Recycling
Gabrielle Posard is Making a Huge Dent in Eliminating Hunger
Donate Don’t Dump is a non-profit organization devoted to alleviating hunger by making use of food that is typically deposited as waste in landfills. This phenomenal organization has kept 800,000 lbs of food from being greenhouse gas emitting, landfill waste- instead turning it into 650,000 meals to feed the hungry. And, the best part about Donate Don’t Dump- it was dreamed up by a 12 year old philanthropist.
Gabrielle Posard, now 16 and a junior in high school was appalled when she learned of the enormous amounts of food waste being dumped into landfills in her home of California, especially considering the statistic that 1 in 4 US children are experiencing hunger. At age 12 she began talking to grocers about donating food near its sell-by date and coined her “Donate Don’t Dump” logo to promote awareness about hunger and food waste.
Since then, Gabrielle’s passion and her mission have grown. Gabrielle’s group is credited to increasing food bank donations in Northern San Diego County by 800,000 pounds per year (650,000 meals), all in rescued food donations. Donate Don’t Dump is fully run by teen volunteers with seventeen chapters and 4,000 members and partners in four different states. These teens recognize that billions of food is dumped into landfills each year, causing a major source of methane gas pollution. Despite this waste, there are still people going hungry in the United States. Donate Don’t Dump seeks to educate the public about these statistics and encourage the recycling of commercial food waste. Gabrielle hopes to make food rescue as regular a practice as recycling.
Gabrielle has been honored at the White House after being presented with the President’s Environmental Youth Award as well as by California State Senators and many other elected officials. She continues to advocate and lobby in Sacramento for the environment, the hungry, recycling, and to pass Zero Waste Ordinance. This amazing teenager has made a huge impact on her community, the environment and serves as an inspiration to all.
