Leftovers Foundation Information

The Leftovers Foundation’s mission is to reduce food waste and prevent the greenhouse gas emissions caused when good food is left to rot. We believe one of the best ways to do that is to get the food to community organizations working with vulnerable populations, ensuring that it can be used where food is most needed. Rescue Food, Leftovers’ flagship program, uses a dedicated app to mobilize volunteers, connecting vendors with excess good food to service agencies in need of food donations for clients experiencing crisis hunger. This program operates in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Hinton, Airdrie, and Selkirk. In 2023, the Rescue Food program (including both the Rescue Food App and large-scale donations received at our warehouses and broken down for distribution to service agencies) redirected 1,057,867 lbs of food, preventing more than 213 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions, and saving our service agency partners $3,589,353 in food costs. The Rescue Food programs in Calgary and Winnipeg both incorporate large-scale food rescue, operating from a central warehouse location in each city to break down and redistribute large (multi-pallet) donations of fresh food to service agencies. As part of Rescue Food, Leftovers also operates the Home Harvest program, which redirects excess produce from backyard gardens and fruit trees to service agency partners. Local growers who sign up to donate using the Rescue Food app have the option of requesting volunteer assistance with any stage of the process, including harvest and delivery. Home Harvest runs annually from June until October. Reducing waste. Increasing Access. You can arrange to have your cans and bottles picked up for FREE by SkipTheDepot and donate your refund to Leftovers at https://app.skipthedepot.com/leftoversfoundation