Local food rescue groups unite to tackle waste and hunger

Two Cincinnati nonprofits focused on reducing food waste and hunger are teaming up to create a more coordinated system for rescuing and distributing surplus food across the region.

Last Mile Food Rescue and La Soupe announced a new initiative to streamline how rescued food moves from donors to La Soupe’s kitchen, where chefs transform it into prepared meals for people facing food insecurity.

The expanded partnership comes as both organizations work to address two persistent challenges in the region. According to the nonprofits, one in five Cincinnati residents is unsure where their next meal will come from, while an estimated 40 million pounds of surplus food gets thrown away every year.

“This initiative is simple in concept and powerful in practice: the right food, to the right place, for the greatest impact,” La Soupe Executive Director Emmy Schroder said. 

The effort received a $100,000 grant from the Greater Cincinnati Foundation’s Better Together Fund.

 “One thing we know with certainty is that communities are stronger when nonprofits thrive,” said Rasheda Cromwell, chief impact officer at GCF. “La Soupe and Last Mile Food Rescue are doing the difficult behind-the-scenes work of aligning operations so the region’s food rescue efforts can be more efficient, resilient, and responsive.

Different roles, shared mission

While both organizations rescue surplus food, they serve different roles in the food recovery system.

Last Mile Food Rescue collects excess food from grocery stores, warehouses and commercial kitchens and delivers it to food banks, pantries and other organizations. Since 2020, the nonprofit has rescued more than 19 million pounds of food, equivalent to about 15.8 million meals.

La Soupe takes donated ingredients and transforms them into prepared meals distributed through community partners across Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. The organization has operated in the region for a decade.

Under the new arrangement, Last Mile will take on an expanded role handling operations, volunteer coordination and food rescue scheduling on La Soupe’s behalf. The organizations said the change will allow each nonprofit to focus more closely on its core mission.

“With La Soupe, we are building a logistics partnership precise enough that their team can stop thinking about rescue coordination and put that energy back into what they do better than anyone: transforming rescued food into meals for our hungry neighbors,”  Last Mile Food Rescue co-founder and CEO Eileen Budo said.

How the partnership will work

Officials from both nonprofits stressed that the partnership is not a merger. Both organizations will remain independent, with separate leadership teams, staffs and finances.

Instead, Last Mile will assume greater responsibility for coordinating food pickups while La Soupe concentrates on preparing meals from rescued ingredients.

GCF’s funding will pay for staff salaries, volunteer training and the additional rescue operations Last Mile will take on as the new system comes together.

The partnership builds on an existing relationship between the two nonprofits. In 2025, Last Mile completed 263 rescue runs for La Soupe, delivering more than 152,000 pounds of food to the organization’s kitchen.

Under the new initiative, Last Mile is evaluating La Soupe’s donor network, collection routes and rescue operations as the organizations work to create a more efficient long-term system.

“When organizations stop duplicating effort and start building on each other’s strengths, our whole community wins,” Schroder said.