So I'm at the children's hospital again yesterday (and serious bravo to whatever company designed that place--it is just one design surprise after another there--I hope to do a future story about that, similar to what I wrote about a metro-Atlanta-based monastery's mind-blowingly-amazing Monastery Heritage Center ) when I fall upon this little sign in the airy, attractive cafeteria.

I had other things on my mind at the time, but when I woke up this morning and downloaded my photos, this sign jumped out at me again. Maybe because my friend David, who gleans 500 pounds of gorgeous but somehow unsellable food a week from four supermarkets for the food pantry (what's pictured below is what 500 pounds looks like--we call it bringing in the Wooly Mammoth), emailed me to ask if it was "time for 11 Alive." Our local NBC affiliate had contacted me about the Costo situation months ago when I had first written about it. Our local Costco refuses to donate unsellable produce, claiming it is a liability policy from their national office. We were able to confirm that this is not so, but they still will not donate, and we also found out that it looks like Costcos all over our country trash their usable produce. 

We have tried to contact national and regional executives. We hear back from no one, including the originally-helpful Aaron Sato. It nags at us, because a lot of good can be done if Costco just gave a little. We asked 11 Alive to wait until we had a positive success story to share, with actionable advice to others about their local Costcos. That day has yet to come. (Here is a post compiling the whole story: The Wooly Mammoth, the Kevin Bacon of Wasted Food, and a Simple Request Made of Costco--Updated Twice. )


Click here to see the rest of the Naked Truth about Hunger campaign. Here are the backstories . I've also been following Jeff Bridges. He's been a very public spokesperson for Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, which aspires to end childhood hunger in America by ensuring all children get the healthy food they need, every day. I just last week ripped out an ad from the New York Times Magazine about a new documentary coming out named A Place at the Table because, lo and behold, there's Jeff Bridges again.