I-Rescue Lunch

I-Rescue Lunch encourages K-12 students to rescue, recycle and reduce food waste. Partnering with schools, wholesome, unopened food is donated to people in the community who are in need.

Sign Your School Up Today

How does I-Rescue
Lunch Work?

Whole uncut fruit, sealed bags of sliced fruit, prepackaged perishable & non-perishable foods, and unopened containers of milk can all be saved for an I-Rescue Lunch pick-up.
Crates will be provided for students to fill with donations, making it easy for volunteers to pick up.
Volunteers are dispatched to the school at the most convenient day and time for pick-up.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection developed voluntary guidelines for K-12 schools and higher education institutions to reduce, recover, and recycle food waste.

NJ School Food Waste Guidelines

Did You Know?

Nearly 40 pounds of food and 30 cartons of milk are wasted per student per year!
45 million gallons of milk – enough to fill 900,000 bathtubs – is wasted (in schools) each year!
Rotting food in landfills produces methane gas that is 21 times more harmful to the environment than CO2.
The Richard Russell National School Lunch Act was amended to encourage school food recovery in November of 2011.
Good faith food donations from schools receive liability protection via the federal Good Samaritan Act and the State of New Jersey.
With adherence to food safety guidelines, the USDA supports the donation of unopened, unpeeled and uneaten items from student lunch trays.

Table to Table I-Rescue Lunch volunteers.

Become a Student Ambassador

Through the Table to Table Ambassador Program, Middle and High school students serve as an ambassador to raise support for Table to Table in their school. Duties include assisting with program and volunteer outreach, and overseeing the donations.