Milwaukee VA honored for reducing food waste

The Recycling Excellence Award recognizes a program launched in 2018 by the hospital’s Nutrition and Food Service in collaboration with the Green Environmental Management System.

The program takes excess food prepared in the medical center’s kitchen – food that was being thrown away -- and channels it to Veterans in need.

The result, according to GEMS program manager Casey Schimek, is a 5,620-pound reduction in discarded food while providing Veterans in need with about $5,200 worth of food. And the cost to the Milwaukee VA? Zero.

The food is not leftovers. It is food that was prepared in advance, but untouched. Instead of throwing it in the trash, the food is packaged and frozen, then delivered to Veterans who participate in the Treatment Alternative Group, a mental health service that works with the area’s most vulnerable Veterans.

Immense benefit

Before COVID, the TAG group met each weekday at Building 43, and Schimek said the food program initially helped increase participation in TAG by 30 percent.

“It had a huge impact on our program,” said TAG facilitator Kelly Shurilla. “It was a big incentive for the Veterans and drastically improved our numbers.”

The free food provides encouragement “and is one less thing (for these Veterans) to be concerned about,” Schimek said, noting that many TAG participants are struggling with homelessness, food insecurity and substance abuse, among other issues.

Shurilla agreed, adding that planning and serving the meals created a sense of community and fostered responsibility among the Veterans.

“It was hard for our employees … to throw away excess food. The employees feel good about boxing it up and giving it away.” -- Amanda Henderson, NFS program manager

While the meetings stopped during COVID, they are now back on a part-time basis, meeting in person three days a week, Shurilla said, though the sit-down, family-style lunches had to be shelved.

However, the food is still available for the Veterans to heat up on their own, and it remains a major factor in TAG participation, Shurilla said.

Impact in the kitchen

Meanwhile, food service workers also support the program.

Every day, NFS estimates how much food to prepare to meet the hospital’s needs, said NFS program manager Amanda Henderson, noting it’s a “stab in the dark” that sometimes leads to excess food. That food was going in the garbage.

“Scraping all those pans into the garbage is just a defeating thing for staff,” she said.

Now, instead of throwing it away, that food is packaged and donated to the program for Veterans.

“It was hard for our employees … to throw away excess food,” Henderson said. “The employees feel good about boxing it up and giving it away.”

The food is also kept in freezers in the hospital, available for after-hours meals. Previously the hospital was purchasing pre-packaged frozen meals for such purposes.

“If a patient needs a meal in the middle of the night, nursing can place an order and an escort will deliver the frozen meal up to the unit and then the nurse can microwave it,” Henderson said.

More recognition

This isn’t the first time the program has been recognized; it was chosen for presentation in Washington, D.C., at the Innovation Experience Conference.

“We showed other VA facilities how they can reduce their environmental impact, feed hungry vets, improve outpatient programs and increase access to mental health care,” Schimek said. “We’re happy to have had the opportunity to share this … (and) we hope to continue the momentum of this awesome project.”

The DNR award for reducing food waste is new for 2021, fueled by a DNR initiative to “reduce per-capita food waste disposed of in Wisconsin landfills by half by 2030,” according to the DNR website.

Schimek said the Milwaukee VA’s program fits perfectly with the DNR’s initiative.

“I think it’s really good to be honored by the state,” Schimek said. “We’ve won some national awards for overall sustainability programs, but this is more for the local community.”