicon Valley students ages 5-17 depend on the free or reduced-price meals they receive through their schools. This dilemma inspired the Joint Venture leadership to act.
In 2016, Join Venture partnered with Santa Clara County on a plan to connect university and corporate campuses and their abundant, excess food with people who are food insecure. From its inception, the project followed the Joint Venture practice of engaging leaders from across the community, including nonprofits specializing in feeding the hungry, government agencies, and zero-waste professionals. Critical to the effort were board members Eric Houser and John A. Sobrato, and Nancy Fishman whose work on food issues in Detroit inspired our action.