K-12 Food Rescue: A Food Waste Solution Podcast

In Episode 201, the Get 2 Green Team “Nature Protectors” at Columbia Elementary in Virginia, , Eleanor, Anelise,& Rowan, and their Program Coordinator,Rosemary Nevin, share their journey of working on food waste solutions in their school.

In episode 200, Mashpee high school students in Massachusetts Meri Smith, Liam Assad, and Owen Ziehl, share their experience of joining their High School Green Team and working on school food waste solutions like composting and share tables, and a few other initiatives related to sustainability issues .

In episode 199, Karena Bozarth, the sustainability manager in the Food and Nutrition Department in the Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) in Florida, and Emily Grant, the director of operations in Florida and Chicago of FoodRecovery.org, discuss their partnership that has led to over 400,000 pounds of food being rescued since 2022 in the OPCS.

In episode 198, educators Megan Perfetti and Christine Wolfski at Brashaer High School in Pittsburgh, share their journey about co-founding the school's onsite food pantry that feeds over 270 students each week with nutritious surplus food.

In Episode 197, Dr. Melissa Pflugh Prescott shares her research as an assistant professor of nutrition at Case Western Reserve University (and formerly at the Universityof Illinois). Her research focuses on sustainable food systems and public health, and she is dedicated to reducing school food waste while simultaneously improving child nutrition.

In Episode 196, David Neville, the owner of Capstone Farms in Kentucky, shares his experience as an advocate school food waste solutions through several key initiatives, as well as farm to school programs.  David was named the Global Ties U.S. 2026 Citizen Diplomat Award, and his ability to share his Farm To School experience using his unique style and story telling is a real treat. We know you will enjoy this fun episode exploring many different aspects of our food supply chain from someone on the front lines as a farmer!

In Episode 195, Marc Milton, the Director of Food Serviceat The Downey Unified School District in California,   shares his food waste solution journey that started in the restaurant industry for 9 years, and has culminated in managing the food service department in The Downey Unified School District.

In episode 194, Scott Anderson, with Phoenix Marketing, and formerly a school food service director of Madison County Schools in Richmond Kentucky, shares his extensive background implementing school food waste solutions during his career.

In episode 193, Stacy Koppen, the Nutrition Services Director at Saint Paul Public Schools in Minnesota, shares her experience reducing food waste in Saint Paul Public Schools, a district with 60 schools and 32,000 students.

For more info you can email Stacy at Stacy.koppen@spps.org

In episode 192, Shona Vitelli, a science teacher at MashpeeMS/HS in Massachusetts, shares her experience leading share table, composting, and green team initiatives at Mashpee MS/HS.

Chiara Luey, a senior at  Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, California , is a prominent youth environmental leader and the winner of the 2026 Youth Sustainability Award from Sustainable San Mateo County.

In episode 191, Chiara shares how her journey with food waste audits led to other opportunities for her to engage in environmental sustainability sustainability issues.

In episode 190, Amy Faricy, the manager of menu services for The Douglas County School District in Colorado, and Beth Church the sustainability coordinator in Douglas County School District, share their perspective on school food waste initiatives in their district, including share tables, menu planning, composting, and other sustainability efforts.

In episode 189, Jennifer Baybado, a teacher at Sacajawea Elementary in the Vancouver Public School District in the state of Washington, shares her journey working on school food waste solution initiatives.

In Episode 188, Jill Keimach, a Physical Education and STEM teacher at Dayton Consolidated Schools in Maine, shares about a significant student-led initiative to reduce school food waste.

In Episode 187, founder of Let’s Go Compost, shares her journey of establishing a nation wide composting program for schools. Let's Go Compost is a  national nonprofit located in Scottsdale AZ, focused on practical education, common-sense waste reduction, and local responsibility.

In Episode 186, Kelly Price, a Manheim Township Schools Food Service Director in Pennsylvania, shares her journey to establish share table and food rescue policies in her school district.

Episode 185 features Eleanor Chmielowicz, the Recycling Coordinator for the Brookline Department of Public Works in Brookline Massachusetts, who partners with Brookline schools with various sustainability initiatives, including food waste solutions.

Episode 184 features Alicia Howe , the faculty advisor forthe Eco Club at Memorial HS in the Eau Claire Area School District in Wisconsin, as well as  HS students Erielle, Solvieg, and Audrey, who are members if the  Eco Club, which has helped set up “no thank you”  tables and recycling initiatives in the school district.

Episode 183 features Emily Chatelain, owner of the School Food and Wellness Group, the host of The Cafeteria Confessions podcast, and founder of The 3 O’clock Project in Louisiana.

Episode 182 features Kate Lemerich, Supervisor of Secondary STEM and Co-Chair of Metuchen Public School Sustainability Committee in New Jersey, Nikki Silipino , a RegionalOperations Associate at Share My Meals, and Sarah Teti with the First Presbyterian Food Pantry in Metuchen. Working together, they carry out the meal recovery program in Metuchen Public Schools.

Episode 181 features Arianna Sun Sofia Hennessy, and Ruth Geleye, founders of Novasta Boston, a student led Food Rescue organization in Boston, Massachusetts.

Episode 180 features Siddharth Nara and Arpit Pareek, founders of Second Serving, a student led Food Rescue organization inLouden, Virginia.

Episode 179 of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast features SophiaZhang,  a senior at Millard West High School in Nebraska.  Sophia created a project called Beyond the Bite working with Kids Against Hunger and Saving Grace Perishable Food Rescue.

Episode 178 of The K-12 Food Rescue Podcast features Chef Jamie Finkelstein, who is head of the Culinary Arts Dept. at Westerly HS in Rhode Island, and is actively involved with re-purposing meals with the help of student leaders and making sure they are received by families in need in the community through their Food Rescue community fridge.

Episode 177 features Michelle Cowan, Director of Education and Community Partnerships for Clean Memphis, and Leann Edwards, who leads Project Green Fork, the food rescue program at Clean Memphis in 11 schools, soon to expand to 15.

Listen to the inspiring story of Dahlia, Scarlett, and Sonia Basmadjian, the founders of 3 sisters Food Rescue inNew York in Episode 176 of The K-12 Food Rescue Podcast.

Utah State Representative Tiara Auxier shares her experience learning about the effect of unrealistic seat times during school lunches and her experience trying to implement changes in Utah schools related to the implementation of the national school lunch program. Representative Auxier's goal is to improve student nutrition and education via the increased consumption of the healthy food students are provided each day through a common sense review of data that reveals the best practices that lead to maximum benefits for students participating in the national school lunch program.

Kathy Nguyen is the Green Star Schools Program Manager of Eco-Cycle in Boulder, Colorado. Listen to her journey providing school food waste solutions in Episode 173 of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast.

Sara Freeland is the nutrition service site manager at Sheridan High School in Sheridan Indiana. Sheridan nutrition services is involved in reducing school food waste with multiple strategies, including a refrigerator that can be accessed by students who are hungry during the day.

Enjoy Episode 172 !

Rogue Bailey started noticing the high amount of food waste at Bioscience High School, and she conducted a food waste audit with support from the staff and students at the HS, which showed 17,000 pounds of food could be prevented from entering a landfill with a few changes. Listen to her story in Episode 171 of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast.

Audrey Pak is a senior at Stargate HS in Colorado. Listen to her inspiring story about bringing share tables and composting initiatives to her high school in episode 170 of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast!

Lucie Leblois is the co-founder of The DC Food Project, a Washington DC based not for profit facilitating both share tables and in house food pantries in Washington DC schools.

Enjoy Episode 169 of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast!

Anne Rosenthal, is the Farm to School Specialist in the FoodServices Department at Baltimore City Public Schools in Baltimore Maryland.

Enjoy Episode 168 of The K-12 Food Rescue Podcast.

Kate Urbank is the site director of Food Rescue US in Washington DC.  Food Rescue US – DC has kept over 12 million pounds of healthy excess food out of landfills, redirecting it to the food insecure.  Food Rescue US - DC also works with both public and private schools to rescue food in DC schools.

Enjoy Episode 167 of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast.

Kendra Gay is a facilitator for the Rhode Island School Recycling Project, an organization that has been instrumental in engaging many schools in Rhode Island to participate in school food waste solutions.

Enjoy Episode 166

Olive Araujo and Grace Walker are students at Garvin Elementary in Rhode Island, and Michelle Carter is the principal. Garvin Elementary was recently named a "Food Smart" school by the Rhode Island Recycling Project, and in this episode, they share their journey of implementing school food waste solutions at Garvin!

Enjoy episode 165 of the K-12 Food Rescue Project.

Alex Rampton is a senior at Skyline High School in Utah, and took over leadership of "WasteBusters" in the 2025/2026 school year, which is a youth organization founded by Isabel Khachatryan the in the prior year, and focused on waste reduction in their school district.

Enjoy Episode 164 of The K-12 Food Rescue Podcast!

Kiko Bourne is an environmental education consultant with The Public Schools of The Tarrytowns in New York. Kiko developed the "Wasteless Horsemen Initiative" that is on track to reduce about 100,000 pounds of trash per school year that would have other wise ended up in an incinerator.

Enjoy episode 163 of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast!

Laura Calderon Olander is the Environmental Education Coordinator for We Don't Waste.

Julia Lennon is the is the Senior Program Manager of Education and Advocacy for Wee Don't Waste.

Listen to their journeys leading school food waste solutions in Denver Public Schools.

Season 2

Episode 162

Cat Buxton is the founder of the Upper Valley Super Composter Project in Vermont.  Please enjoy listening to her journey providing school food waste solutions in Vermont.

Lisa Feret is a state representative in Colorado. She recently co-sponsored HB25-1059, a bill that encouraged schools to participate in school food waste solutions, and strengthened legal protections for food donations in Colorado.

Diana Lara is the Executive Director of Food Finders, a Food Rescue organization in California . Food Finders has rescued 2 million pounds of school food from 2020-2025 from 120 schools in Southern California. Food Finders has rescued food from schools since at least 2016, when they were rescuing food from 30 schools at that time. Enjoy hearing about their decade long journey rescuing school food in episode 159 of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast.

Cassidy Boardman is the Nutrition Service Director and Upland Unified School District in California. Through food waste audits in their 14 schools, the district discovered what was being wasted, and implemented changes that have led to a tremendous reduction in food waste. Listen to episode 157 of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast to hear more of the story!

Representative Tyler Clancy in Utah spent 3 years working on HB100, a bill that aimed to reduce food waste in schools, increase seat time for students at lunch, and lower the cost for students participating in the National School Lunch Program. Listen to his journey in episode 158 of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast.

Listen to Peter Kellogg’s volunteer journey supporting the food share table initiative at David Fairchild Elementary.  Peter is a senior at the University of Miamistudying Ecosystem Science Policy, and has volunteered at David Fairchild Elementary, a school that has been involved with implementing share tables in partnership with the Miami Dade County Council PTA and Florida Green Schools.

https://greenu.miami.edu/eco-agency/index.html

Sabrina and Valentina Navarra share their Food Rescue journey from Elementary to High School.

High School Senior Elliot Pomper shares his journey establishing "Fruitful", an initiative focused on recovering perfectly good fruit from the trays of students that they choose not to eat for any reason and donating it to a local food pantry.

Toward Zero Waste's Megan Holler shares her journey of bringing share tables to Wake County Public Schools in North Carolina.

https://towardzerowaste.org/share-program/

https://www.wral.com/news/education/more-wake-schools-turning-wasted-food-into-snacks-for-students-june-2025/

Listen to the Peace Jam Club at Pittsfield HS in Massachusetts share their school food waste solutions in partnership with Mary Summers' Tommy's Composting.

Listen to the inspiring story of the Green Team at McKay Elementary in Beaverton Oregon, featuring Lauren Kelly, parent leader of the Green Team, and Emma Byrd, a 10 year old student member of the Green Team at McKay Elementary.