
We’re excited to announce two winners of our August, 2021 Matt Kurtz Kindness Grants for their wonderful kindness projects. Once again, we’re able to give out 2 awards because we have so many wonderful people who support us and believe in our mission. We truly appreciate all of the donations that make this possible.
The grants were given by Matt’s Kindness Ripples On (MKRO), an organization that encourages acts of kindness by helping people who have ideas for kindness projects but lack the funding to follow through on those ideas.
Congratulations to Airam Gomez and Humza Zaida.
They each received $250 to help fund their acts of kindness projects!
Humza Zaida (Mansfield, CT) started a project to reduce food waste and recycle unused, but consumable, restaurant food into communities of need. He said, “I was inspired to start this project in light of my own personal experiences growing up in a food-insecure household, as well as the peers I befriended at the University of Connecticut struggling with similar issues I once faced. I began by first looking to recycle dining hall “swipes” to students in need, and worked as a part of the university program SOS Food Recovery. As time went on, I pursued more community-based projects and ultimately founded the Restaurant Resource Project. I am connected with 12 restaurants and collect unused, but still consumable food in the mornings on a daily basis. This food gets donated to shelters like the Holy Family Home & Shelter, or the Covenant Soup Kitchen.”
Food insecurity means people were either unable to acquire enough food to meet their needs or uncertain of where their next meal might come from.
Before the pandemic, more than 35 million Americans experienced food insecurity at some point during 2019 – that includes 11 million children, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to one estimate, that number more than doubled during the Covid crisis.
When you look at the food waste, nearly 10% of the food purchased by restaurants is wasted due to purchasing oversized shipments and inflexibility within store management. The goal is to take that wasted food and share it with people in need. These issues are a matter of disorganization and waste, rather than a true shortage of food.
Humza said, “I have a group of over 40 volunteers who help with this project. While successful, I am looking to expand this program further and one of the most major bottlenecks is funding. This grant would make a meaningful difference by enabling us to purchase thermal blankets, scales, coolers and other necessary equipment in the transport of food.”
Humza’s compassionate heart shines through. He took his own negative life experience and is using that to help other people, hoping to make their lives easier and reduce their suffering.
We know his kind acts will have a huge impact of the lives of many. We’re glad to be able to help and so happy to have Humza as part of our MKRO family.