K-12 Food Rescue: A Food Waste Solution Podcast

In episode 194, Scott Anderson, with Phoenix Marketing, and formerly a school food service director of Madison County Schools in Richmond Kentucky, shares his extensive background implementing school food waste solutions during his career.

In episode 193, Stacy Koppen, the Nutrition Services Director at Saint Paul Public Schools in Minnesota, shares her experience reducing food waste in Saint Paul Public Schools, a district with 60 schools and 32,000 students.

In episode 192, Shona Vitelli, a science teacher at MashpeeMS/HS in Massachusetts, shares her experience leading share table, composting, and green team initiatives at Mashpee MS/HS.

Chiara Luey, a senior at Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, California , is a prominent youth environmental leader and the winner of the 2026 Youth Sustainability Award from Sustainable San Mateo County. In episode 191, Chiara shares how her journey with food waste audits led to other opportunities for her to engage in environmental sustainability sustainability issues.

In episode 190, Amy Faricy, the manager of menu services for The Douglas County School District in Colorado, and Beth Church the sustainability coordinator in Douglas County School District, share their perspective on school food waste initiatives in their district, including share tables, menu planning, composting, and other sustainability efforts.

In episode 189, Jennifer Baybado, a teacher at Sacajawea Elementary in the Vancouver Public School District in the state of Washington, shares her journey working on school food waste solution initiatives.

In Episode 188, Jill Keimach, a Physical Education and STEM teacher at Dayton Consolidated Schools in Maine, shares about a significant student-led initiative to reduce school food waste.

In Episode 187, founder of Let’s Go Compost, shares her journey of establishing a nation wide composting program for schools. Let's Go Compost is a national nonprofit located in Scottsdale AZ, focused on practical education, common-sense waste reduction, and local responsibility.

In Episode 186, Kelly Price, a Manheim Township Schools Food Service Director in Pennsylvania, shares her journey to establish share table and food rescue policies in her school district.

Episode 185 features Eleanor Chmielowicz, the Recycling Coordinator for the Brookline Department of Public Works in Brookline Massachusetts, who partners with Brookline schools with various sustainability initiatives, including food waste solutions.

Episode 184 features Alicia Howe , the faculty advisor forthe Eco Club at Memorial HS in the Eau Claire Area School District in Wisconsin, as well as HS students Erielle, Solvieg, and Audrey, who are members if the Eco Club, which has helped set up “no thank you” tables and recycling initiatives in the school district.

Episode 183 features Emily Chatelain, owner of the School Food and Wellness Group, the host of The Cafeteria Confessions podcast, and founder of The 3 O’clock Project in Louisiana.

Episode 182 features Kate Lemerich, Supervisor of Secondary STEM and Co-Chair of Metuchen Public School Sustainability Committee in New Jersey, Nikki Silipino , a RegionalOperations Associate at Share My Meals, and Sarah Teti with the First Presbyterian Food Pantry in Metuchen. Working together, they carry out the meal recovery program in Metuchen Public Schools.

Episode 181 features Arianna Sun Sofia Hennessy, and Ruth Geleye, founders of Novasta Boston, a student led Food Rescue organization in Boston, Massachusetts.

Episode 180 features Siddharth Nara and Arpit Pareek, founders of Second Serving, a student led Food Rescue organization inLouden, Virginia.

Episode 179 of the K-12 Food Rescue Podcast features SophiaZhang, a senior at Millard West High School in Nebraska. Sophia created a project called Beyond the Bite working with Kids Against Hunger and Saving Grace Perishable Food Rescue.

Episode 178 of The K-12 Food Rescue Podcast features Chef Jamie Finkelstein, who is head of the Culinary Arts Dept. at Westerly HS in Rhode Island, and is actively involved with re-purposing meals with the help of student leaders and making sure they are received by families in need in the community through their Food Rescue community fridge.

Episode 177 features Michelle Cowan, Director of Education and Community Partnerships for Clean Memphis, and Leann Edwards, who leads Project Green Fork, the food rescue program at Clean Memphis in 11 schools, soon to expand to 15.

Listen to the inspiring story of Dahlia, Scarlett, and Sonia Basmadjian, the founders of 3 sisters Food Rescue inNew York in Episode 176 of The K-12 Food Rescue Podcast.

Utah State Representative Tiara Auxier shares her experience learning about the effect of unrealistic seat times during school lunches and her experience trying to implement changes in Utah schools related to the implementation of the national school lunch program. Representative Auxier's goal is to improve student nutrition and education via the increased consumption of the healthy food students are provided each day through a common sense review of data that reveals the best practices that lead to maximum benefits for students participating in the national school lunch program.