Turning Excess into Impact: A Story of Community & Collaboration
Donated product from Cedar’s Foods
At Daily Table, community and collaboration have always been at the heart of our work. We know we can't do it alone, which is why our efforts complement the work of a network of food justice organizations, local growers, manufacturers, and social service groups, all coming together to create real change.
That spirit of teamwork became clear when Bryanne, the Sales and Marketing Project Manager at Cedar’s Foods, reached out to us with an urgent request. Cedar’s, a family-owned company that has been leading the Mediterranean food scene in the U.S. since 1981, found themselves with over 15 pallets of perfectly good hommus that needed to be moved—fast. The issue wasn’t the quality of the product; Cedar’s just needed help getting it into the hands of those who could use it.
This is a reality we all know too well: the issue of food insecurity isn’t that there isn’t enough food; it’s that we lack the structures needed to get food into the hands of those who need it most.
We didn’t hesitate. In no time, we were picking up thousands of pounds of hommus, working with several food justice partners around Greater Boston to make sure it went to the right places.
The next day, we loaded up 8 pallets—each one weighing around 720 pounds—into our stores, and within days, we had another 8 pallets to distribute. We knew we had to get this hommus into the hands of as many people as possible, so we shared the donation with our partners at the YMCA, Food For Free, Spoonfuls, and Food Link, who then distributed it to their communities.
Meghan, Daily Table’s Logistics Manager, delivering product to our partner organizations
Over the following weeks, we kept the momentum going, bringing even more hommus to places like the Jamaica Plain Centre Food Hub, Dorchester Community Fridge, Somerville Community Fridge, and the Neighborhood Food Access Collaborative.
In total, we rescued 11,520 pounds of hommus—more than 18,400 containers! We donated 4,500 pounds to community organizations, and so far, we’ve distributed 2,500 pounds to our customers. It’s incredible to see the impact we can make when we come together like this.
This hommus rescue is a reminder that when we work together, we’re stronger. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact in the fight against food insecurity in our communities.