SpareChange26

Outside of his work with Spare Change, Josh doubles as a one-man-jam-band. You can catch him performing as Josh Jams around Pittsburgh and State College, where he got his start as the front man for the Penn State band, Table Ten. In their three year career, the group performed more than 450 shows in venues like the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ and for crowds as big as 15,000 at Penn State's Dance Marathon.

A note from Josh:
During the early stages of Spare Change, we explored the possibility of helping nonprofits create unique video content, with the first concept being a "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee"-inspired ride with 412 Food Rescue. This incredible nonprofit uses an innovative app called Food Rescue Hero to give volunteers the opportunity to rescue perfectly good food from businesses that would otherwise discard it, and connects them with a deserving nonprofit who can put it to use. (To see what it's all about, click here to watch me document my first rescue.)

I pitched this idea to their executive Director, Leah Lizarondo, and with the help of some friends, we were able to shoot a pilot with Pittsburgh broadcasting legend, Sally Wiggin. You can watch that video, with host Katelyn Lesk, here. Since that time, our work in Spare Change has picked up tremendously, but we're still hopeful that future episodes of Food Rescue Stories will make their way to a phone or computer near you soon! Until that time, I'm privileged to have a Spare Change bucket at my shows to do my small part to help this great cause. They have become great friends and we're inspired by the work they accomplish in Pittsburgh and around the country.

Download the app Food Rescue Hero:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/food-rescue-hero/id1165397733
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fouronetwo.foodrescue&hl=en_US

Learn more about 412 Food Rescue:
412 Food Rescue was founded as a direct response to the disconnect between food waste, hunger and environmental sustainability. In the United States, we waste 62.5 million tons and spend $218 billion a year (or 1.3% of our GDP) in “growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food that is never eaten.” In the United States, 1 in 7 are hungry. According to the United Nations, if we recover all the food that is lost or wasted, we will have enough to feed all those who are hungry, four times over.

412 Food Rescue’s technology platform, also known as “Food Rescue Hero,” is an end-to-end system that matches food donations to the appropriate nonprofits, coordinates a last-mile transportation network of volunteers, trains volunteers on food safety and tracks data and analytics–measuring impact on hunger and the environment.

Currently available in the Greater Pittsburgh Region, we are working to make our technology available to nonprofits in other cities. If you are looking to start or scale food rescue in your region and would like more information, email them at: info@412foodrescue.org