Our mission is to share the love of Christ by recovering food for those who need to be served in Angelina County.
What is Second Helpings?
Second Helpings is a grass-roots organization started by an intrepid group of women who wanted to make a difference in the lives of those in their community experiencing food insecurity. Through the prayer, careful planning and hard work of the group’s founders together with a large base of volunteers, Second Helpings has set about to be the hands and feet of Jesus in loving others and taking care of those in need.
Hunger is an issue in every city and small town in America. One in seven people, including 11 million children, has limited or uncertain access to enough food to support a healthy life. Food recovery, also called food rescue or food salvage, is the connection between a food source and a food need. It is the gathering of excess or leftover edible food that would otherwise go to waste from places like restaurants, grocery stores or school cafeterias and giving it to local agencies or food programs that distribute it to those who are food insecure. Often, the transfer of food from source to need is facilitated by a third party like Second Helpings.
Volunteers (L:R Glenda King, Karen Foley, Becca Chance, Aurelia Newton, Lisa Hurst, Sheila Telford, Melissa Abeldt) from Second Helpings of Angelina County. (Photo / Lisa Crow / lisacrowphotography.smugmug.com)
After everyone was full, Jesus told them, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.”
John 6:12
Food Waste in the United States
The USDA’s Economic Research Service estimates food waste in the United States to be between 30-40 percent of the supply. There are approximately 63 million tons of waste throughout the food supply chain with nearly 85% occurring downstream at consumer-facing businesses and homes. Every year, American consumers, businesses, and farms spend $218 billion, or 1.3% of GDP, growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food that is never eaten. That is 52 million tons of food sent to landfill annually, plus another 10 million tons that is discarded or left unharvested on farms. Meanwhile, one in seven Americans is food insecure, including over 11,000,000 children. Food recovery solutions recover perishable food that would otherwise go to waste and donate it to people in need. One pound of food waste diverted equals 1.2 meals for hungry Americans.
Volunteers (Dean and Susie Worley) from Second Helpings of Angelina County.
Ready to take the next step?
Help turn hunger into hope! Learn more about how you can help Second Helpings end hunger in our community through donating or volunteering. It doesn’t take a big commitment to make a big impact. Your gift of money or time will make a difference in the lives of your neighbors struggling with hunger.
"The Salvation Army of Lufkin is so appreciative of Second Helpings and the blessing they have been to our organization but more importantly, to the community as a whole. Many times we are serving some of the vulnerable of our community from homeless individuals to families who are experiencing extreme poverty. Second Helpings helps us to meet the needs of hunger by closing the gap of food insecurity."
— Captain Jenifer Phillips, Salvation Army of Lufkin