Local Nonprofit We Don't Waste Is Moving Into a Huge New Facility

"It's a tremendous growth story," says Arlan Preblud, a former lawyer and University of Denver graduate who in 2009 began collecting surplus food from restaurants and catering companies and packing it into his Volvo station wagon, then redistributing it. Within the first three months of operation, Preblud had collected over 270,000 servings of food and provided meals to those in need.

Now his nonprofit, We Don't Waste, has 23 employees and is preparing to move operations into a new warehouse in Northeast Park Hill that is three times the size of its current distribution center. "I never thought we'd end up in a 30,000-square-foot warehouse," Preblud admits. "We've been in our current space for a little over five years, and last year we realized we had outgrown the space and were constrained with a lot of things we wanted to do."

The new distribution center, which the team hopes to move into by mid-November, has a number of benefits. It has three times the freezer space and double the cooler capacity, so the nonprofit "can take on additional food and maintain it for longer periods of time," Preblud says.

It also has four docks with indoor garages so that We Don't Waste can park its trucks safely overnight without having to worry about such issues as gasoline siphoning and catalytic converter theft, which have both been problems at the current location at 5971 Broadway. There is more room for staff to work, with additional offices and two conference rooms, as well as an on-site prep kitchen and classroom that will allow We Don't Waste to expand its education program.

Preblud believes that advocating for more in-depth education regarding the food we eat — and how it impacts not just our bodies, but our environment and the community around us — is the first step to stopping food insecurity and the waste cycle. "We started a small program with an education specialist. She would go into schools and conduct an audit regarding how much food they were wasting and what they could do differently to combat that," Preblud explains. "They loved it. One thing led to another, and Denver Public Schools asked if we could run a program across all their schools."

With its new space, We Don't Waste will be able to give demos showing how to cook without waste. "We've found that when we do these meetings and are able to bring in kids, we try to give them interesting anecdotes that will stay with them," Preblud says. "For example, the amount of water that's needed to grow one tomato is equal to standing under your shower for ninety minutes. If they go home after visiting with us and they're having dinner with their family and they see that they're wasting a tomato, they can speak up. They, in turn, are the spokespeople of the future and can address food insecurity as well as the danger of putting food into landfills."

The new warehouse also has one acre of undeveloped land. "It provides us the opportunity in the future to expand the physical plant if needed, but in the meantime, we're going to use it as a community garden," Preblud says. "That way, we can bring youngsters and adults from the area in and teach them how to harvest and grow food. And if there's excess, we can distribute it through our channels." He's hoping to start developing the garden by next summer.
Also in the works is a branded app. "We found that it's sometimes challenging to serve small operations like independent restaurants," Preblud notes. When the app launches, restaurants that have, say, ten hamburgers left over at the end of service will be able to mark them as available. Volunteers will see that, and then pick up the food for distribution to pantries or food banks in their neighborhood. The goal is to eventually expand the app's reach throughout the state.

Even as We Don't Waste expands its reach, its core mission remains the same: to bridge the food waste gap by rescuing excess food from restaurants, grocery stores, catering companies and major companies like Pepsi and airlines and deliver it around the state to those in need in various ways, including Mobile Food Markets.

At those events, We Don't Waste volunteers line up fresh produce and crates of meals on folding tables, and anyone from the community can take what they need. "We want to provide people with the dignity to be able to shop. There is a stigma, unfortunately, if you go to a food pantry or food bank, but we want to make it as comfortable and innocuous as we can," says Preblud.
The nonprofit saw a 65 percent increase in attendance at its Mobile Food Markets after the expanded Medicaid and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program program that provided relief during the pandemic was cut back, even as inflation-caused price hikes at grocery stores continue to put a financial strain on low-income families and individuals.

In addition to hosting its Mobile Food Markets, We Don't Waste also provides bags filled with shelf-stable food and information about other food resources that are used by police to give struggling families and individuals some of the support they need.

"We are consistently looking to improve what we do, and to do it in an effective and efficient manner," Preblud concludes. And with this last move, "we think we've made a really valuable acquisition."

On December 7, Arlan Preblud will be on hand for a member-only event at the Westword office to talk about how individuals can have an impact on reducing food waste and increasing sustainability. Space is limited, so if you are not yet a Westword member, join today for an invite.

For more information about We Don't Waste, including volunteer opportunities, visit wedontwaste.org.