Robert Lee, the son of Korean immigrants, left his job at J.P. Morgan to feed the hungry and reduce food waste in New York City.
His nonprofit organization Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC) “intercepts food before it hits the dumpsters and delivers it by hand to nearby shelters, soup kitchens and social service agencies. Last year [in 2017], Rescuing Leftover Cuisine collected more than 792,000 pounds of food,” reports Politico.
The chefs at the shelters, soup kitchens and social service agencies often transform the food they receive from RLC. According to Politico, “Tofu is thrown in with spaghetti and meatballs so it can absorb some of the flavor. Farro is mixed in with rice, a chef says, because people won’t eat it on its own.”
By donating to RLC, suppliers are eligible for enhanced tax deductions. RLC also work with corporate offices that provide their employees with free lunch. A human resources coordinator said in Politico’s article, “One hundred and twenty dollars a month just to donate food to people? That’s not bad.”
As a nation, however, more work may need to be done. Lee told Politico that “to create a real turning point in eliminating food waste, the government will have to start charging people for throwing away scraps, finding a price that reflects the cost to the environment.”
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, “food waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of the food supply,” corresponding to about “133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010.”
Fortunately, households can join Lee on the fight to decrease food waste without leaving their jobs as Lee left J.P. Morgan. For example, YES! Magazine provides a short guide with tips on how to plan meals and improve food storage to avoid waste.
Lee seems happy and fulfilled about his decision to leave J.P. Morgan and work on RLC full-time. “I think there are a lot of high-income fields with lots of money flying around in areas where unfortunately it seems like it doesn’t have much of a tangible impact on the world.”
Lee’s parents were not supportive of their son’s decision initially. After some time and reflection, however, they understood and supported their son. “[My parents] sacrificed everything in their whole lives to come to the U.S. for us to have the opportunities they didn’t have, so for me to squander that at a job where I felt I didn’t have an impact … would’ve been the real waste. To take this chance and risk while at same time learning a lot is the whole point of coming here. And I think they finally understood that.”
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