Agency Partners

work with their Food Rescue Specialist to ensure retail donors use best practices to set eligible food donations aside for their guests.

Food Rescue

National and local partnerships with hundreds of grocery retailers and foodservice operators across the food supply chain allow us to gain access to unsold, yet wholesome food that would otherwise be wasted.

Each year an enormous amount of food is wasted in the United States at every stage of the food production and distribution system. Excluding consumer waste at home, 52 billion pounds of food from manufacturers, grocery stores and restaurants end up in landfills.

You Are Protected

The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act is the foundation of the Food Rescue program. The law states that while we are acting in good faith, the retail donors, agency partners and Second Harvest Heartland are all civilly and criminally protected if someone were to become ill after eating donated food. Good faith means that we are all being proactive in meeting standard food safety practices and ensuring that volunteers and staff are trained in food safety relevant to their type of food program. The Second Harvest Heartland Food Rescue Team acts as your link to ensure good faith practices are upheld before and after the food is donated.

Retail Food Rescue

  • Retail Food Rescue is a program where an agency provides vehicles and drivers to collect donations on a consistent schedule each week. The food is weighed and recorded, by category, and submitted for receipt on MealConnect every month.

SHH Stewards National Food Industry Partnerships with Feeding America

Aldi Costco Warehouse

Coborn’s / Cash Wise / Marketplace

Dollar General Kwik Trip

Fresh Thyme Hy-Vee

Target Trader Joe’s

Sam’s Club UNFI Walmart

SHH Stewards Local Retail Partnerships

Jerry’s Foods Knowlan’s / Festival

Kowalski’s Markets Lunds & Byerlys

Radermacher

& Other Independent Grocers


Food Rescue Resource Library

KWIK TRIP SPECIFIC

Required Equipment

Training and Information

Food Rescue Reporting

Food Rescue Statistics are due on MealConnect no later than the 10th of the month following collection, without exception. Food Rescue collections should be weighed upon arrival at the agency and may be compiled and submitted for the full month by store, by category.

Please note: Customer Care bags donated through your grocers' registers are not food rescue, and should not be included in your retail statistics when reporting.

Recorded Trainings

Leave-Behinds for the Retail Donor

Retail Food Rescue Team

Jean Jagodzinski
Food Rescue Programs Manager
jjagodzinski@2harvest.org

Karla Bauer
Food Rescue Specialist
Southern Greater Minnesota and Mankato area
kbauer@2harvest.org

Lorne Petkau
Food Rescue Specialist
North and Eastern Metro area
lpetkau@2harvest.org

Song Lee
Food Rescue Specialist
Western Metro & Greater Minnesota and St Cloud area
slee@2harvest.org

Benjamin Anderson
Food Rescue Specialist
Southern Metro and Western Greater Minnesota area
banderson@2harvest.org

Prepared Food
& Food Service Format
Food Donations

Jeremy Stickney
Food Service Program Manager
jstickney@2harvest.org

Prepared Food Rescue is the newest food stream available to meal and snack program partners who have a Certified Food Manager on staff.

Emerging Streams: Rescuing Prepared Food - Learn about the new newest food rescue opportunities for your program.

Donations can consist of:

Frozen or chilled prepared foods that are ready to reheat

  • Raw ingredients

  • Close-dated perishable and non-perishable products

  • Donors include:

    • Caterers

    • Restaurants

    • Special event centers

    • Corporate and campus cafeterias

    • Food safety requirements

      • Agency partners receiving prepared food must have a Certified Food Manager on staff.

      • Collecting agencies must complete Safe Food Transport training. Here are the steps:

        • View recorded Webinar

        • After viewing the webinar, fill out this form to verify you have completed the training

    • Food Safety Equipment

      MealConnect We are using an innovative program called MealConnect to match donors with agency partners and track the donation process. Check out the Agency Quick Reference Guide