While volunteering at a local food pantry, Isabelle Lambotte and some of her friends were deeply moved by the daunting challenges they saw so many of their neighbors facing because they did not have enough money to prepare nutritious meals for their families.
Meanwhile, they could not help but notice that so many restaurants, cafeterias and food stores had surplus food that was not being used.
Putting those two disparate conditions together, four years ago, just before the pandemic hit, Isabelle and her friends created a solution that became known as Share My Meals – with the vision of helping to create a world where everyone has access to healthy food and no food goes to waste.
Partnering with corporate cafeterias, university eating clubs, school cafeterias, farms, restaurants and other businesses, Isabelle and her friends attracted volunteers to pick up healthy meals and deliver them to nonprofit organizations helping people experiencing homelessness, as well as directly to families in need, including families who were struggling, in crisis, and elderly.
In October of 2022, Share My Meals partnered with The Mission, providing, on average, 300 meals a week of chicken, beef, vegetables, pasta, rice, potatoes and baked goods.
Hélène Lanctuit, CEO of Share My Meals, used to work at Nestle in Switzerland, where her expertise was in research and development, helping to reduce food and plastic waste. “What drew me to Share My Meals,” she said, “is the potential of recovering every meal that is available to share with someone who needs it. By scaling what we are doing, we can have an even more significant impact.”
In France, where she is from, Hélène said, “It is forbidden for food suppliers to throw out food. It must be donated. That is just one example of how changing a law could help create awareness, and help so many more people.” She added that the Board of Share My Meals is seeking to create a coalition of like-minded individuals and organizations “to focus on expanding our collective thinking about how, together, we can eliminate hunger through food recovery.”
Hélène added, “We estimate there are over five million surplus meals each year in New Jersey alone. Can you imagine the difference we can make together if food recovery becomes the norm?”
Meanwhile, The Mission’s Chef Dave Jawidzik said, “We are extremely grateful to receive these nutritionally balanced meals that are helping to feed so many people in need.”
