Table to Table

Fresh, healthy food provides much more than just sustenance. Access to nutritious food improves overall health, increases positive medical outcomes of those who are ill, supports stronger academic performance for children and enables families to use more of their resources for other critical needs like rent or medicine. Yet the American food system is awash with inefficiency and inequity, with a high percentage of the food processed and shipped to our supermarkets, restaurants, and homes ending up going to waste.

Table to Table was created to change this system. Founded in 1999, Table to Table has saved over 109,000 tons of food from landfills, delivered enough food for over 311,229,000 million meals and helped feed hundreds of thousands of NJ families.

Since 2011, The Healthcare Foundation of NJ has been a key supporter of Table to Table’s work in the greater Newark area, providing 14 grants between 2011-2024 totaling more than half a million dollars.

Table to Table receives food donations from over 250 sources in our area, including supermarkets and restaurant wholesalers. The food is then distributed to individuals and families in need, through schools, senior centers, and community-based organizations.

During HFNJ’s latest grant with Table to Table in 2023, the organization delivered 162,200 pounds of food to Belmont Runyan School, 233,250 pounds to George Washington Carver School; 159,063 pounds to Luis Martin Munoz School, 287,770 pounds to Central High School, and 172,628 pounds to First Ave. School. Table to Table delivered 197,986 pounds to Ironbound Community Corporation, and 65,000 pounds to ELC. Four senior centers received an aggregate of about 25,000 pounds, and local colleges received an aggregate 13,000 pounds.

Table to Table is utilizing state-of-the-art technology to adapt to giving patterns. Table to Table found that their largest donors were donating less in recent years, while small-to-medium donors were closing the gap. The organization created and launched the I-Rescue app which makes it easier for donors like restaurants to alert the organization when a car-sized donation is available for pick-up – saving more food from going to waste and getting it into the eager mouths and stomachs of those in need of a nutritious meal. And this means more healthier people in our community.

Credit: The Healthcare Foundation of NJ