Leftover trip food

[Beau G. Larkin]

Just wanted to put an idea out there. Our guide house for the Rogue operation is in Selma, OR, and there is very little of a town here. Rural and generally poor. We don't have too many guides, so leftover food (loaves of bread, breakfast cereal, mustard, crackers, cookies, apples and oranges, you know...) usually gets thrown away as we can't roll most of it onto the next trip. I contacted the woman who runs the local farmers market here in town, and as it turns out she knows some locals that are in need of food. So after every trip, we give her the extras that we don't want and she distributes them. It isn't a big deal, but it is better than the garbage!

I'm sure there are hungry people in all the communities we live in and near during guide season. If you can find someone that is knowledgable about local folks in need, this approach might work for you.

Anyone else out there have a good way to deal with trip leftovers? Please share, as I would like to be better about avoiding waste and supporting the communities we encounter in our work. Cheers and thanks.

[William Volpert]

Good idea Beau... A lot of organizations won't take food donations if the stuff has already been opened. For instance, there are 20 jars of peanut butter in the fridge that can't be given away to these orgs because the lids have been popped. Mustard, mayo - same scenario. Meats and cheeses especially. It would be nice to find a contact like the one you have so that we didn't have to throw all this stuff out... which is what we do now.

[Beau G. Larkin]

Yeah, this is pretty informal so a loaf of bread with 2 slices missing is acceptable. It's worked out well. Hey, see you next week!