PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014\u00a0A Pinellas County nonprofit is expanding its reach to feed more families in need \u2014 all by transforming surplus food that would otherwise be thrown away.<\/p>\n
360 Eats, a local organization dedicated to rescuing excess food and turning it into nutritious, chef-prepared meals, has launched a temporary emergency meal hub. The expansion is supported by a new grant from United Way Suncoast and strengthened by a partnership with the St. Pete Free Clinic.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
360 Eats, a local organization dedicated to rescuing excess food and turning it into nutritious, chef-prepared meals, has launched a temporary emergency meal hub at the St. Pete Free Clinic
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The expansion is supported by a new grant from United Way Suncoast and strengthened by a partnership with the St. Pete Free Clinic.
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Inside the standalone kitchen, chefs and volunteers work daily to recover and repurpose fresh ingredients from grocery stores, farms, food distributors and local businesses. 360 Eats Executive Director\u00a0Cameron MacLeish\u00a0says their mission is about addressing two problems at once: food waste and food insecurity
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As part of the expansion, the 360 Eats food truck will now be stationed outside the\u00a0St. Pete Free Clinic every Tuesday from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. through Dec. 2. Families can walk up and receive fresh meals at no cost<\/p>\n
Inside the standalone kitchen, chefs and volunteers work daily to recover and repurpose fresh ingredients from grocery stores, farms, food distributors and local businesses. 360 Eats Executive Director\u00a0Cameron MacLeish\u00a0says their mission is about addressing two problems at once: food waste and food insecurity.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s a great way to bridge the gap between food waste and hunger right here in Pinellas County,” MacLeish\u00a0said. “The second largest category of waste is food waste, actually, as reported by Pinellas County Solid Waste Department. You\u2019re talking millions of pounds of fresh food that\u2019s needlessly tossed away every single year. This makes zero sense when you\u2019ve got thousands of families who don\u2019t know where their next meal is going to come from.\u201d<\/p>\n
MacLeish says the model works because they\u2019ve built relationships with local food sources that often have surplus for reasons outside their control.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we partner with a variety of local food businesses, food distributors, grocery stores, farms that have surplus food for whatever reason that they don\u2019t plan on selling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead of that food ending up in landfills, it\u2019s transformed into healthy meals that families can take home the same day.<\/p>\n
A Mission Rooted in Family and Experience<\/p>\n
360 Eats was founded by MacLeish and his mother,\u00a0Executive Chef Ellen MacLeish, whose years in New York City restaurants and later in soup kitchens exposed her to the struggles of working parents trying to put meals on the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stress of watching her navigate that was excruciating and really inspired me to say I can\u2019t fix everything, but I can certainly become a part of a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nonprofit\u2019s expansion formally began during the federal government shutdown, when SNAP benefit delays left families suddenly without resources. Since then, the need has only grown \u2014 particularly for working families living paycheck-to-paycheck.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why 360 Eats operates with a\u00a0no-barrier approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to qualify. You don\u2019t have to show ID. You don\u2019t have to make an appointment. Just show up to the truck when we\u2019re there, and we\u2019ll give you as many meals as you need \u2014 no questions asked,\u201d said Ellen MacLeish.<\/p>\n
Beyond helping families meet basic nutritional needs, the founders say the meals are intentionally high quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone deserves a meal with dignity. And so we really try to make our food as elevated and gourmet as possible,\u201d said\u00a0Cameron MacLeish.<\/p>\n
For the MacLeishes, the goal is not just filling stomachs \u2014 it\u2019s building community, reducing waste and offering comfort during difficult times.<\/p>\n
As part of the expansion, the 360 Eats food truck will now be stationed outside the\u00a0St. Pete Free Clinic every Tuesday from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.\u00a0through Dec. 2. Families can walk up and receive fresh meals at no cost.<\/p>\n
Through its partnerships, rescued-food model and commitment to dignity, 360 Eats continues to show what\u2019s possible when communities come together to tackle both waste and hunger \u2014 one plate at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014\u00a0A Pinellas County nonprofit is expanding its reach to feed more families in need \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[767,2375,28,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,835],"class_list":["post-50440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-app-community","tag-fadia-patterson","tag-florida","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}