Giving Compass' Take:

• Chef Suzy DeYoung founded LaSoupe,  a nonprofit organization that collects leftover produce in order to make soup and then freeze and re-distribute it in an effort to stop child hunger and end food waste. 

• What are other ways philanthropists can help solve food waste issues? 

• Read about the New York Department of Sanitation's initiative to promote various programs that will mitigate these food waste challenges. 

Cincinnati Chef Suzy DeYoung used to run a high-end catering company that served everyone from visiting presidents to Bruce Springsteen. In 2014, however, she became tired of the tradeoffs, which included making too much food to ensure choosey diners always had options, and buying only the freshest and prettiest produce while lots of just plain edible stuff went overlooked. “That always kind of haunted me and I hated that,” she says.

DeYoung’s answer was to found LaSoupe, a nonprofit that collects leftover produce from grocery stores and local organic farms to make an array of flavorful and inventive soups, which are then frozen and redistributed locally to stop child hunger.

Based on a general one-pound per person estimate, DeYoung figures that means she’ll be making the equivalent of 250,000 meals annually to those in need. The group earned a Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for outstanding local public service from the Jefferson Awards Foundation earlier this year.

The end goal is the make each La Soupe offering “available for anybody and everybody”—and good enough make folks want seconds.

Read the full article about food waste solutions by Ben Paynter at Fast Company