Aloha Harvest is the only nonprofit organization that fights O`ahu’s food waste issue on a large scale. Their teams travel throughout the island to pick up and redistribute thousands of pounds of quality excess food every day, food that otherwise would have been thrown away. They have become a bridge to 250+ food donors and 175+ nonprofit agencies.

I partnered with Aloha Harvest to photograph a day in the life of their box truck drivers. I shadowed Lead Driver Hiram and Driver Helper Tim. They start their day at the company office in Kaimuki to review their route and pick up their large refrigerated trucks. Then they drive to various wholesale distributors, grocery stores, hotels, restaurants and event centers to collect donated excess food. After each stop, they log the poundage of food by weighing in every donation. Throughout the day, interwoven with pickups, they deliver the food to nonprofit partners that redistribute the food to those who are hungry. 

According to a recent study conducted by the Environmental Protective Agency (EPA), food waste accounts for roughly 22 percent of discarded waste. At the same time, 50 million Americans, or 1 in 4 children, do not know where their next meal is coming from. Aloha Harvest is a great resource that saves food to feed our community. If you or someone you know works in the food industry, I encourage you to partner with and/or mention Aloha Harvest to anyone that may be able to help. To learn more about them, view their website at http://alohaharvest.org.

Text written by Mike Vidales & Leslie Pyo