our mission:
The Restaurant Rescue Project (RRP) reduces food waste in New Haven restaurants.
By partnering with receivers such as halfway houses and soup kitchens, RRP saves food that would otherwise be thrown away at the end of each working day. RRP shift-runners transfer food from restaurants on a daily basis, saving on average 100 pounds every week.
RRP has expanded to include the Junior Chef series, a cooking course focused on educating low-income New Haven youth on healthy, delicious, and budget-conscious nutrition. They also engage in the community through supermarket drives for food and toiletries, food-related speaker events, event-related food pickup, and more.
How to get involved:
Volunteer with the Restaurant Rescue Project.
RRP has a variety of volunteer positions available, all with different levels of weekly commitment:
(1) Runners-- The majority of our volunteers are runners, who bring food from restaurant to receiver on foot. The commitment is 30 minutes per week, and runs can be anytime 9-5pm on weekdays or weekends. We slot runners based off of their availability that semester. You can sign up to be a runner anytime! Recruitment info coming soon! If you have any questions, email one of the project heads.
(2) Shift Leads-- To help coordinate runs, we have 7 shift leads who remind runners and donation weights for a specific day of the week. We usually look for shift leads at the start of Fall semester, although spots may open up at the start of Spring semester. Shift lead commitment is generally 45 minutes per week including their run.
(3) Back-up Runners-- We have a back-up runner team that does not have runs regularly, but is called on to fill in for people or pick up from larger events. The back-up runner system is facilitated through GroupMe, and instructions can be found here. Anyone can join the backup runner team anytime! Just send your phone number to one of the project heads.
(4) Junior Chef Series Volunteer-- Volunteers for this program teach low-income children to cook healthy foods during Fall semester. Commitment is generally 2 hours per week for the 6 weeks of the program.
(5) Leadership Positions-- Please email the project head(s) if you're interested, and we can let you know if we have any spots available.
Contact info:
Yuriy Dekhkanov (yuriy.dekhkanov@yale.edu)
