Food insecurity is on the rise. The USDA Economic Research Service found that at-home food prices increased 3.5% in 2021 and another 11.4% in 2022.

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At the same time, America wastes huge amounts of food. According to Feeding America, 38% of food in America is trashed. On average, 149 billion meals get thrown away every year.

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Part of our parent organization's mission is to help increase regional food security and decrease food waste. The key to doing so is understanding the community's resources and struggles. For example, local food pantries often receive generous donations of produce and meat. However, there are certain crops that food bank clients are not likely to consume without additional processing, such as winter squashes, sweet potatoes, cabbage, and venison. This is especially true for clients with limited cooking equipment. 

CFEC's kitchen is ideally situated to help.

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With commercial-grade food processing, we can quickly and efficiently turn 1,000 lbs of produce into delicious, nutritious, ready-to-serve meals.

Since opening in September of 2023, we have processed over 6,000 lbs of rescued food through our Feeding 500 program into over 10,000 servings of healthy food for our community. Our Stone Soup Job Skills Training Program participants and additional volunteers led these cooking events, making over the goal of 500 servings each time.

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As we continue to grow, we hope to turn these events into Feeding 5000 and combine them with our job training programs to expand the skills of the local workforce while giving back to the community.