Faces
t wasn’t the day for food distribution at the after-school program in Phoenix, so a mother picking up her child was shocked to find that a fresh supply of healthy food
was arriving, thanks to Flash Food Recovery. Through tears, the woman said she only had a half- gallon of milk at home and hadn’t known what she was going to do, recalled Loni Lehnhardt, co-founder and director of operations for Flash Food Recovery. “That’s when we realized we were really doing something,” said Loni, who started the program with her husband Eric while they attended Arizona State University. “It’s not a perma- nent solution, but it’s a stopgap. It can make a difference.” Flash Food Recovery originated from the university’s Engineering Projects in Community Service program, which has students from different disciplines address social issues using technology. The Lehnhardts, members of University Lutheran
Loni and Eric Lehnhardt (shown in Wittenberg, Germany) use flash mob technology to feed the food insecure.
Church, Tempe, Ariz., wanted to help those living with food insecurity. “We decided to take the technology used in flash mobs and apply that to food delivery situations,” Eric said. “That’s how we also got the name Flash Food Recovery.” Flash mobs bring together disparate people to one place using group texting, usually to participate in an event. With Flash Food Recovery, restaurants, grocery stores and cater- ers use a mobile application to contact the program’s volun- teers—the Flash Foodies—about perishable food they have. The foodies contact families about where and when the food will arrive, and then deliver it to participating centers. While food banks and similar organizations are adept
at collecting and distributing canned and dry goods, they aren’t as able to deal with food that spoils. Proper handling of perishables has been one of the biggest challenges, Eric said, which includes storage containers and knowing how long food can last before it’s no longer safe. It took a year of trial and error testing—and courting
f o od pa r t ners— before the program was ready to launch. “Right now we move a couple of hundred meals a week,” Eric said. “We are work- ing on growing, and we currently have two businesses that are supporting us.” Eric, an engineer,
spends part of his nonwork time trying to help spread the program beyond Phoenix. In 2010 the U.S. Agriculture Department reported that 1
in 6 Americans live in households that are food insecure. Eric thinks that number could be higher. “People know we waste a lot of food, and people who have extra food hate that the food is being thrown away,” he said. “They wish there was some- thing they could do with it.” Wi th Fla sh Fo od
Recovery, now there’s a place besides the gar- bage can.
For more information visit flashfoodrecovery. com.
Author bio: Favre is an assis- tant professor at Pierce College in Los Angeles and a freelance theater critic.
By Jeff Favre
Food in a flash serves basic need in AZ I
100 + birthdays
105: Mary Maresh, St. John, Deanville, Texas. 102: Agnes Boraas, Lac qui Parle, Dawson, Minn.; Iona Knoll, St. John of Cedar Brook, Aitkin, Minn.; Ruth McVay, Christ Rupp, Kittanning, Pa.; Dorothy Olsen, First, Torrance, Calif.; Hedvig Olsen, Christ, Whiting, N.J. 101: Miranda Kalke, St. Paul, Monona, Iowa; Albert Muller, First, Torrance, Calif.; Helen Williams, Christ, Whiting, N.J. 100: Marjorie Fassig, St. John, Mendota, Ill.; Selma Hanson, Woodlake, Rich- field, Minn.; Marie Henriksen, Trinity, Topeka, Kan.; Violet Kellerman, St. John of Cedar Brook, Aitkin, Minn.; Violet Mickelson, Emmanuel, Cheney, Wash.; Dorothy Miller, Immanuel, Absa- rokee, Mont.; Ida Odegaard, Trinity, Detroit Lakes, Minn.; Evelyn Price, Our Redeemer, Garden Grove, Calif.; Leonard Schneider, Our Shepherd, Severna Park, Md.; Caroline Trostel, Christ, Whiting, N.J.; Edith Walter, Redeemer, Bryant, Ind.; Emma Wenzel, Nativity, Austell, Ga.
April 2014 43
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