The province of Modena is home to a significant number of food production companies and large-scale retailers, and real quantities of food and agricultural produce are discarded simply because of production surplus, an approaching expiry date, or packaging that doesn't meet standard retail requirements, even while local families go without.
Local social services report a marked rise in family units facing economic hardship serious enough to affect their access to food, among them regular immigrant families, single mothers with children, and older people living on minimum pensions.
The project
The project funds the purchase of food that isn't available through donation but matters for proper nutrition, particularly for children, older people and those with specific dietary needs, alongside personal hygiene products that matter just as much for the dignity of everyone who uses the pantry. Rather than relying on donated surplus alone, the choice to also actively recover food waste from local producers is a deliberate one.
Volunteers run the solidarity emporium under a simple guiding idea, "nessuno resti indietro", no one gets left behind, working to make sure economic hardship never stands between a family and proper, complete nutrition or the basic dignity of looking after their own body. Having reliable stock matters more than ever as prices keep rising, helping the project keep pace with a level of local poverty that continues to grow.
Who the project is for
The project's direct beneficiaries are around 440 families, totalling nearly 1,500 people, who currently access the Emporio Solidale Eko for their weekly shopping.
Project name: RECUPERARE LO SPRECO DI CIBO PER CHI NON NE HA
Proposing organisation: EKONVOI ODV
Area of intervention: Health & Welfare
Country: Italy