MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee is embarking on a rescue mission through a pilot project and a challenge with the mayor’s name on it. The simple goal: waste less food and nourish people.
At the City of Milwaukee Environmental Collaboration Office, the FEED MKE Project stands for Food Excess Equitable Distribution. In a food system where food waste and hunger coexist, FEED MKE’s solution to both issues is connecting farmers, grocers and restaurants with food pantries, schools and community groups.
“We are a midwestern city with access to fresh food within 20, 50 miles in any given direction,” project lead Andi Sciacca told WTMJ. “The economic disparities are definitely concentrated within some of our most poverty-stricken zip codes.”
According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, over 15% of waste heading to Southeast Wisconsin landfills comes from edible food. At the same time, 1 in 7 households in the region face food insecurity. Those numbers climb higher in the City of Milwaukee — over 18% of residents including 1 in 4 children face daily food insecurity.
“The real belief is that there’s ample food, it’s just not getting to the people who need it,” Sciacca said.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, diverting waste through donation and redistribution is the most economically and environmentally sustainable solution for excess, edible food. FEED MKE focuses on the donation and composting pathways.
FEED MKE mini grants
FEED MKE started out with just over a dozen people volunteering as gleaners. (Gleaning is a process that recovers fruits and vegetables straight from the farm field or orchard when a grower has surplus.)
Now, FEED MKE is a coalition with hundreds of volunteers and collaborators from private and public organizations in Milwaukee. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded the City of Milwaukee a $400,000 USDA Compost and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) grant to support the FEED MKE project for two years through May 2026.
As the project enters its second year, some of that funding is going to community-based partners in the form of mini grants. After a blind panel reviewed applications, FEED MKE awarded 11 organizations with the grants in March.
Eight of the grants are funding food recovery projects. Some of them build capacity at existing food recovery programs by hiring more employees or upgrading equipment at places like Ebenezer Stone Ministries or the Gathering of SouthEast WI.
Other grants are starting new projects, like upcycling food into the fermented tea beverage kombucha. Owner of My Soul Brew Kombucha Alesia Miller plans to use gleaned produce to create new kombucha flavors and garnishes. She recently purchased a canning machine to expand her distribution reach.
“Our mission is to create access and be in food desert areas…now with the canning machine and the program behind us we’ll be able to push and really service the community,” Miller told WTMJ.
Four of the grants are funding composting projects at Vincent High School of Agricultural Sciences, Kompost Kids, UW-Milwaukee Office of Sustainability and Compost Crusader. These projects involve an expansion of community compost drop bins and education efforts.
The composting side of food waste diversion features innovative ideas that speed up the breakdown process, like a tumbling system or a rodent-proof backyard system using the bokashi method.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s Food Saver Challenge
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson launched a city-wide Food Saver Challenge last week that goes beyond the mini grants. The challenge brings local chefs and the Wisconsin Restaurant Association into the fold to prevent waste and repurpose surplus ingredients.
Restaurants and other food businesses can get help to audit their food waste, learn about waste reduction strategies and make excess food available on app services like Too Good to Go and Food Rescue Hero.
The year-long challenge will also foster direct community involvement by hosting workshops and contests. Sciacca says FEED MKE has a place for every community member and seeks to meet people where they’re at in their interaction with the food system.
“For some of us it might be being more thoughtful when we shop and only getting what we need,” Sciacca said. “It might be learning how to pickle or ferment or to can. For others it might be something as basic as where to go for emergency stores and get help when you need help.”
Milwaukee-area food banks and pantries rely heavily on local reclaimed food — and many helping hands — to keep their shelves stocked. At Nourish MKE, approximately one-third of donations come from their own volunteer-driven food rescue program.
Executive Director Valerie McMillan says it’s a valuable supplement to donations coming from the USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Program and regional food banks like Feeding America.
“We’re able to put a variety of food on the shelf beyond what you would expect to see at a food pantry,” she told WTMJ. “It adds more dignity for people to have more choices to pick from.”
Volunteers at Nourish MKE like Bill Polacheck agree there’s plenty of more work needed to upscale food recovery city-wide.
“A lot of the food pantries are struggling with acquiring food and so many grocery stores have surplus,” he said. “It feels like a bridge that needs to be connected somehow.”
The City of Milwaukee hopes FEED MKE and the mayor’s Food Saver Challenge can be that bridge.
