Through their ongoing partnership, Sharing Excess is able to recover edible food and bring it directly to communities. Their volunteers set up pop-up events where community members can choose what they take home.

Gov. Wolf, First Lady Frances Wolf, and Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding visited Sharing Excess, a food rescue organization, to highlight innovative food security efforts that are feeding Pennsylvanians.

Sharing Excess came to be when a Drexel student gave away 50 meals left in his dining account to people in need. He inspired others to join his efforts, which grew to include excess “food rescue” from a network of grocers, restaurants, farmers, and wholesalers. Today the nonprofit delivers an average of 100,000 pounds of food each week. The ultimate vision of Sharing Excess is to use every available resource that is wasted or underutilized to cover basic needs for all.

Last March, as Philly scrambled to adjust our lives to Governor Tom Wolf’s new shutdown orders, Drexel alum and Sharing Excess founder Evan Ehlers realized something: Restaurants prepared for a busy week would suddenly find themselves awash in leftover food. Sharing Excess, the fledgling food rescue nonprofit founded by Ehlers and staffed by college students, sprung into action. In 48 hours, Ehlers and his team rescued more than 10,000 pounds of food — enough to feed roughly 90 families of four for a week — from 24 different restaurants, including Saxby’s cafes and Stephen Starr locations.

PHILADELPHIA — After nearly six months of collaborating to provide free fresh produce to low income Philadelphians, the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market and Sharing Excess have been able to donate 2,039,323 pounds of food back to the community. With food insecurity continuing to impact 38 million Americans a year and 20% of Philadelphians, the organizations remain committed to making unsold produce that would otherwise be thrown away available to people in Philadelphia through food pantries.

Evan Ehlers, an alum from the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship, built Sharing Excess, a nonprofit organization with a mission to address food insecurity in Philadelphia and around the country. Dragons are extraordinary and making a difference in this changing world. Because community can't wait.

On November 30th, we joined the student-run NGO “Sharing Excess” in their mission of tackling the problem of food insecurity. In communities everywhere, food is going to waste while people suffer from food insecurity. This is a disconnect created by the logistical barriers between excess and scarcity. If solved, this connection could ensure food security for all people living on our planet. But as vast a problem as food waste is, the solution often boils down to simple last mile logistics and delivery. Sharing Excess is meeting this challenge with the power of people, technology, and compassion.

Meet the 24-year-old founder of Sharing Excess that is getting good food to the people that need it most during the coronavirus pandemic. (Source: QuickTake)

On Monday, Philadelphia restaurants responded to Mayor Jim Kenney’s order that they restrict operations to pickup and/or delivery. While some partnered with third-party carriers or prepared to offer curbside delivery, other establishments decided to temporarily close — which creates the potential for a massive amount of food going to waste.

A group of Philly nonprofits has joined together to give back to the community during the coronavirus pandemic. ‘Sharing LOVE’ is providing meals to anyone in need. Philly Live’s Aunyea Lachelle talks to Evan Ehlers about how you can help.

Sharing Excess is an organization working to fight food insecurity and address the root causes of hunger in Philadelphia, PA. The new nonprofit serves the Philadelphia through its chapters on college campuses across the city. And Sharing Excess is especially devoted to helping college students improve their food security through meal swipes, food recovery, and new “food scholarships.”

The waste going on in America is immense. Approximately 1/3 of all food produced in the United States (126 billion pounds) is thrown in landfills each year. This waste is due to a variety of reasons like non-standardized expiration dates, aesthetic imperfections, and supply chain inefficiencies.