Table to Table celebrates 25 years, 25 million pounds of rescued food

IOWA CITY — Table to Table has come a long way in 25 years since it started with 700 square feet in Old Brick downtown.

But having such a small space, it turned out, helped establish a model that has become one of Table to Table’s greatest successes: picking up and distributing food the same day. As they continue to grow in their new 4,700 square-foot location in Pepperwood Plaza at 1049 U.S. Hwy. 6 East, that’s not something they’re looking to change.

“Being in this space is a launching point for us,” said Nicki Ross, executive director. “We learned a lot about what it is we need to be successful.”

A new concept in Iowa when it started in 1996, food rescuing has become a significant part of battling food insecurity in Johnson County. With 110 donor partners, including a relationship with every grocery store in Johnson County, almost 60 percent of all food distributed by pantries in Johnson County is sourced from Table to Table.

When it started, the nonprofit was rescuing about 50,000 pounds of food each year. By 2001, it had rescued 1 million pounds.

Now, it rescues 2.5 million pounds of food — $6 million worth — each year, and has cumulatively diverted 25 million pounds from landfills to 20,000 hungry neighbors. That’s 50,000 pounds of food each week.

In doing so, it has established a model that has made food distribution to pantries more efficient.

“Our model of picking up and delivering to the doorstep of partners is a pretty big accomplishment in and of itself,” Ross said.

As they celebrate from a new location, where they can store and distribute more than ever, Table to Table is fundraising $75,000 for necessary renovations including an overhead door and upgrading plumbing and electrical lines to meet food warehousing standards. So far, they’ve raised 32% of what they need.

Their 25th anniversary’s celebration was delayed one year due to COVID-19 concerns.

In 2016, the food rescue moved to a 3,000 square-foot space on Capital Street, allowing them to double the amount of food they rescued before.

“That was our first taste that having a little more space could help us do more,” Ross said. “What we learned is that having a little more space and having a place to prepare vans and ready volunteers and bring some food back really supported that growth.”

In 2018, Field to Family, another distributing nonprofit, moved in with Table to Table. In the last several years, the number of food rescue routes at the organization — which was the first in Iowa and one of the first in the country to do route-based rescue — has grown from 35 to 50.

“You can only collect as much food as you have the capacity for,” Ross said. “There was actually a lot more food left in our county to be recovered, we just never had the capacity to get it.”

Early in the pandemic, as grocery store donations dropped 50%, Table to Table established the Iowa Gleaning Network, which built relationships with local farmers to harvest produce directly.

Now in Iowa City’s South District neighborhood, they’re closer to the organization’s biggest recipient community food banks and have the space to accept rejected food loads from semi-trailer drivers — many of whom learn about Table to Table by word-of-mouth. With proximity to Interstate 80, they hope to build a food transportation rescue program.

About 40 to 50 percent of collections are short-dated — set to expire with 10 days. Table to Table distributes perishable items within six hours. With increased capacity, they’re able to store up to 70,000 pounds of their collections every year to allow for wider county distribution, rather than just partners with immediate capacity.

And as regional food pantries in Eastern Iowa reported that patrons were receiving about half the amount of food they would have received pre-pandemic, Ross said their Johnson County partners maintained or increased pre-pandemic food distribution levels.

Comments: (319) 398-8340; elijah.decious@thegazette.com