Food Recovery Is a Win-Win For Everyone
Tracey Hayes isn’t much of a hugger. But she can count on plenty of them every Friday.
“I bet I have 10 people hug me every time,” she said.
At Thomas A. Edison High School, Friday isn’t just about getting to the weekend. It’s the day that students and their families visit the School Food Center to get the food and household items they need – not just for the weekend, but for the week ahead.
School Food Centers partner with the Food Bank to distribute a wide variety of items within schools across the Southern Tier. A snack or meal is only a short walk away for students, while parents and guardians come once a week to get anything they need for the household.
Recently, Tracey has been able to stock the School Food Center with retail food and personal care items, like snacks from Sam’s Club and makeup from CVS. These items, which come from donors in the Food Bank’s Food Recovery program, are always 100% utilized.
“We could truly give away as much of it as we’re able to get our hands on,” Tracey said.
What happens if those items weren’t being distributed by School Food Centers and food pantries? They likely would have been thrown into a landfill. By donating through the Food Recovery program, grocery stores, distribution centers, and restaurants put their surplus and nonstandard items to use in their communities.
There are currently 130 Southern Tier businesses supporting 65 partner agencies across our six-county service area. Current partners include local grocery stores like Jubilee, as well as chains like Wegmans, CVS, ALDI, Dollar General, Target, BJs, Weis, Panera, Olive Garden, and Walmart – just to name a few.
In 2025, the Food Recovery Program received 4.3 million pounds of food and retail items, distributed 3.5 million total meals, and added 42 new retail partners. The Food Bank also added 17 agency partners to the program, including the School Food Center Tracey operates.
“It’s really great stuff. They’re items that families wouldn’t necessarily purchase themselves because a lot of things that come through that (program) are higher dollar items,” Tracey said. “People are always so thrilled when they show up and that is something that we have.”
Dairy products like frozen milk and cheese, as well as high quality meat like steak, are just a few of the food recovery items that always go fast. And, with a mostly teenage population at the high school, the snacks from Sam’s Club are always appreciated.
Kathleen Pasetty, Food Recovery Coordinator at the Food Bank, said School Food Centers are one of the biggest distributors of Food Recovery items. “Every pound counts and makes a big difference,” she said.
And it isn’t just food items that are recovered and distributed to those in need.
Oftentimes, food pantries and School Food Centers will receive paper towels, cleaning products, toilet paper, and even makeup. Since SNAP benefits don’t cover non-food, these retail donations from partners like CVS have been especially helpful.
“Being able to get personal care products – soaps and shampoos and even makeup – things that will really stretch the monthly budget will help,” Kathleen said. “These are items and goods that make people feel good, but things that are also super essential.”
Tracey sees first-hand how valued – and how needed – the retail and food recovery items truly are. Since opening the School Food Center in 2023, they’ve gone from serving 25 families every week to serving almost 80 every week. That number is even larger before school breaks.
While that growth could’ve come from word of mouth, Tracey believes that financial stress, higher grocery prices, and rising cost of living are the driving factors behind those numbers. Even some of the students who staff the Food Center also use it from time to time.
Kathleen sees something similar happen on the retail side. She said store employees, many of whom are also experiencing the financial stress of rising grocery prices, feel that the Food Recovery Program gives them a sense of agency and shows them that their work makes a difference.
“Store team members frequently tell me they feel proud they can help the store donate. They work hard to make these stores run well. And they appreciate that they can also help the community while at work,” Kathleen said.
While the need is growing, so is the impact and generosity of retail donors. In 2025, the Food Bank received more donations through the Food Recovery Program than the year before and the CVS distribution center donated 205,000 pounds last year.
Although she sees the impact of the program every day, Tracey sometimes wonders if retail donors truly understand how significant their partnership with the Food Bank is.
“To see the excitement on people when they show up to pick things up is really what makes it the most fun day of the week for me. They’re thrilled,” she said. “People are just really excited and grateful to the businesses that do donate.”
Food recovery is a win-win for everyone, including businesses, neighbors in need, retail employees, and volunteers. Anyone can join the effort to reduce food waste and create a hunger-free community by making a gift to the Food Bank.
Interested in becoming a Food Recovery partner? Learn more about the program and get in touch here.
