Our June Seedlings recipient is TC Food Justice. Round up your purchases all month long to support their work.

TC Food Justice (TCFJ) is a volunteer driven non-profit with a mission of reducing food waste and hunger in the Twin Cities. They partner with local co-ops, markets, bakeries farmers and others to "rescue" unsold fresh foods and redistribute them to food-insecure populations. TCFJ rescues 10,000 - 15,000 pounds of food per month and distribute it to an estimated 4,000 - 6,000+ people through community partners and their own innovative distribution programs. The TC Food Justice team coordinates all necessary logistics including scheduling weekly food rescues and deliveries, and recruiting and coordinating volunteers to collect, sort and deliver the food to community partners. They deliver all food within 48 hours, maximizing its quality and likelihood of being consumed. And all of this is done free of cost to partners. Partnerships and collaboration are at the heart of what TCFJ does. They’ve worked directly with over 50 community-based organizations since 2016 and have acted quickly to respond to urgent community needs by providing thousands of free face masks to essential employees at partner organizations and individuals in need, and by coordinating large food distributions feeding thousands in areas that recently lost grocery stores.

1 in 10 households in MN struggles with food insecurity and that number is rapidly growing. And while so many are struggling to afford their next meal, there is so much food waste with nearly 40% of the food produced in the U.S. never being eaten. This is a sizable problem with real health and environmental consequences that TCFJ’s Food Rescue Programs were designed to address. TCFJ proactively reaches out to food growers/distributors and offer direct assistance in donating excess foods. They are one of the few organizations willing to work with smaller donors and are proud to serve smaller community organizations that have been excluded from traditional, larger-scale food rescue programs. Their deliveries are free to both donors and recipients, and they use bicycles and trailers for a growing number of food rescues to help lessen our environmental impact.