Last Mile Food Rescue

Last Mile Food Rescue is dedicated to ending food insecurity and waste by rescuing excess, desirable food for those who need it most. Volunteers, called Food Rescue Heroes, use a mobile app to pick up food donations and deliver it to partner agencies who get it to those in need. Since 2020, we have rescued tens of millions of pounds of food, providing nutritious meals to our community and preventing CO2 emissions from the landfills.

Last Mile Food Rescue actively engages University of Cincinnati students through multiple opportunities that provide hands-on experience while serving the community. We regularly donate rescued food to the UC Bearcat Pantry to help address food insecurity among students. We also host University of Cincinnati co-op students and interns who gain real-world experience in nonprofit operations, logistics, technology, data analysis, and community impact work. In addition, we are expanding opportunities for students to earn service hours through volunteer roles that directly support our food rescue mission, including assisting with food handling, logistics, and warehouse/container operations. These experiences allow students to contribute to hunger relief and sustainability efforts while developing valuable professional skills. This service-hour opportunity supports our food rescue operations by helping organize and stage rescued food, assisting volunteers with pickups and drop-offs, maintaining a safe work environment, and ensuring food reaches community partners efficiently. Students can gain nonprofit logistics and operations experience while making a direct impact on hunger relief and food waste reduction.