There are some schools in the state of Indiana, Elkhart Community Schools, where students receive two meals a day – breakfast and lunch. This is because some of the students don’t have food at home, and they need these meals at school or else they would go hungry.

One of the side effects of these meal preps for students will often result in extra food. So what happens to it? The schools were not sure what to do with the extra food, but they had hoped to put it to better use instead of throwing it away and wasting it.

That’s when they found out that some of their students wouldn’t get proper nourishment at home on the weekends. These students who would receive their meals at school during the week, would go home for Saturday and Sunday, where they’d then be hungry. That’s when a solution was sought.

The Elkhart Schools decided to try something new. They teamed up with Cultivate, a non-profit that takes extra food from places such as restaurants and catering companies, before they turn the excess into frozen meals.

Jim Conklin from Cultivate said, “Mostly, we rescue food that’s been made but never served.”

The non-profit based in South Bend is now working with Woodland Elementary School to test out a pilot program. The leftover food from the school’s cafeteria is now being used to create frozen meals, which students can then take home with them at weekends. This way, the students will have food to eat when they’re not at school, and the food won’t be wasted. It’s a win, win.

Even though the program is new, it’s been making a very big impact already. Elkhart Schools are hoping to bring the new program to other schools in the area.

If you want more information about how the program works, you can watch the video below.

What do you think about the program? Should it be brought to other schools nationwide?