Written By: Georgina Murphy

If this past October you were harassed by Upper School students to finish the food on your plate—don’t worry, that was just the Just Food Club running their annual Food Waste Challenge!

This fall marks the Just Food Club’s second Annual Food Waste Challenge across the lower, middle, and upper school divisions. According to statistics collected by the Just Food Club, throughout the week of 10/27, the Lower School had 162.10 lbs of food waste (which was 9.43% more than the previous week), the Middle School had 218.30 lbs of food waste (which was 1.98% less than the previous week), and the Upper School had 216.10 lbs of food waste (which is 3.32% overall decrease). Secretary of the Just Food Club, Madeleine Stokes ‘28 , says that she is thrilled that the Upper School’s food waste is decreasing, as they have not beaten the middle school in a while. Additionally, Eda Buyuk ‘27, Vice President of the Just Food Club, says, “The Upper School has really stepped it up this past month when they were able to come out on top with the highest percent decrease in their food waste.  Way to go high school!”

Stokes says, “The goal of the Annual Food Waste Challenge is to open student’s eyes to how much food we waste and motivate students to lower their food waste through healthy competition across the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools.”

Not only is the Just Food Club running the food waste challenge, but they are also partnering with Rye’s Bread of Life to collect non-perishable food items for families that have been affected by the pause in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Students are encouraged to drop off non-perishable foods at the drop of location in the entry of the Athletic Center.

The Just Food Club is always looking for more members and participants—Stokes says, “Just Food is a great and relatively new club at RCDS. We focus on educating our community about food waste and the detrimental effects of it, and we would love for more students to join!” Therefore, if you are passionate about food waste or just want to get involved with your community, the Just Food Club is the place for you!