Table to Table food rescue celebrates 25 years with open house on Thursday

IOWA CITY — Table to Table (T2T), a Johnson County nonprofit that rescues 2.5 million pounds of food each year and delivers it at no charge to local pantries and social service agencies, is kicking off a celebration of 25 years and fundraising for construction expenses with a free-to-the-public Open House on Thursday from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 1049 U.S. Hwy. 6 E, Iowa City, in Pepperwood Plaza.

Take a walk through time as you tour T2T’s new space, learning its history through displays and talking with those involved along the way. Tours will be in small groups and masks are required.

Founded in 1996 by a group of food providers, activists and community members with an idea to redistribute an abundance of food, T2T had its beginnings operating from 700 square feet of space in downtown Iowa City, from which 12 volunteers rescued 50,000 pounds of food in the first year.

Now, T2T has transformed into a distribution network of more than 100 volunteers rescuing 50,000 pounds of food each week and delivering it to recipient agencies that feed more than 20,000 Johnson County neighbors.

T2T’s new location in Iowa City’s South District neighborhood is closer to partner agencies that receive more than half the rescued food. A larger space also accommodates a resource-sharing partnership with nonprofit Field to Family, allowing the two organizations to share the space, basic operational expenses and food refrigeration.

Necessary renovations to the space include installing an overhead door and upgrading the plumbing and electrical lines to meet food warehousing standards, for which T2T needs to raise $75,000. They are 32% of the way to their goal. Donations may be made at www.table2table.org/relocation-construction-donation. Checks made out to Table to Table can be mailed to P.O. Box 2596, Iowa City, IA 52244.