Did you know that one in eight people living in Orange County don’t know where their next meal is coming from? This was a shocking number to us and one of the reasons why we partnered with Waste Not and their mission to help end hunger in our community.
By day we are an Anaheim taxi company, serving OC residents and visitors and getting them to where they need to go safely and affordably. What you might not know is that it’s not just people we pick up. Our taxis also pick up donated excess food from Waste Not OC partners and deliver the perishables to the local pantries and food shelters.
Pretty cool, huh? We get to still do what we love every day, while helping our community during non-peak ride times.
Want to learn more about Waste Not OC? We got you covered there, too.
Waste Not OC’s mission to eliminate hunger and reduce food waste uses a three-prong approach.
First, they educate the community about food donations, identifying food insecure individuals and then connecting these people to sources of food.
Second, they reach out and partner with food producing facilities to donate excess food instead of throwing the food away.
Third, they increase the visibility of food pantries in Orange County, raise awareness of the need for food donations among businesses and local restaurants, and empower doctors and other clinicians to refer their patients to food sources using an interactive Google map of nearby food pantries.
We think that’s pretty awesome.
Dr. Eric Handler, Director of the Orange County Health Care Agency, is the spearhead of the Waste Not OC organization. He and his staff arrange for various hotels, restaurants, and caterers to donate perfectly safe, leftover food that would otherwise be thrown away. Our role, as an Anaheim Taxi company, is to pick up the prepared and wrapped food, especially late at night, and deliver it to the various distribution locations where our neighbors can use the donated food for meals.
Waste Not OC is an outstanding program and Yellow Cab of Greater Orange County is proud to be associated with the effort to end hunger in our community.
To find out how you can get involved, visit http://www.wastenotoc.org.