By most estimates, up to 40% of food produced in the United States is wasted and thrown away in landfills. At the same time 14% of the nations households are food insecure, which is 17.4 million households. Ruth's Gleanings is a food rescue and redistribution service in Spartanburg, S.C. The program focuses on reclaiming unused healthy, fresh food - including produce, prepared and perishable items
that otherwise would be discarded. Once the food donations are secured, they are redistributed to partner organizations that serve the poor and those who are considered food insecure. The food is gathered (gleaned) from a multitude of sources such as farms, grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, banquet halls, corporate cafeterias, and schools lunch providers. It is then delivered to partners such as food banks, soup kitchens, Mobile Meals, community centers, faith-based groups, shelters and any other benevolent groups who serve in food deserts or otherwise service those in need. Ruth's Gleanings was started in 2016, inspired by the book of Ruth and Leviticus 23:22 - “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you.
