November 12, 2025 – Saddle Brook, NJ – Table to Table, New Jersey’s first and largest food rescue organization, and the Bloomfield School District have joined forces to reduce food waste and feed those in need with the first ever district-wide food rescue partnership. As part of the collaboration, nourishing surplus meals and snacks from 10 school cafeterias are being rescued weekly by volunteers, and delivered to local community pantries through Table to Table’s I-Rescue App. To volunteer in picking up surplus food from the Bloomfield Schools and delivering it to local pantries, learn more here.
“Nearly 3 billion pounds of food is wasted annually in New Jersey while almost 1.1 million people in our state, including 270,000 children, face hunger. Table to Table offers a solution that keeps good, nourishing food out of landfills, and ensures it reaches the dinner tables of families, senior citizens, and other folks facing food insecurity,” said Heather Thompson, Executive Director, Table to Table. “We work with food businesses of all types and sizes, but it’s especially inspiring to see our schools and students stepping up to help in this way, especially as a Bloomfield resident and Franklin School parent myself. Through our collaboration with the District, we’ve already rescued enough food for over 7,000 meals since our launch last month – and those meals and snacks go right to our neighbors in need,” Thompson concluded.
The participating Bloomfield Schools include Berkeley School; Bloomfield High School; Bloomfield Middle School; Brookdale School; Carteret School; Demarest School; Fairview School; Franklin School; Oak View School, and Watsessing School.
“It is with great pride that the efforts of our Bloomfield Schools–in partnership with Table to Table–will not only help our local communities but also our planet,” said Salvatore Goncalves, Bloomfield Superintendent of Schools. “To be the first school in the district to accomplish this feat demonstrates true leadership,” Goncalves concluded.
The Franklin School has leveraged this partnership with a comprehensive calendar of student engagement, focusing on food waste reduction and food insecurity literacy, including a lunchtime cafeteria ‘audit’ to better understand food waste in the school and beyond, a food drive to collect fresh produce for the community, and a series of interactive learning centers focused on educating and empowering students about food insecurity and reducing food waste. Additional plans for next year are being finalized.
“I am incredibly proud of our Franklin School students, community, and faculty, especially our Kindergarten teachers, Michele Topolski and Janelle Acosta, who are the driving force behind our commitment to reducing food waste,” said Ms. Marianne Abbasso, Principal, Franklin Elementary School. “The positive impact that this partnership and the classroom activities will have on our community certainly reinforces the adage, that “all you really need to know… you learned in kindergarten,” concluded Principal Abbasso.
Table to Table is New Jersey’s first and largest food rescue nonprofit, bridging the gap between food being wasted and people facing food insecurity. We bring rescued fresh, nutritious food to over 300 community partners, including social service organizations, pantries, shelters, fresh produce markets and centralized distribution hubs. Food is provided free of charge. Through this, Table to Table touches a diversity of those in need, including families, children, veterans, and older adults, making good nutrition accessible while serving as a stimulus for other longer-term benefits. Since 1999 we have rescued more than 120,700 tons of nutritious food—enough for 241,400,846 million meals—and delivered it to our neighbors in need, saving over 544 metric tons of methane from impacting the environment.
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