{"id":47881,"date":"2021-03-15T20:47:50","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T00:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=47881"},"modified":"2021-03-15T20:48:01","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T00:48:01","slug":"lee-countys-3rd-annual-food-rescue-campaign-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2021\/03\/lee-countys-3rd-annual-food-rescue-campaign-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee County\u2019s 3rd annual food-rescue campaign begins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/food-1024x577.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47882\" width=\"611\" height=\"344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/food-1024x577.png 1024w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/food-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/food-768x433.png 768w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/food.png 1331w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 611px) 100vw, 611px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Lee County Solid Waste\u2019s third annual \u201cDonated not Wasted\u201d food rescue campaign encourages seasonal residents and visitors to donate unopened pantry items before returning north. The two previous campaigns resulted in 6,000 pounds of food diverted from potential disposal \u2013 enough to provide 5,000 meals to hungry people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nationwide, Americans throw out 30 to 40 percent of the available food supply. In Lee County, food waste accounts for 13 percent, or 70,000 tons, of the local waste stream, according to a 2016 audit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the onset of COVID-19, the need for food has increased dramatically. \u201cLast year we distributed 32.4 million pounds of food,\u201d said Meg Madzar, food drive coordinator for Harry Chapin Food Bank. \u201cNow, we are distributing nearly 1 million pounds a week and feeding a quarter of a million people a month.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People can drop off unopened canned or dry goods from Monday, March 22, through April 5, at libraries or Lee County Parks &amp; Recreation centers. Additional collection containers are located at the Parks &amp; Recreation\u2019s Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve and at Lee County Solid Waste\u2019s Topaz Court Household Chemical Waste Facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information, visit&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.leegov.com\/solidwaste\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.leegov.com\/solidwaste<\/a>, or call 239-533-8000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drop off locations in Lehigh Acres<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recreation centers<br>Veterans Park Recreation Center<br>55 Homestead Road S, Lehigh Acres<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Library locations<br>East County Regional Library<br>881 Gunnery Rd., Lehigh Acres<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lee County Solid Waste\u2019s third annual \u201cDonated not Wasted\u201d food rescue campaign encourages seasonal residents and visitors to donate unopened pantry items before returning north. The two previous campaigns resulted&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":47882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}