Boulder Food Rescue (BFR) is a non-profit organization whose goal is to create a more just and less wasteful food system. We facilitate the sustainable redistribution of food "waste" to agencies that feed hungry, homeless, and low-income populations while educating communities about food justice.

We were conceived in the fall of 2011 as a result of University of Colorado research conducted by two of BFR’s founding members. They discovered that enough food is wasted each day to feed everyone who goes hungry in Boulder and Broomfield Counties. In discussions with grocery stores regarding this finding, they felt by the time the food was redistributed to shelters and homes, it would have become inedible. Additionally, some of the to-be-composted food could not be accepted by the area food banks because of policy restrictions. Fruits and vegetables not in original packaging are precluded from being distributed by these food banks, which amounted to thousands of pounds of nutritious food being thrown away every day.

In light of this situation Boulder Food Rescue was formed to provide direct, just-in-time delivery of perishable food, thereby helping to mitigate hunger in Boulder County; increase the access of at-risk populations to nutritious, fresh produce; and ease the food budgets of local nonprofit organizations and individuals. In order to be truly sustainable, it was a central principle that food delivery would be done by bicycle and bike trailer whenever possible. One of the main ways folks find out about BFR is by seeing our signs on our trailers as volunteers bike food around town; the signs and trailers are very important!

Our organization now picks up seven days a week, 12 times per day from 30 different food vendors, and delivers this nutritious produce to 33 different organizations that serve homeless and low-income populations every week. We have rescued over 800,000 pounds of food to date, 87% of which has been by bicycle and bicycle trailer!