To combat food insecurity, this activist is feeding power into American communities

The United States has enough food for everyone. Yet over 13 million people in the country are food insecure. Over half of Americans’ produce ends up as waste in landfills, where it takes up more space than anything else there, releases methane, and further contributes to climate change. But Hayden Dansky is working tirelessly to create a system where the surplus reaches people, allowing everyone regardless of circumstance to access sustenance. Based in Colorado where they run Boulder Food Rescue, Dansky is redistributing the healthy produce that usually goes to waste and giving it to people in need.

“Without an equal food system, we face hunger, trauma, poverty, and scarcity,” they say. To confront this, Dansky and the team at Boulder Food Rescue partner with over 20 grocery stores, restaurants, and businesses, receiving healthy overstocked or soon-to-expire goods, typically fruit and vegetables. Every day, leaders from various low-income neighbourhoods travel via bicycle to collect and deliver it to a convenient location in their area, exercising their community’s right to healthy food. “The reason we do that is because it enables people to have agency over their own food access,” Dansky says. While the team at Boulder Food Rescue reduces waste and alleviates hunger, they’re also contributing to a sustainable environment with eco-friendly transport. 

People struggling to access nourishment are often stigmatised for not being able to support themselves adequately. But Dansky’s initiative is revealing the systemic downfall in society by proving that not only food can be shared, but power too. “We flip charity on its head,” Dansky says. “Hopefully the charitable food system will eventually disappear because people have what they actually need to survive and thrive.”  

Footage by Boulder Food Rescue and Ryan Van Duzer were used in the creation of this film.