

ASK HN: FREE FOOD? - komal1120

1) Would you post about your excess (leftover) food to a network that would notify organizations in need? (i.e. homeless shelters etc.)<p>2) Would you subscribe to a service that would alert you (based on your preferences) whenever free food was available in your area?<p><i></i><i>For both of these questions please assume food is safe and liability is NOT a concern.</i><i></i>
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notjustanymike
Probably not in both cases. There's usually no need to post - restaurants
always have leftovers and organizations like City Harvest can partner with
them. Scheduled pickups work just fine. If you're talking about posting
individual portions (e.g. my dinner currently) there's no way it's cheaper for
them to come pick it up than to cook something fresh in bulk.

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komal1120
Even with organizations like City Harvest, Food Runners, food banks, etc.,
there are still 263 million pounds of ___consumable food_ __wasted every day.
How can we address this?

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efferifick
If you implement these food halls I would be really happy.

<http://ahistoryofthefuture.org/2012/04/the-new-halls/>

I imagine them somewhat different: food by subscription but paid by the
government instead of financial aid to ensure people eat healthy.

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Shalle
1\. No I probably would not because of the hustles it involves. 2\. No I not
unless I was homeless and broke. And if so I would most likely only look for
unopened things. Otherwise I might as well just look in dumpsters by myself.

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komal1120
1) What if all you needed to do was snap a photo and maybe write a brief
description of the donation and select an 'expiration day and time'?

2) Imagine you are a college student and this food is coming from on-campus
sources and events -- would that change anything?

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caw
I thought about #2 a few years ago, then I realized there's a Facebook page
for it (literally free food at [school]). You'd be stuck with adoption of
people posting free food and then visiting the site to the the free food.

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l33tbro
1\. Absolutely. This is a great idea. I think you would just really need to
make it as painless and automated for your user/food-provider as possible.

2\. Perhaps. However, as a food provider, I would be less willing to provide
if I knew that the food was going to "just anyone". I would be much more
likely to sign up if I knew it was going to the disadvantaged. There's an
Australian organization called OzHarvest who does a similar thing, but gets
food from restaurants. It's an incredibly successful social venture.

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devonbarrett
This title was misleading.

