Food For Free

Food For Free is a Cambridge nonprofit that rescues fresh food that would otherwise go to waste and moves it into the local emergency food system. Through food rescue, farming and transportation services, it gives food programs year-round access to fresh fruits and vegetables. A home delivery program brings food directly to isolated seniors and people with disabilities, reaching people who are not served through the usual pantry and meal program route.

The organization began in 1981, when a group of friends noticed local meal programs struggling to put food on their tables. Using borrowed trucks, they collected fruit, vegetables and bread that would have been thrown away and delivered it to meal programs, pantries and shelters. Within two years the volunteer effort had won support from established nonprofits and local government. Its work targets both immediate hunger and the longer-term health effects of poor nutrition, such as obesity and diet-related disease.

What to Know

• Food For Free was incorporated in 1983 and became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 1985.
• Food rescue, also called salvage or gleaning, keeps usable food out of the waste stream.
• The organization is listed with both the Central Square BID and the Kendall Square Association.