'A win-win': Food Drop program goes statewide, gives truckers alternatives to dumping rejected food

What happens when produce is rejected?

Some apples are too small. Some romaine lettuce leaves have a less-than-ideal curvature. Some retailers place duplicate orders.

For truck drivers, minutes stopped means money lost. When a grocer or distributor rejects loads of produce, drivers have few options and often will elect to dump that food at a landfill.

Now, that rejected produce is feeding Indiana families.

After a six-month pilot program in Indianapolis last year yielded around 87,000 pounds of food, Food Drop is being expanded across the state, connecting truck drivers with resources and participating banks that can unload a semi truck at any hour.

The Indy Hunger Network, in partnership with the Indiana Motor Truck Association, Merchandise Warehouse, Sysco and nine participating agencies, are working to ensure that at least some of that food can help alleviate food insecurity in Indiana.

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One in seven Hoosiers is food insecure, including almost 300,000 children who don’t know where their next meal is coming from, according to Feeding America.

Food Drop program for truckers donating store-rejected food to expand Indy hunger Network's Food Drop program for truckers donating store-rejected food to expand, Tuesday Oct. 23, 2018.

Midwest Food Bank works with a network of pantries across 72 counties in Indiana, providing food aid to more than 90,000 people. John Whitaker, Midwest Food Bank’s executive director, visits each of those pantries as they join the program.

“It really just worked on my heart to see people in need all over our community,” he said. “They couldn’t get the basic necessities of life.”

Once he realized there were no programs working with the trucking industry to redirect entirely edible, rejected food, he saw a way to help the drivers help Hoosiers.

On any given day, 1 million trucks will pass through the state, said Barb Hunt, vice president of the Indiana Motor Truck Association.

“Unfortunately, for a truck driver, he or she only gets paid while they’re moving, in most cases,” she said. “So when that driver is sitting on a rejected load, it’s time and money.”

While a driver’s first inclination is not to call the dump – they’ll often try to find a place to donate the food, she said – hours of operation and storage restrictions often make it difficult to make the arrangement in a timely manner.

Now, they can drop that freight at any of the nine participating locations or at Merchandise Warehouse or Sysco in Indianapolis, and the food will be distributed to a network of pantries across the state.

“Everything you need is right at one location,” Whitaker said. “They can come in and within 20 minutes have their truck unloaded with a receipt of donation and on the road to their next delivery.”

Accepting the large deliveries comes at a low cost for the participating agencies — $100 from each and whatever extra costs are associated with staffing and operating after hours. Beyond its initial $10,000 investment, Indy Hunger Network continues to support the program's marketing and operational needs.

Plus, donating rejected freight allows food distributors to avoid landfill fees and includes a tax deduction for the donated goods.

Food Drop is something everyone can get behind, Hunt said.

"It's literally a win-win," she said.

In the Midwest Food Bank warehouse Tuesday morning, volunteers sorted through boxes of mixed pastries and loaves of bread, stacked pallets of bananas and divvied out white button mushrooms and green onions.

Food Drop started with a six-month trial and a $10,000 investment. Whitaker hopes the program continues to grow.

“We hope that we can go through the state and then take this whole program to other states,” Whitaker said, “And then hopefully, one day, it’ll become a national program.”

Participating agencies

Community Harvest Food Bank, Fort Wayne

Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Bloomington

Food Finders Food Bank, Lafayette

Second Harvest Food Bank, Muncie

Tri-State Food Bank, Evansville

Midwest Food Bank, Indianapolis

Second Helpings, Indianapolis

Gleaners Food Bank, Indianapolis

St. Vincent de Paul, Indianapolis

Learn more

To learn more about the program and to contact participating agencies, visit fooddropin.org.

Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at 317-444-6156. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.