Arkansas nonprofit launches campaign to keep food cold and families fed

Yahoo

03-06-2025

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A Little Rock-based nonprofit is taking bold steps to fight food waste and hunger at the same time.
Potluck Food Rescue, a longtime leader in salvaging surplus food from grocery stores, restaurants, and caterers, is now facing a new challenge: keeping all that food fresh in the upcoming Arkansas heat.
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Now, they're launching a new campaign, Cool-Aid: Breaking Down Barriers to Cold Storage, to call on the community for help.
'A working refrigerator or freezer may not seem like much,' said Chris Wyman, Executive Director of Potluck Food Rescue, 'but for food rescue groups across the state, it can mean the difference between feeding a family and throwing away a meal.'
In 2024, Potluck rescued more than one million pounds of edible food, transforming what would have been waste into over 800,000 meals and saving its nonprofit partners more than $2 million in food costs.
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But now, demand is higher than ever. And many of the 115 organizations Potluck partners with simply don't have enough cold storage to safely handle the volume of food being rescued.
'We have a lot of agencies that just don't have that capacity,' Wyman said. 'That's a barrier. So the whole idea of Cool-Aid is to break that barrier.'
Wyman says more than 20 new nonprofits have reached out for food assistance just in the past month. But without more refrigerators and freezers to store perishable items like produce, dairy, and meat, that food risks spoiling before it reaches the people who need it most.
'We want to help our recipient agencies to get refrigeration, to get freezers, so they can take more stuff from us,' Wyman said.
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According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Food prices are up 2.8 percent since this time last year, adding pressure on both struggling families and the organizations trying to support them.
Meanwhile, the country continues to throw away billions of pounds of edible food annually.
'We are a country of surplus,' Wyman said. 'It's not waste at that point, but it's being treated as such, and it ends up in a dumpster. Someone pays a dumpster fee, and someone else doesn't get fed.'
Through the 'Cool-Aid' campaign, Potluck is seeking donations of working refrigerators and freezers, or financial support to purchase new units, for its partners across Arkansas.
For many families facing empty pantries this summer, a cold fridge could mean a hot meal.
To learn more or contribute to the campaign, visit PotluckFoodRescue.org.
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