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42 million people go hungry every day in the United States and 1/6 of them are children. Unfortunately, 35 percent of the food we produce goes to waste. America is supposedly the wealthiest country in the world, so how is this happening?
Adam Lowy founded Move For Hunger, an organization that emerged to address food insecurity in the US. Learn more about this organization and what you can do to make a difference in your community in this episode of Motivational Mondays.
that moment adam realized he could address hunger
Adam was working for his parent’s moving company when he noticed that when people move, they leave behind perfectly good non-perishable food. Move For Hunger started as a way to solve this issue. In the first month, Adam collected 300 pounds of food but he learned that there were more than 100,000 people in his county that didn’t have enough to eat. So, he did more.
Adam never would’ve imagined that he’d end up running a nonprofit. As he dove into the industry, he realized that nonprofits are about problem-solving. And the best way to solve problems is to leverage resources that already exist. The moving industry has warehouses, trucks, and drivers. Why not put it to work? Today, Move For Hunger consists of 11,000 movers across the US and Canada who recover food as part of their operations.
how move for hunger works
Logistics are challenging but Move For Hunger strives to keep things simple. They created materials that could market and educate customers about how to participate. The movers take any food that’s donated to their warehouse and once a month, they bring it to their local food bank.
They recently started fresh food recovery, working with big farms and distributors. To do this, they need refrigerated trucks, cold storage, cold blankets, etc. Adam is always seeking to answer a simple question: What are the logistics of getting food to the people that need it most?
what adam learned by launching a nonprofit
Adam reached out to a big company and asked them to donate $100,000 without doing any research and they turned him down. He emphasizes that you have to research before you ask someone for money. They may already be contributing to another organization. More importantly, you may find that money wasn’t what should have been asked for in the first place.
The President of the company he initially asked ended up joining their board of advisors and donated $10,000. Then, he introduced Adam to everyone in the industry. Those introductions were more valuable than any amount of money he could've given. He gave them credibility.
How is Adam working to get companies to care about eradicating hunger? The first step is getting people to care. Learn how you can begin to make a difference in this episode of Motivational Mondays.
Listen to this episode to learn about...
- [1:20] How food insecurity happens in America
- [2:57] The moment Adam realized he could address hunger in the US
- [5:52] The logistics of the Move For Hunger process works
- [8:14] Any liability for the companies who choose to get involved
- [11:54] How Adam overcame the obstacles he faced with Move For Hunger
- [16:12] How education is the key to escaping the cycle of poverty
Listen to the bonus episode to learn why Adam is so grateful for his team and more about Adam’s mission to educate the public about food insecurity.
Resources:
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Follow Move for Hunger on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook
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Learn more about the organization at moveforhunger.org
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Check out other Motivational Mondays episodes
