Hole Food Rescue Is Giving Back

September 1, 2015/Mollie Flaherty/

Hole Food Rescue is taking Jackson by storm since becoming a stand-alone nonprofit in April. Previously it had been run under the Jackson Hole Cupboard, but under the leadership of Executive Director Ali Dunford, Hole Food Rescue is working hard to bring rescued food to at risk families in Teton County.
hfrHole Food Rescue has recently launched a new program they are hoping to grow throughout the year. Just Food JH is a three goal plan to help rescue food here in Jackson and get it into the hands of people who need it. To clear up any confusion, rescued food does not mean that the food is kitchen scraps. For example, rescued food includes produce that grocery stores might not have sold. The three goals for the Just Food JH plan include creating food justice, reducing waste, and providing access to nutritional food. This 2-year-long plan has two parts to it, including expanding the network to serve as many people in Teton County that need help to accessing food and an extensive research plan to find out where there is high food waste, what can be rescued, and what is edible from the waste.

Hole Food Rescue has also partnered up with Mary Ryan, owner of Beyond Broccoli, to help provide nutritional information to families needing help accessing food. Along with Hole Food Rescue, Ryan, has also teamed up with Climb Wyoming and CES to bring rescued food nutritional classes to these programs. These classes showcase how to make easy and healthy meals, how to make lifestyle changes to reduce waste, and educate people who work with people seeking food assistance.

volunteersCurrently the Hole Food Rescue is getting a majority of their rescued food from local grocery stores including Jackson Whole Grocer, Lucky’s, Albertson’s and the local farmers markets. If you think your restaurant would be a good fit for donating local food to the Just Food JH program, contact Dunford for more information. Hole Food Rescue will provide the different businesses with the tools to do a self analysis to see if they would be a good fit for the program. Hole Food Rescue is also always looking for volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering with this non-profit visit this site to fill out an application form.

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Mollie Flaherty

Mollie is a native Cape Codder who learned at an early age how to put a lobster to sleep, harvest cranberries, and dig for clams. After high school she followed her sense of adventure out west to the University of Wyoming where she graduated with marketing and communication degrees. She found herself making roots in Jackson, her fiance’s hometown, and using her sales skills combined with her love of anything delicious to join the Dishing sales team. She loves baking from scratch, large glasses of red wine, and hiking with her heeler, Newton. She’ll try anything, but remains a stuck up Cape Codder when it comes to seafood. If she didn’t catch it or see it come off the boat, don’t even try tempting her.