What We Do
We’re dedicated to the well-being of our planet and its people by optimizing food surplus usage instead of wasteful disposal. If we divert 50% of surplus food in Summit County, each year we could save 35 million gallons of water and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 478 tons; that’s equivalent to removing 103 cars from the road for a year.
Our Mission
To Serve, Partner, and Engage the community to make the best use of food surplus to improve Food Equity and the Health of People and the Planet.
Our History
CAFE Food rescue began because of the abundance of wasted food and the recent increase in food insecurity in Summit County. Diane Calvin, Founder, noticed that there is surplus food in our community going to waste because of a lack of understanding on how to get it to people.
Through her connections with the Summit Food Response Team, Diane found Diana Reznikoff. Together, they expanded their reach, working with Colleen Ihnken at the Community Care clinic and organizations helping people in need in our community. Jenniffer Gonzáles joined the team and began to make connections with previously underserved and unserved members of our community. Lynnette Hampton joined the board as treasurer and really helped us get organized.
Leo Santos and Blanc DeLao joined the board in early 2023. Leo and Blanca bring real heart to the organization and come from backgrounds of scarcity and family values of sharing and not wasting anything.
Katrina Doerfler joined the board in the fall of 2023 and took on the role of treasurer. Hallie Jaeger also joined in the fall of 2023 and is passionate about food recovery and developing CFR.
CAFE Food Rescue is continuously expanding its support in the community and bringing in new partners, board members, and staff. Working with local and state health officials, CFR is working to expand its collection and distribution of food.
In 2023 We Rescued 44,395 lbs of Fresh and Freshly Prepared Foods
Over 3,000 volunteer hours.
Total rescued food is equivalent to 37,000 meals and fulfills 8% of the missing meals for our community.
“I am beyond grateful to be able to work with a non-profit organization that helps our community with food insecurity, and preventing food from going to waste and into the landfills. As a person that has struggled with my own food insecurities in this community, I relied heavily on the Father Dyer community dinner and food pantry in my first few seasons in Summit County. It means so much to me to be able to help my community in providing healthy produce and meals from large catered events and food expos. Most recently I have planned events for Keystone Conference Center for US Foods, knowing that all my efforts have gone back into feeding Summit County makes it all worth while. Diane - Thank you so much for all your hard work and rescuing over 8,000 pounds of food from the Keystone Conference Center this year alone.”