Seven Valleys Food Rescue opened the doors Tuesday to its storage and distribution center on Homer Avenue in Cortland to show supporters and community leaders the progress made to date.
The partially complete facility was toured by the group that included city Mayor Scott Steve. The city and the Seven Valleys Health Coalition, which operates the Food Rescue program, obtained a $200,000 state grant for food waste reduction to help fund the creation of the center.
“Sometimes it’s not the easiest thing to get all the food distributed,” said Susan Williams, assistant director of Seven Valleys Health Coalition. That’s where Seven Valleys Food Rescue’s new facility comes in.
Over the last year, the space, which is a former grocery store, has been renovated to support Food Rescue’s cold storage needs, with a walk-in cooler, and a commercial freezer and refrigerator.
Seven Valleys Food Rescue is a Seven Valleys Health Coalition affiliate that collects and redistributes edible food that would otherwise be discarded. It serves members of the community who lack adequate access to food through organizations, like soup kitchens and food pantries.
Adrianne Traub, a project coordinator of Seven Valleys Health Coalition, said Food Rescue has also been working with Cortland County jail, domestic violence shelters and child care providers to reach all community members who are in need.
Gabrielle DiDomenico, a project coordinator at the health coalition who has been working on the Food Rescue program, said local farmers are Food Rescue's main partners. This is specific to the local agricultural community, she said. Food retailers, like grocery stores, are the usual partners for food rescues, but have been challenging to partner with.
Williams said Food Rescue’s goal is to make the operation mostly volunteer run. She said the new space will make the program more autonomous, since volunteers will be able to access the facility alone due to the new locks. This in turn will make the delivery operations require less paid staff time.
DiDomenico said Food Rescue has 40 volunteers.
“It’s been really rewarding,” said Kim Allen, who has been volunteering for over a year. She said the distribution runs become a science.
Food Rescue is hosting a Community Day event on July 15 during which the public can help clean, paint, landscape and organize supplies. It invites community member to preregister: bit.ly/SVFRCD2022, call (607)756-4198, or email
gabrielle@sevenvalleyshealth.org. It plans to open the location as soon as preparations are completed.
Seven Valleys organizers joked about how, while many hands make light work, unloading 800 pounds of cabbages by hand is still quite a task, so they are excited about getting the hydraulic lift at the new location functioning.
According to a June 28 news release, it has collected almost 30,000 pounds of food that would have ended up being thrown out since it began in 2019.
DiDomenico said the program has eliminated 16,000 pounds of carbon emissions by preventing the food from being brought to a landfill. The new location will have compost bins in the back. Traub added their method for food use is to feed people, then animals and then compost.
