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2024 SUSTAINABILITY HIGHLIGHTS.

Positions:

  • Welcomed our first Sustainability Liaison in August 2024, following her impactful internship where she played a key role in expanding our recycling initiatives.

  • Mentored three sustainability-focused interns who focused on food preservation and sustainable business practices

Saving Resources from the Landfill:

  • Collected 16,829 pounds of shoes, which displaced 420,725 pounds of CO2 and saved 7.01 million pounds of water 
  • Upcycled $146,115 worth of clothing materials to 97 local, 2 national, and 14 global projects through the We Sew Love initiative
  • Served over 50 local farmers with food past human consumption for their animals and compost
  • Distributed $392,214.69 of in-kind resource support to individuals through our Give and Take Room

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle:

  • Partnered with Iron City Disposal and Rental to recycle cardboard, totaling over 53 tons saved from the landfill 
  • Recycled 3,200 empty aluminum cans 
  • Reused and recycled over 2,200 wooden pallets 
  • Purchased our first cardboard baler in August 2024 for FeedBHM Bessemer 
  • Received Grace Klein Construction’s donated automatic can crusher in June 2024, residing at FeedBHM Bessemer
  • Purchased and implemented 4 composting trash cans at 4 community properties to reduce household food waste
  • Constructed an outdoor three-bin compost system at FeedBHM Bessemer, built out of repurposed wooden pallets

Building the compost bin at Morgan out of recycled pallets with a UAB nurse serve team.
Conrad, a young volunteer, posing with the new cardboard baler. Each bale is over 100 pounds!

Acres and Acres, Chelsea Community Home:

  • Built compost bin system in March
  • Completed first compost cycle, producing rich soil for onsite community garden
  • Created solar panel water pump in summer 2024 to water the garden with overage rainwater
  • Harvested ghost peppers and basil leaves from the community garden
  • Reseeded the bank of the creek with rye to reduce soil and bank erosion
  • Constructed refurbished wooden benches by Eagle Scouts
  • Started recycling on site in summer 2024

Community Events:

  • Served as a sustainability partner at the Bham Food Plus festival on September 21st and 22nd, where we rescued 1,663 pounds of food, along with the aluminum cans and cardboard
  • Educated vendors at Cahaba River Society’s Fish Fry Down on food waste and rescued 743 pounds of beverages, fresh catfish, and cornbread
  • Performed our first three wedding flower rescues, totaling over $30,000 of in-kind donations 
  • Taught over 250 students about sustainability during our first four FeedBHM Bessemer field trips, discussing the importance of reusing and recycling materials, gardening, the worldwide impact of sustainability, and how the students can become involved

Community Outreach:

  • Our Sustainability Liaison was invited to the Samford Sustainability Committee for Fall 2024 and accepted onto a Community Advisory Board for post-doctoral research at University of Alabama Birmingham
  • Started a food rescue for extra credit initiative where, in two months and with two Samford University professors, we added 100 new food rescuers in Fall 2024
  • Hosted our first two sustainable Love Does flower arranging classes for the Fairfield Senior Center, a food pickup partner, and Texas Roadhouse Pelham, a business partner
  • Thanked all our 2024 business partners with unique, handmade cardboard signs 
  • Conducted our first lunch scrap social experiment with Samford University Cafeteria, measuring over 103 pounds of lunch scrap waste from one lunch period 
  • Created four unique sustainability-focused short-form videos which attracted over 16,000 views across Facebook and Instagram in 6 months
Grace Milligan with Jack, NCCC Americorp volunteer, leading the sustainability station at the first GKC field trip.
POUNDS of food rescued
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Food rescue heroes
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Volunteer Hours
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food distribution partners
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Unique people fed
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