What is SHARE?
A food recovery program by Toward Zero Waste with Wake County Public School System to capture wholesome leftovers from cafeteria meals and feed students, rather than landfills.
How does it work?
Students can leave and/or take approved unwanted and unopened foods during breakfast and lunch service. A pantry cart and fridge for meal service leftovers live in a central location (e.g., front office) for accessing throughout the week.
Who is it for?
ALL students in pilot program schools can access the pantry cart and fridge throughout the day. Running late and missed breakfast? Not feeling well? Forgot to pack a snack? Students can use the pantry cart and fridge as they need.
Why have this program?
- To REDUCE the amount of prepackaged unopened food thrown out as waste at schools.
- To ESTABLISH a food recovery program to distribute the food items to any students in the school, thereby eliminating stigma.
- To INCREASE student engagement by increasing awareness of hunger and respect for their environment.
- To RESPECT resources and guidelines from WCPSS Child Nutrition Services by feeding people, instead of landfills.
The SHARE pilot program is made possible by funds from the Lonnie & Carol Poole Family Foundation and other generous donors.
Interested in Volunteering?
Toward Zero Waste needs volunteers to help with the rollout of a pilot food recovery program in 8 Wake County public schools!
WCPSS approved volunteers are being sought to assist with monitoring the collection of recoverable items during breakfast and lunch services at eight area schools. Volunteers will be needed as early as mid to late February. Please indicate your interest in volunteering here. Additional information will then follow by email. Not already an approved volunteer with WCPSS, but would like to be? Please register with WCPSS here first, and then sign up!
Volunteer details:
- Be available to volunteer during breakfast (~7-9:30am), lunch (~10:15-2pm), or at the conclusion of the instructional week, once (or more) per week, at one of the pilot schools
- Potential volunteer responsibilities:
- Help during meals with SHARE cart supervision (the adding of approved foods by students and the taking of approved foods by students) and with data collection.
- Help at the conclusion of breakfast and/or lunch with SHARE stocking – transferring of remaining recoverable foods to the SHARE pantry cart and SHARE refrigerator, as well as data collection.
- Help at the end of the instructional week with SHARE cleaning – cleaning of carts and fridge and checking of remaining food items for donation or disposal needs, as well as with data collection.
Volunteer requirements:
- WCPSS Volunteer Background Check
- Ability to volunteer for more than one time slot
SHARE Lead Volunteer Coordinator:
- Serve as SHARE Lead Volunteer Coordinator for your school – assist with onsite review of volunteer roles with new volunteers, serve as contact for TZW regarding volunteer needs at assigned school. This volunteer role will require a brief orientation to TZW.
- The SHARE Lead Volunteer Coordinator will be onboarded as a TZW volunteer and have a special orientation to the SHARE program
Schools Participating in the Pilot Program:
- Davis Drive Elementary
- Dillard Drive Magnet Elementary
- Kingswood Magnet Elementary
- Lincoln Heights Magnet Elementary
- Millbrook Magnet Elementary
- Poe Magnet Elementary
- Wake Forest iStem Magnet Elementary
- Wiley Magnet Elementary
Questions or Feedback?
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