A Contra Costa County food recovery organization will soon be able to feed a lot more people in need.
White Pony Express (WPE) has moved into a new facility that features a more efficient and an expanded space to process donations.
"Today we are celebrating a new chapter for WPE where we feel like we'll be able to serve many, many more of our food and nutrition insecure neighbors," White Pony Express CEO Eve Birge said.
For the past 10 years, White Pony Express has been collecting leftover and nearly expired food from grocery stores and restaurants and then packing it back up and delivering it to nonprofits that feed the community.
"As a food recovery organization, we’re taking food that would otherwise potentially end up as landfill and we are turning it around within 24 hours, sending it to kitchens where food is prepared for the unhoused or for our most vulnerable neighbors," Birge said.
Absolutely nothing goes to waste at White Pony Express. The fruits and vegetables that aren’t quite good enough for people get tossed in a bucket that will be donated to the Lindsay Wildlife Experience and farmers for animals.
The organization outgrew its previous location in Pleasant Hill. Its new Concord facility has five times the refrigerator and freezer capacity.
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"We hope that with this new location we will be better positioned to meet the need," Birge said.
The need is great. An estimated one in five people in Contra Costa County are food insecure.
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Currently, White Pony Express provides food to 98 organizations, but 70 more are on the waiting list. With the new facility, the staff hopes to start serving more of them soon.
