New App Is Helping Feed Hundreds of Thousands of Homeless PeopleBy Carey Wedler When the man asked her for money for food, she took him to lunch instead and learned of his time as a soldier in Iraq. Hed already gone on two deployments and now hes come back, hes 26 and on the side of the road begging for food, Ahmad said. It just blew my mind. Shortly after her experience, she began an initiative at Berkeley to donate uneaten food from the universitys dining halls to local homeless shelters. The program was so successful that in three years, it has spread to over 140 colleges around the country. Excess food wastage is a serious problem in the United States. Americans throw out more food than plastic, paper, metal and glass, and in 2012 (the most recent year with available data), Americans threw out over 35 million tons of food. Meanwhile, 1 in 6 Americans goes hungry every year. As Ahmad said, excess food waste is literally the worlds dumbest problem. She noted that Hunger is bad its terrible everywhere but in America, in the most prosperous, industrialized country in the world, this just shouldnt exist. In 2013, Ahmad, now 25, launched a phone app to encourage private companies and event planners to donate extra food. Feeding Forward is a not-for-profit service that allows users to arrangeon-demand for Feeding Forward drivers to pick up leftover food and deliver it directly to areas and people that need it most. In San Francisco, the app has helped feed over 575,000 homeless people by redistributing nearly 690,000 pounds of excess food. As Ahmad told the New York Daily News, Ahmad is doing just that. Since her story was featured on CNET last Sunday, she says she has received thousands of messages from people around the world eager to participate. I didnt expect it to blow upPeople as far as Nairobi, Bangalore and Hong Kong have wrote us asking us to expand Feeding Forward to their cities and countries. Theyre like, Tell me what I can do to get it here, she said. Though Ahmads app is now one of the most successful tools for feeding the homeless, her effort is part of a growing movement to solve hunger and problems of food wastage. As CNET summarized, While homeless people often endure persecution from authorities, increased private and popular efforts are working to change the landscape. It is profoundly impressive that a young woman could foster such tangible effects in her community, but perhaps more inspiring is the global support she has received for her workshowing that in a world filled with greed, hate, and negativity, there is still hope for generosity, compassion, and a brighter future. To learn more about Ahmads innovative project and take part or donate, visit FeedingForward.com. Carey Wedler writes for theAntiMedia.org, where this article first appeared. Tune in! Anti-Media Radio airs Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Help us fix our typos: edits@theantimedia.org. A positive, encouraging bit of news. Quite refreshing. 