During its annual Leadership Summit in Chicago, the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) announced a new commitment to fight hunger, as NAR will begin donating surplus food from its events and meetings to those in need. Working in partnership with the Food Recovery Network (FRN), a college student-led hunger non-profit organization, NAR has asked the 1,200 local and state REALTOR® associations around the country to “take the pledge” and join to help multiply the effort.
“Giving back to the community is the right thing to do, and I am proud that NAR members have a long history of helping their neighbors,” says Bob Goldberg, NAR CEO. “We hope this effort will inspire other associations, organizations, businesses and individuals to fight hunger in their local communities.”
The NAR commitment will add to an effort by FRN and its affiliates, which has to date recovered 3.9 million pounds of food, donated 3.2 million meals and prevented 7.4 million pounds of CO2 emissions since 2011.
NAR and FRN started their partnership earlier this year, when FRN staff designed and executed a food recovery plan for NAR’s Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington, D.C. On the final day of the event, two lunch events were unexpectedly canceled. However, thanks to the food recovery plan, 85 meals were donated to Charlie’s Place, a hunger-fighting non-profit in D.C.
“We look forward to partnering with NAR and the entire REALTOR® family to make food donation a regular part of their events and meetings. We make it fast, easy and simple for organizations to donate surplus food to people who need it the most,” says Regina Anderson, FRN executive director. “Our two organizations share the goal of making food recovery—not food waste—the standard at real estate industry events.”
NAR hotel and convention partners will collaborate on food recovery, and FRN will verify the effort at NAR’s largest annual event for real estate professionals, the 2019 REALTORS® Conference & Expo, which will be held this year from Nov. 8 – 11, 2019, in San Francisco. An estimated 20,000 people will attend the conference.
For more information, please visit www.nar.realtor.
