Nonpro t
BY ROO MOODY
The nonpro t rescues food being thrown out by grocery stores and distributes it to low-income residents.
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The PopUp Grocery Store program provides low-income Houston residents with a shopping experience for fresh, nutritious food at no cost.
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PHOTOS BY ROO MOODY COMMUNITY IMPACT
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Second Servings addresses food insecurity in Houston
8825 Knight Road, Houston www.secondservingshouston.org
After attending a charity event that resulted in leftover food, Barbara Bronstein began to wonder what would happen to the excess food. She said this simple thought led her to dis- cover that a lot of food produced is wasted, even though a Kinder Institute Survey showed that 39% of Houston residents face food insecurity, which is nearly triple the national average. The staggering fact inspired her to bridge the gap between perishable foods going to the land ll and Houston residents facing food insecurity by starting Second Servings in 2015. How it works Second Servings’ PopUp Grocery Store program
has four part-time drivers who drive to local stores such as Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods seven days a week to pick up food that would otherwise be thrown out. “Trader Joe’s gets new lettuces every day. The old ones have to go, but the old ones are perfectly good, so they share their food,” Bronstein said. At the distribution sites, volunteers will set up sections that resemble grocery store aisles and let participants choose which items they would like. Bronstein said the pop-ups are set to resemble a grocery store shopping experience. “There are a lot of seniors who are disabled and they’re veterans, and they need help because they’re living on xed incomes, and the costs of
everything have gone up,” Bronstein said. The local impact Since starting Second Servings, Bronstein said the nonpro t has provided more than $130 million worth of food across Houston and saved more than 18 million pounds of food from land lls. The PopUp Grocery Store program started in 2022 with ve sites and now typically operates at 48 sites most months, Bronstein said. Local residents are encouraged to sign up online to volunteer at the two pop-ups in the Heights. Food is only available to those living in a ordable housing complexes.
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