Fort Collins Food Finders!

The Mundo loaded with fresh donated produce on it's way to the Larimer County Food Bank

More on what a bike can do: I belong to an organization called the Fort Collins Food Finders, one of the many programs of The Growing Project.  Food Finders, previously known as Fort Collins Food Rescue, combines two of my favorite things - Food and Bicycles!  Almost every day volunteers go to where the fresh food is and bring it, via bicycle power, to the people who need it.  Pickups include farmers markets, the Fort Collins Food Coop, and local farms.  So far, since we started in May 2013, we've delivered over 8,000 pounds of food to many of the missions and charities who feed the hungry in our town.  A lot of it goes to the Larimer County Food Bank as well for further distribution.

Tyler uses a trailer on his fixie to deliver for Food Finders

Most of the volunteers use their bike trailers to haul the bounty, but when I go out I bring the Mundo. With the Yuba Go-Getter bag on one side, a plastic tote mounted on the other, and towing my trusty old Burley trailer I can carry hundreds of pounds per trip.  Comes in handy at a farmers market pickup, when lots of the vendors donate their leftovers at the end of the market.  About 3 weeks ago Tyler and I met at the downtown farmers market and saved 108 pounds of peppers, corn, tomatoes and more. What a great way to combine biking and community service as well as being able to hang out with some very cool people.

If you think a Food Rescue operation is what your town needs (and it probably does), check out The Growing Project website for more info, and in the meantime, support your local farmers!