Nonprofit proposes SHARE food‑recovery pilot for 8 Wake County elementary schools; committee asks staff to finalize MOU and monitor volunteer burden

A Raleigh nonprofit told the Wake County Public Schools Facilities Committee it has designed a pilot program to recover unopened, prepackaged foods from school cafeterias and redistribute them to students, and staff and board members discussed operational, liability and volunteer issues before moving toward a pilot MOU.

Kathleen Liebowitz, executive director of Toward 0 Waste, introduced the SHARE (Stop Hunger and Restore Earth) food‑recovery concept and said the organization has researched other U.S. school models and North Carolina guidance. Toward 0 Waste proposed an eight‑school pilot that would capture non‑time‑temperature‑control‑for‑safety (non‑TCS) items such as individually packaged snacks, sealed juices, bananas and sealed fruit cups, store them in a rolling refrigerator or pantry cart and make them available to students and staff during the week.

Why it matters: Wake County Public Schools and its Child Nutrition Services (CNS) operate a large meal program. The proposed pilot aims both to reduce landfill waste and to provide food to students who may need it; committee members emphasized the need to avoid creating extra work for teachers or CNS operations staff.

Program design and roles

Toward 0 Waste said the pilot design includes four school roles: a SHARE program administrator (primary school contact), one or more share cart supervisors to oversee the collection cart during meal periods, share stockers to move accepted items to the fridge/pantry after meals, and a share cleaner who reviews and cleans inventory at week’s end. Toward 0 Waste proposed supplying carts, a Clearview refrigerator,…