Help Feed Slum Families and Change Food Surplus from Landfill in Thailand

Hi, my name is Summer and I am a student from International Community School (ICS) in Thailand. Being here for almost 8 years, I have seen all sorts of things that are going on in my country. There are slum communities everywhere around Thailand. “Population living in slums (% of urban population) in Thailand was reported at 25 % in 2014.” - World Bank collection of development indicators. That is literally 1/4 of the people living in the city. Majority of these people aren’t qualified to get a job nor do they have food to eat for themselves or their family.

This breaks my heart every time I hear that families are struggling to live each day. “Thais currently generate about 1.14 kg of waste per person per day. Sixty-four per cent of that waste is food loss waste, which is a lot.” - Ms. Suwanna Tiensuwan, Deputy Director-General of the Pollution Control Department (PCD). All of this food that are just thrown away each day could be feeding thousands of families living in the slums. I want to make a difference to my country, as a Thai citizen, I want to help those who are in need. I have partnered up with Scholars of Sustenance (SOS), a registered non profit organization, to help feed families living in the slum communities and also to divert food waste in Thailand. Please help and support me on this journey.

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About SOS:

About one third of food produced in the world is thrown away. According to the UN, annual CO2 emissions due to food waste total 4.4 billion tons--meaning that if food waste were a country, its greenhouse gas emissions would rank 3rd after the US and China. Against the backdrop of valuable food being thrown away, right now, 842 million people don’t get enough to eat.

SOS sees the food waste challenge as an opportunity. With our fleet of vehicles, SOS picks up surplus food—good food otherwise destined for landfill—from the city's top restaurants, hotels, and grocery stores, and after a safety inspection, donates it to those in need. Food that doesn't pass safety inspections isn't wasted; it's sent to local farms to become animal feed or compost.

Building trust with each of our community groups is critical for SOS to achieve our mission. We work directly with community leaders and kitchen and purchasing teams at each community to integrate the surplus food into menu planning.

Over time, SOS seeks to demonstrate that it can be a reliable source of high quality, nutritious food. Although we cannot predict exactly what we will pick up from our food donors, SOS works to try and match our food donations to the needs of each individual community.

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With only a few trucks on the road, SOS picks up around 2 tons of food surplus a day, but that isn’t even nearly enough to feed the 200+ slum communities in Thailand.

WITH YOUR HELP…

SOS can slowly grow to feed more and more families in Thailand. With just 30 baht, a dollar, you can save a child’s hunger for a day. 840 baht, $28 dollars, can prevent a family from starving for a week. Please help me to make difference. Spread the word, share this link, and donate. If I reach my goal, SOS will be able to provide another food truck to send food to more families in other communities.