FEEDING the HUNGRY

by Dave Eckert

On any given day, there are literally thousands of people throughout the Kansas City metro experiencing food insecurity. They may or may not get a meal, and even if they do, they aren’t sure when or where their next meal will come from. There are a number of organizations helping feed these people. I personally work with Free Hot Soup’s group operating out of the kitchen at All Souls Unitarian Church across the street from The Kemper Museum of Fine Art. There, dedicated volunteers work tirelessly to provide three picnic-style meals served to people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity every week. I donate food for these picnics whenever and however I can. Recently, I learned of another group focusing on hunger in the metro-Pete’s Garden. My good friend and fellow foodie and journalist, John Martellaro, volunteers for Pete’s Garden with his wife, Karen. I told John I wanted to learn more and help spread the word of their efforts. He put me in touch with the group’s founder and executive director, Tamara Weber.

“The idea to start Pete’s Garden began in 2019 with my daughter’s school project.  She was learning about food waste and we watched the documentary Wasted with her 8th grade friends.  I was shocked at the stats: In the U.S., 31% of our food supply goes unsold or uneaten and only a very small portion of good-to-eat surplus food gets donated.

This issue really hit home with me because I grew up in a household where nothing was wasted, especially not food and especially not the vegetables my dad Pete loved to grow in his garden. Family dinners almost always included something he had grown. And since there was always more than we needed, Dad regularly sent me off with bags of fresh vegetables for our neighbors.  The more I learned about food waste in Kansas City, the more obvious the need, and the opportunity, became.   Although there were some efforts to recover and redirect perishable foods, tens of thousands of pounds were still being wasted.   I felt that someone needed to step up to address the issue and after some thoughtful consideration and soul-searching, I decided that the “someone” was me.  I had been working in New Business Development for Hallmark and I believed that I could put my business development and management skills to work, helping to solve the food waste problem for my community.   I decided to call the organization “Pete’s Garden” as tribute to my dad.,” Weber shared.

Weber says she started Pete’s Garden in January of 2020. That was just before COVID forced restaurants and food service businesses to close or drastically cut back on operations. “During COVID, we were able to provide meals for the families we serve by working with food wholesalers to donate ingredients and local restaurants to prepare meals. Once COVID restrictions were lifted, we started rapidly scaling up food recovery operations.  My original goal back in 2019 was to recover 50,000 pounds of prepared food annually.    In 2025, we expect to recover and redirect over 200,000 pounds of prepared foods, enough for about 160,000 take home meals.   We’ve grown far beyond anything I had imagined five years ago,” Weber said.

One of the primary areas of growth for Pete’s Garden has been in area schools. What began with culinary students in local culinary arts programs preparing meals for families during Covid, has grown into a  primary source of meals for hundreds of families. “I called the program Kids Feeding Kids to differentiate it from our food recovery program and I thought it would just be a stop gap measure during COVID.  But the schools that participated really enjoyed it and wanted to keep doing it even after COVID. With support from 15 and the Mahomies Foundation and the WellSky Foundation, we have been able to grow KFKids from a handful of pilot schools in 2021 to over 30 schools across Kansas and Missouri this school year.  We provide high school Culinary Arts and Family & Consumer Science teachers with a standards-based curriculum that focuses on increasing food access, reducing food insecurity, and raising awareness around the social and environmental impacts of food waste. We also provide all the ingredients and supplies necessary for students to create up to 1000 healthy meals for food-insecure families in their school district.  KFKIds builds on the overall mission of Pete’s Garden not only by providing free family meals but also by teaching the next generation of chefs, and home cooks, the importance of reducing food waste,” Weber told me.

I asked Weber for some numbers. What she provided was both amazing and alarming. Amazing that Pete’s Garden accomplishes so much, and alarming that with all that’s being done, there is always more to do! “We expect to recover and redirect over 200,000 pounds of prepared foods in 2025, enough for about 160,000 take home meals. We estimate that over 700 families take home a complete family dinner at least once per week. We believe there’s an opportunity to continue to increase the amount of good food we recover as more food businesses learn that Pete’s Garden offers a safe and easy way to donate their surplus food.  I’m thrilled that we will be able to serve many more families as we grow.

With KFKids, we are reaching over 2000 students who have prepared and distributed over 20,000 meals this school year,” Weber stated.

I  asked  Weber how folks could learn more or personally get involved. “People can check out our website, www.petesgarden.org, to volunteer and to learn more about our programs. They can follow our progress and see updates on our social media:@petesgardenkc and @kckidsfeedingkids.  And they can donate to help cover costs for supplies and other program expenses,” Weber shared.

I’m thrilled to have had the chance to visit with Tamara Weber and learn more about Pete’s Garden. I hope you enjoyed learning about them, too