Food Recovery

We are fortunate to have free meals for all in California. This movement started after Covid and has continued into this school year. All students, whether they qualify for free or reduced lunch or not, are offered two nutritionally adequate meals for free each day in our schools. Students are required to take a complete reimbursable meal, which includes a ½ cup of fruit or vegetable. This can lead to students taking food and not eating it or even worse, throwing it away. 

The state of California recently passed a new law, SB 1383, which now allows school districts to donate unused food that meet all of the health and safety standards to non-profit groups feeding our neediest populations. San Luis Coastal Unified School District has teamed with the SLO Food Bank to get our unused food items into the hands of those who are in need. The Food Rescue Program has been a great success in its first year; SLCUSD donated over 10,000 lbs of food during the 2023-24 school year!

More information about SB 1383 and food recovery efforts can be found on CalRecycle's website. 

This effort would not be possible without our staff’s willingness and desire to help others along with great agencies in our community, like the SLO Food Bank.

In California, 2.5 billion meals worth of potentially-donatable food is landfilled a year which could feed millions of the 1 in 5 Californians without enough food to eat. We are very happy to do our part to provide this new sustainable practice while helping our community.