---
title: It’s All Good
date: 2021-09-20T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/its-all-good"
section: Articles
---
# It’s All Good

*September 20, 2021* — by [Annie Krakower](/author/annie-krakower)


> How Terps Cooked Up Food Recovery Network 10 Years Ago and Grew It Into a Nationwide Hunger- and Waste-Fighting Force

*FRN Terp 07212021 JC 2410 fixed 1920x1080 — Food Recovery Network, founded 10 years ago, donates perfectly good but unserved food from campuses to local homeless shelters and kitchens.*

**MAYBE IT’S THAT EXTRA TRAY** of chicken fingers that just wasn’t sold before closing time. Or those hot dogs still warming behind the concession stand counter after the big game. Or who really thought the conference attendees would polish off all those sandwich platters?

Up to 40% of all food in the U.S. goes to waste, according to the [Food and Drug Administration](https://www.fda.gov/food/consumers/food-loss-and-waste), about one pound per person per day, and exceeding 81.4 billion pounds in 2017.

A decade ago this fall, a small group of Terps took notice—and took action. Instead of letting perfectly good but unserved food at the University of Maryland hit the trash can, they rerouted it to those in need at local homeless shelters and kitchens.

The effort required careful coordination, late nights at the dining halls and a few spaghetti-sauce-stained car trunks, but the seemingly simple idea caught on: [Food Recovery Network](https://www.foodrecoverynetwork.org/new-chapter-application?gclid=Cj0KCQjwweyFBhDvARIsAA67M73WXEv5ObOge2H_h4-ma0zAx-vN_BXdx6raWfNhJASmtiroSSabd_caAj4NEALw_wcB) (FRN) has spread to 172 campuses in 46 states and D.C., with almost 5 million pounds of food diverted from dumpsters and more than 4 million meals donated.

As the nationwide nonprofit—arguably UMD’s greatest [Do Good](https://dogood.umd.edu/about/do-good-campus) success—celebrates its 10th anniversary, the co-founders, supporters and partners who made it possible tell its story.



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**IT STARTED WITH A PIZZA**  
*In 2008, Evan Ponchick ’12 was hosting his brother for a visit when they stopped for dinner at the Stamp Student Union’s Food Court.*



*Evan Ponchick illustration*


*Colleen Wright Riva illustration*


*Chicken fingers that read, in mustard, 172 campuses in 46 states + D.C.*


*Ben Simon illustration*


*Mia Zavalij illustration*



---



*Hot dog that reads in mustard, 4.1M total meals donated*


*Andrew Bresee illustration*


*Ben Slye illustration*


*Cam Pascual illustration*



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**TO BROWN, AND BEYOND**  
*After growing within UMD’s campus early that Fall 2011 semester, FRN’s co-founders saw a chance to go bigger. Simon reached out to Ben Chesler, a friend at Brown University. Simon had invited him to Love Movement meetings while Chesler was interning in D.C. and mentioned the early food recovery effort.*


*Ben Chesler illustration*


*Pasta salad*



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**UP TO THE CHALLENGE**  
*When FRN started recruiting additional campus chapters, it entered, among other pitch competitions, UMD’s first [Do Good Challenge](https://dogood.umd.edu/research-impact/projects/do-good-challenge) in Spring 2012.*


*Bob Grimm illustration*


*French fry and ketchup that reads, 7.4M pounds of CO2 emissions prevented*



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**EXPANDING THE FOOD WASTE FIGHT**  
*During the 2013-14 academic year, what ultimately became known as the Do Good Institute funded Evan Lutz ’14 in what’s now called the [Impact Interns](https://dogood.umd.edu/research-impact/projects/impact-interns) program with FRN. During his experience, he took the lead on a new waste-fighting idea: selling local farmers’ surplus produce to college students.*

*The initiative, called Recovered Food CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture), took off, with Lutz and others packing onions, potatoes and apples—regardless of how they looked—into their cars and selling them outside the Stamp. After competing as a finalist in the 2014 Do Good Challenge, Lutz joined Simon to turn the startup into [Hungry Harvest](https://hungryharvest.net/), a Baltimore-based company that has recovered 30 million pounds of produce in seven years.*


*Evan Lutz illustration*


*Bowl of salad*



**Sidebar note:**

This story is featured in the Fall 2021 issue of *Terp* magazine, hitting mailboxes this week. Find the full menu of stories online at [terp.umd.edu](https://terp.umd.edu).





**Topics:** [Campus & Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community)


**Tags:** [Alumni](https://today.umd.edu/topic/alumni), [Food](https://today.umd.edu/topic/food)