From KERA News:
Scot MacRae has been getting food into the hands of those who need it for years.
The director of the food rescue program at Cathedral of Hope in Dallas used to take boxes of leftovers after he and his friends would eat at restaurants and give them away.
MacRae remembers giving a box to a woman he met on his way home when a man snatched it out of her hands.
“And she turns back to me, and she said, do you have another?” MacRae said. “And it broke my heart to tell her, no, I didn’t have another. When I told my friends about it, they said, ‘we’ll fix it, we’ll fix it.’”
So MacRae and his friends made 100 peanut butter and banana sandwiches to give away, along with bottled water — and that became their routine. They did this thousands of times; eventually they became known as the “peanut butter and banana guys.”
In 2019, that effort evolved into what’s now the Cathedral of Hope’s Giving You Food To Share food rescue program, which MacRae oversees. At the time, they were feeding about 150 people a week — but MacRae said the need kept growing.
During the pandemic, a friend of his, David Stenson, developed a free mobile app called EETZ Rescue.
“He had a group in Irving that they were getting some rescued food, and when we got to talking and he saw what we did, he said, ‘I think I can make it easier for you,’” MacRae said.
Thousands of people in North Texas are facing food insecurity as the cost of groceries rises. With the help of a new app, Scot MacRae and a group of volunteers are putting food into the hands of those in need.
Scot MacRae
The app connects surplus food — stuff that grocery stores can’t easily sell, like imperfect fruit or food in damaged packaging, that might otherwise end up in a landfill — directly to groups like MacRae’s. They then package it and post how many boxes of food they have on the app. People can claim the boxes on the app and pick them up on Thursdays. No documentation is needed to sign up.
Through the app, not only is MacRae able to distribute food faster, but he and his volunteers have more than tripled the amount of food they are able to rescue — 1 million pounds so far this year.
“We are help closing the gap, but the need is always there,” he said
Building community
On a recent Thursday, MacRae and his team of volunteers are preparing food boxes in a community room inside the Cathedral of Hope. With the backdrop of stained-glass windows and church organ music in the background, the volunteers organize the boxes — full of everything from fresh produce to fresh flowers — and distribute them to people who signed up through the EETZ Rescue app.
The group is not only feeding the community, but they’re also building community. Jeff Reader is a new volunteer.
“I knew that I had found what I wanted to do, especially because of Carmelita and Maria,” he said. “When they come in, I feel confident that this is going to go well.”
He’s referring to Carmelita Vasquez and Maria Nuño, two sisters from Hutchins who stumbled across this volunteer opportunity through a post on Facebook.
“I started coming because they were offering food, which in my family, we are in need right now … but we also saw the need [for] volunteers,” Vasquez said. “I am so blessed that I can be able to take food to my grandkids and to my family. I know that my family’s getting fed this week.”
As the boxes are prepared, there’s banter and laughter among the volunteers. There’s a table set up with food that Nuño made — a spread of broccoli soup, homemade camote (sweet potato) and agua de tamarindo for the volunteers to drink.
They’re quick to point out that Nuño is a key member of the volunteer team. They said she always knows how many boxes they can make.
“I look at their food and I guesstimate, you know, and I come close,” Nuño said. “Sometimes I can squeeze an extra two or three boxes out of the food that arrives.”
One of her roles is helping people install the EETZ Rescue app. Although no one is turned away, she said signing up through the app guarantees that people will leave with something.
“There is a lot of need right now and we’re seeing it more often,” Nuño said. “The money is not … going around. It’s just not enough. They either eat or they pay their bills.”
About 1 in 6 Texas households is considered food insecure, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It’s the second-highest rate in the country.
Nuño and her sister make sure that no food goes to waste. They pack any food that doesn’t make it into a box and take it to a West Dallas food pantry.
All the volunteers are united by one common thread – they said it feels like home, like a family.
“To be able to have something that ignites my passion as far as rescuing food and helping others,” MacRae said, “it just ties it all together.”
