From 8 distribution sites to 275+: how Food Rescue Hero helped Haven’s Harvest sustain 1.5 million pounds rescued per year, three years running.

It started in a parking lot. In 2015, Lori Martin drove past a Trader Joe’s in Orange, CT with her son Caleb.
He knew that friends had been dumpster-diving behind the store. Lori had a different idea: just ask. Caleb reached out, the store said yes, and what began as a rocky once-a-week pickup slowly grew into twice-daily runs every day. The whole family (Lori, Caleb, Elijah, and Emma) found themselves pulled into food recovery. Haven’s Harvest was born.

An unexpected problem emerged early. They had assumed traditional food pantries and soup kitchens would be natural partners. But the type of food they were rescuing (highly perishable, often prepared) didn’t fit the timing, amount, or type that traditional pantries were built to handle. So Haven’s Harvest began building a different kind of network: senior centers, daycare centers, schools, and low-income housing communities. Non-traditional partners who could use the food right away, in the communities that needed it most.

That early pivot turned out to be the insight that defined the organization. It’s also why, when Lori eventually found Food Rescue Hero, the platform felt like a natural fit. Not just operationally, but philosophically. Food Rescue Hero’s flexible, volunteer-driven model is architecturally built for exactly this kind of hyperlocal, perishable-first food recovery.

Why Food Rescue Hero

Before joining the Food Rescue Hero network in 2020, Haven’s Harvest had been operating on a different platform. The experience wasn’t good. Live runs didn’t post in real time. Feedback was missed. The organizational values (especially around equity and community) didn’t align with Lori’s vision.

Then she heard Food Rescue Hero’s leadership speak at a Feeding America panel. She met the Food Rescue Hero tech team, spent time with them, and felt they were ‘her people.’ That their tech staff are paid employees mattered to her. She believes volunteer-only, extractive models are unsustainable. Building a real food recovery movement requires treating everyone’s labor with dignity.

After switching to Food Rescue Hero, what changed most wasn’t the numbers. It was the trust. Lori has described the experience as one that ‘calms her nervous system’, because she knows the platform will work, and she knows the people behind it share her values.

A network built for scale

Over five years, according to data from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the number of Haven’s Harvest food donor sites tripled: from around 50 in 2018 to more than 150 today, including bakeries, grocers, restaurants, and universities. Distribution sites grew from 8 to more than 275, reaching childcare centers, schools, low-income housing, and senior centers across New Haven.

That 34x growth in distribution sites didn’t happen with spreadsheets. The Food Rescue Hero platform provided the infrastructure: real-time volunteer coordination, donor tracking, and reporting that lets Haven’s Harvest demonstrate impact to funders and policymakers alike.

At the 10 million pound celebration, Lori noted that Connecticut had allocated $150,000 in the state budget for Haven’s Harvest, plus a $50,000 city line item. Connecticut was recognizing the organization as an economic development asset, not just a hunger relief program.

What Food Rescue Hero made possible

The switch to Food Rescue Hero in 2020 wasn’t just a platform change. It was an operational turning point.

The ROI is in the compounding. Distribution sites grew from 8 to 275+, a 34x increase, without a proportional increase in staff. Food donor sites tripled. Real-time volunteer coordination through the app let Haven’s Harvest absorb more donors and more delivery partners than their team size alone would have allowed. The result is three consecutive years at 1.5 million pounds annually. That’s not a campaign. That’s what sustained operational capacity looks like.

The platform’s data reporting also created a second-order benefit: proof that funders and policymakers can act on. Connecticut allocated $150,000 in the state budget and a $50,000 city line to Haven’s Harvest, recognizing the organization as an economic development asset. $55 million in community food value. 7.4 million pounds of CO2 prevented. Those numbers exist because the platform tracked them.

Food justice, not just food rescue

Lori Martin doesn’t describe Haven’s Harvest primarily as a logistics organization. She frames it within an explicit environmental justice context: the intention is to get food into the hands of communities that have been historically underserved. Specifically, Black and brown communities in New Haven. That framing shapes who they partner with, where they deliver, and how they measure success.

Since 2019, according to the organization’s own data, the food Haven’s Harvest has kept in communities carries an estimated value of over $55 million. It has also has helped prevent more than 7.4 million pounds of CO2 emissions. At the 10 million pound milestone celebration, state officials estimated the figure at approximately $50 million in food value returned to communities, recognizing the organization’s economic development impact alongside its hunger relief mission. Environmental impact and food justice, together.

Press coverage

WTNH aired a segment headlined ‘App helps New Haven group feed community by reducing food waste,’ directly attributing Haven’s Harvest’s operational capacity to Food Rescue Hero. NBC CT and Connecticut Public Radio have also featured the organization. Haven’s Harvest has received recognition at the state level, including direct budget allocations from Connecticut and the City of New Haven for its contributions to food access and economic development.

More on Haven’s Harvest: havensharvest.org
New Haven Independent milestone coverage: 10 Millionth Pound Celebration
Food Rescue Hero network: foodrescuehero.org

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