Our Story
Miracle Food Network (MFN) began with the founder’s disgust that massive amounts of perfectly good surplus food were being dumped in landfills when so many people were food insecure. Connecting people to food and resources to improve their well-being became his mission. From car-trunk loads to semi-loads of rescued food, MFN strives to connect the dots so our families, friends, and neighbors can meet their basic food needs and stop wasting the resources within our reach.
Today, we . . .
January 1st to December 31st 2023, MFN has rescued 1,441,772.8 lbs of food & goods from the landfill. Based on the Whole Earth Calculator, this is the equivalent of 1,200,996.74 meals served. It also means 657,448,396.8 gallons of water have been saved and 782,882.63 Co2E not emitted from landfills.
All of the food & goods we rescue are brought to our sorting & boxing center by a fleet of volunteer drivers. Another team of volunteers then sorts through and divides the product by fit-for-human consumption & into buckets for local pig farmers.
We then dispatch drivers to 14 established hubs in Whatcom County, 5 county food banks, several pantries across the WWU, NWIC & WCC campuses, and 3 Whatcom school districts.
The number of food & goods wasted in the US is immense - the US EPA estimates 1/3 of food generated ends up being wasted. For the US alone in 2021, that is an estimated 80 billion pounds of food!
On the horizon, there is state and national legislation that will mandate by law the implementation of food waste reduction policies and procedures.
We are here to help - we are already doing what needs to be done!