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Too often grocery stores and restaurants find themselves throwing out food, when there is great need in nearby communities. MEANS Database modernizes food recovery in 48 states and the District of Columbia by connecting excess food to organizations and individuals who need it. Hunger lingers in the lives of the people it affects. In infants and toddlers, food insecurity is associated with failure to thrive, a devastating condition with consequences into adulthood (1). In early childhood, hunger is associated with diminished academic progress, more behavioral problems and unhealthy weight (2). By high school, it's linked with dropping out, and by early adulthood, with having children who also face hunger, the cycle starts over again (3). Food insecurity exists in every American demographic and geography, affecting every population tracked by the US Census. However, as it seems for every other social ill, the most rural, the most urban, and minorities in any location bear a disproportionate burden of the weight of hunger. While 12.7% of American families are food insecure, the rate for Black and Latino families are each about 20% (4). Jefferson County, Mississippi, is a study in these disparities: it has the highest percentage of black residents of any American county, and also holds the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of food insecurity in the United States, with nearly 38% of residents facing hunger (5). Meanwhile, while more than 42 million Americans rely on food pantries, soup kitchens and other emergency food providers to feed their families, the United States grapples with an massive food waste problem. Forty percent of the American food supply ends up in landfills, with perfectly edible meals being thrown away at all stages of production (7). Food is the single largest contributor to landfill and incinerator mass in the United States, choking the nation's air while 1 in 8 Americans face food insecurity (8). Further complicating this feast and famine dynamic is the uncomfortable truth that even programs meant to address hunger frequently end up wasting food. The issue we are tackling with MEANS is huge: we're trying to prevent food waste and adequately address the problem of hunger. The USDA reports that 48.1 million Americans live in food-insecure households, while Feeding America says that 70 billion pounds of food are wasted in the US each year (8). This task may seem daunting, but we know that through the use of innovative technology like ours, we can help to change the future of food recovery. MEANS (Matching Excess And Need for Stability) is an online communications platform for emergency food providers and their donors. On a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone, agencies create an account with MEANS, registering their contact information, location, the kind(s) of foods they are searching for, and the distance they are willing or able to travel to pick up those goods. Donors post their excess goods on MEANS, and the system emails and/or texts organizations nearby that need those goods. Our tool substantially reduces the communications gap between emergency food providers and their donors, preventing "donation dumping" on both sides. MEANS was designed to handle both traditional food donations, from grocery stores or caterers, and donations between emergency food providers. There is no charge for any of our organization's services, for nonprofit agencies or retailers. Citations: 1) Kersten, Hans B. and Bennett, David (2012) "A Multidisciplinary Team Experience with Food Insecurity & Failure to Thrive," Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 6. 2) Jyoti, Diana F.; Frongillo, Edward A.; and Jones, Sonya J. (2005) "Food Insecurity Affects School Children's Academic Performance, Weight Gain, and Social Skills" The Journal of Nutrition vol. 135 no. 12 2831-2839. 3)"Changing the Picture of Education in America: Communities in Schools Spring 2014 Impact Report" (2014) 4) USDA (2015). "Food Security Status of U.S. Households in 2015" 5) Feeding America (2016). "Map the Meal Gap 2016" 7) Gunders, Dana (2012). "Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill" 8) Feeding America (ND), "Food Waste In America"

New Era Educational and Charitable Support Foundation is a unique organization whose mission is to build, support and empower teams of youth with capacities to emerge from a life on the streets, drugs and dysfunctional families, to becoming leaders capable of helping themselves and their communities. We are leading a movement that connects youth, educators and communities and empowers them to transform themselves from recipients of information and resources into valuable, contributing members of their communities. We help young people discover and develop their inherent gifts, talents and abilities and support their development as ethically responsible, self-disciplined and creative social citizens capable of participation in a positive and sustainable society.

Founded in 2004 by a group of young professionals who believed people can make a difference, HandsOn Shanghai is an officially registered non-profit organization with the Shanghai Civil Affair Bureau since 2010. Governed by a board of 11 members, the HandsOn Shanghai volunteer platform helps to bridge the divide that exists between individuals who are looking to give back to their community and the organizations that would benefit from the support that volunteers can provide. With a primary objective of providing flexible volunteer opportunities for busy professionals and serving local charities in needs, HOS manages a big group of volunteers and a diverse range of community service projects in Shanghai Currently we engage more than 2500 volunteers each month through more than 150 local service projects. Projects that benefit the young and old through long term, committed, partnerships with more than 75 project partners. With our mission is to promote volunteerism, inspire, equip and mobilize people to take action that changes the world, we envision a world in which individuals, students, and corporate leaders are able to discover (and harness) their power to make a difference, participate as volunteers, and participants in the development of healthy, vibrant, and resilient communities.

The Center for Renewable Energy and Appropriate Technology for the Environment (CREATE!) was established in 2008 to help rural populations in the developing world prepare for water, food, and fuel shortages resulting from the impact of climate change on their communities. CREATE! operates on the principle that all people have a right to water, food, shelter, energy, and the means to earn a living. We work with village populations to meet these needs through a culturally respectful, participatory process grounded in our belief that people must have a stake in their development and contribute towards solving their own problems. The cooperative groups in our beneficiary villages have already demonstrated the validity of this approach. CREATE! currently operates in Senegal. Senegal is representative of many Sub-Saharan African countries that are hardest hit by the increasingly disastrous effects of global climate change. CREATE! responds to the inter-connected crises generated by climate change with strategies that decrease dependence on fossil fuels, conserve natural resources, and increase the use of appropriate technologies. Our programs produce sustainable, human needs-based development at the village level while forging resilient and vibrant communities across rural Senegal. CREATE! seeks to face these challenges and assist rural Senegalese residents with small-scale, accessible, and "appropriate" technologies - technologies that are adapted to, and fit, their local conditions - and with human needs-based strategies that can both better their lives and build their capacity to meet these inter-connected challenges. CREATE! works in six villages in two regions of Senegal. One region is in the rural north of Senegal, centered around Linguere in the Louga Region, where CREATE! implements programs in the village of Ouarkhokh. The other region is in the central-west of Senegal, centered around Gossas in the Fatick Region. CREATE! implements program activities in five villages in this region. The total beneficiary population of the six villages is approximately 12,000 people, comprised of both agricultural and pastoral peoples. The average per capita annual income of the population in these villages is approximately $350 a year. In each of these villages, CREATE! staff work closely with local and traditional authorities, including village chiefs and imams, in addition to other community leaders, families, and public schools. CREATE! values the expertise and input of community members and strives to incorporate their knowledge and participation into each stage of our programs. As a registered NGO in Senegal, CREATE! works with government officials from the regional office of the Department of Water and Forestry. CREATE! also respects the Senegalese government's strategic development goals for rural communities. Although CREATE!'s administrative office is located in the United States, CREATE! relies on local Senegalese staff and volunteers to plan and implement successful development interventions. Barry Wheeler, CREATE! Founder and Executive Director, has spent the past 27 years working to alleviate suffering and to provide basic human needs for rural villagers, displaced persons, and refugees in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. After serving in the Peace Corps for six years as an Improved Cook Stove and Appropriate Technology volunteer, trainer, and technical advisor in Togo, Barry earned a Master's degree in International Agriculture and Rural Development from Cornell University. Barry has served as Country Director for the American Refugee Committee's programs in Uganda, Sudan, and Rwanda; as a consultant for UNICEF and UNHCR; and as a team leader and training coordinator in local capacity building, renewable and appropriate technology, and sustainable rural development. CREATE! Chief Operations Officer Louise Ruhr has more than 30 years of private sector and nonprofit management experience and has spent the past eight years working with international NGOs, including the American Refugee Committee, to support women's cooperative groups in Rwanda and Senegal. CREATE! Country Director Omar Ndiaye Seck oversees program activities and conducts site visits in CREATE! communities. He also manages CREATE!'s finances and staff in Senegal. Omar closely collaborates with local and traditional authorities, community volunteers, and CREATE! staff to achieve both organizational and village goals.

Our purpose is to reduce poverty, bring hope and solidarity to poor communities or individuals in France and worldwide. We bring assistance to families, children and young people but also to the most vulnerable (homelesses, migrants, prisoners etc.). We fight against isolation, help them to find employement and we ensure their social reintegration. We provide emergency responses but also long term support, development aid and we work on the causes of poverty. The action of Secours Catholique finds all its meaning in a global vision of poverty which aims at restoring the human person's dignity and is part and parcel of sustainable development. To do so, six key principles guide this action, both in France and abroad: Promoting the place and words of people living in situations of poverty Making each person a main player of their own development Joining forces with people living in situations of poverty Acting for the development of the human person in all its aspects Acting on the causes of poverty and exclusion Arousing solidarity The actions of Secours Catholique are implemented by a network of local teams of volunteers integrated into the diocesan delegations and supported by the volunteers and employees of the national headquarters. On an international level, Secours Catholique acts in cooperation with its partners of the Caritas Internationalis network. Key figures of Secours Catholique: 100 diocesan or departmental delegations 4,000 local teams 65,000 volunteers 974 employees 2,174 reception centres 3 centres : Cite Saint-Pierre in Lourdes, Maison d'Abraham in Jerusalem, Cedre in Paris 18 housing centres managed by the Association des Cites of Secours Catholique 162 Caritas Internationalis partners 600,000 donors Every year Secours Catholique encounters almost 700,000 situations of poverty and receives 1.6 million people (860,000 adults and 740,000 children). This daily mission led in the field by the local teams and delegations, with the support of national headquarters, pursues three major objectives which aim at exceeding the distribution action and limited aid: Receiving to reply to the primary needs (supplying food and/or health care aid, proposing accommodation, establishing an exchange and a fraternal dialogue, etc) Supporting to restore social ties (bringing together people in difficulty with an aim to reinsertion, encouraging personal initiatives and collective projects, establishing a mutual support helper-receiver of help relationship, etc) Developing to strengthen solidarity (proposing long lasting solutions, establishing a follow-up over the long term, encouraging collective actions carried out by people in difficulty etc.)

The Paardeberg Sustainability Initiative (PSI) was conceived in 2001, in recognition of threats to the biodiversity and natural resources of the Paardeberg , a privately-owned mountain in the Western Cape, South Africa. A primary threat is economic pressure facing some 50 farmers and landowners of the mountaintop and surrounding areas.Additional and aggravating threats are global climate shifts, poverty, limited statehood. compromised capacity, education and implementation/enforcement of legislation. These challenges must be addressed to fulfill world guidelines (Agenda 21,SDG's, et) for sustainable development. PSI is currently a VAT- registered Non Profit company [NPC] and Public Benefit Organisation with Section 18A tax exempt status. It is aligned with several partners which share its vision and operate in the Paardeberg, and in this sense can be described as collaborative facilitator. Through fundraising for various integrated non-profitable projects, the PSI seeks to promote sustainability in the Paardeberg and in broader Southern African contexts. The PSI also encourages local profitable enterprises to contribute generously and tax-efficiently to a central fund that is managed by the Board of Directors of the PSI. These funds are either 'ring- fenced' for specific projects, or allocated to projects requiring support, through a process that seeks to fulfill both the agenda of the donor and the mandate of the PSI. The PSI houses both enterprises (SMME's) and projects. Projects depend on the PSI for funding, while the enterprises represent potential sources of funds/assets for the PSI. The PSI acts as an umbrella offering core functions of administration, marketing, HR management, accounting, etc to all projects and SMME's based on an economy of scale. It is thus an ideal incubator to develop new businesses while minimizing risk. The vision of the PSI is to create a successful model of sustainable development, promoted by profitable enterprises and non-profitable projects, co-operating in partnerships that oversee responsible management of natural resources and biodiversity , within an economic framework that obviates the plague of poverty and social decay while upholding the law and supportive of good governance. The PSI has housed several projects, including the Paardeberg Fire Project, Paardeberg Environmental Awareness and Response(ongoing), Paardeberg Alternative Energy Solutions, Paardeberg Botanical Surveys, PSI NatReM Project and the Paardeberg Erosion Project. It is also acting as an incubator of SMME's engaged in these and other projects. All finances are conducted through a central bank account, but independently managed and audited for each project/business separately, as per the PSI MOI. The PSI does not prejudice the independence of enterprises or projects falling within its ambit. However, its role in protecting biodiversity and natural resources influences the directives it generates. Participation of all interested and affected parties of any single project or enterprise is key to the application of these directives.

The Sophia Akash Foundation's (SAF) mission is to facilitate sustainable paths out of poverty for the world's poor. We recognise that for those living in poverty, the essential services that enable them to build sustainable livelihoods are unaffordable. Our mission is to change that. We help build strong, sustainable Social Enterprises, using innovative solutions to meet the basic needs of poor and unserved communities. With access to affordable basic services such as financial inclusion, primary healthcare, education and others, households can break the cycle of poverty.

The Highland Support Project (HSP) is a direct aid model to reduce the separation between donors and community-based change agents to assist Indigenous communities to be able to stay on their land, in the community, and with their culture. HSP supports the development of social capital and increasing the acumen of leadership to identify and take advantage of opportunities. HSP takes a different approach to development. One based on hope, not dependency, opportunity, not charity. HSP develops programs to break cycles of dependency and foster local agency to address structural issues that impede access to opportunity.

Orb Media is a nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to telling stories that matter to billions of people around the globe. Fusing original research and data analysis, on-the-ground multi-country reporting, and social journalism - turning the public into a reporting resource - Orb Media examines systemic issues that cross national and cultural divides. We publish in partnership worldwide with agenda-setting media to catalyze global public dialogue to generate constructive change. Orb is fully digital and we deliver incisive and compelling stories in multiple formats and languages, making them accessible to anyone with a cell phone, tablet or computer.

Global Changemakers works to an unshakable mission of supporting young people to create a positive change towards a more just, fair and sustainable world. We do this through skills development, capacity building, mentoring and grants.

Fundacion Bahia y Ecosistemas de Colombia is a non-governmental non-profit organization created with the purpose of cleaning the bay of Cartagena and its surrounding bodies, protecting their ecosystems and promoting the adaptation of the city to climate change. We are an organization that brings together people and institutions with vast experience in the environmental and business sector of the city, committed to improving the bay of Cartagena and the city. The Foundation is guided by the best science available and seeks the financial sustainability of all the projects it undertakes. Our basic lines of action are: Improve water quality of the bay and surrounding bodies; Protection and restoration of key species and ecosystems for the health of the bay and nearby bodies; and Actions to adapt or mitigate climate change in the city.

To improve the quality of life and advance the rights of children; To bring about change for good on behalf of children and families, and encourage them to participate in processes which enhance their equality, self-reliance and long term sustainable development; Wherever possible to provide practical support which allows children to grow up within their own families and communities