Every year, at least 92 billion pounds of food are wasted in the United States (a conservative estimate, with other sources estimating up to 140 billion pounds)—while 47 million people, including 1 in 5 children, struggle with hunger. Globally, the numbers are just as stark. According to the latest Global Report on Food Crises, more than 295 million people faced acute hunger last year. Among them, 10.2 million children in 26 countries suffered from severe acute malnutrition, and nutrition services for 14 million more are now at risk of death from severe malnutrition due to funding cuts.

On this World Hunger Day, we’re asking a different kind of question:

What if solving hunger isn’t about producing more food—but about reimagining the systems that fail to deliver it where it’s needed most?

To explore this, Panorama Strategy’s Jenny Shin sat down with Evan Ehlers, founder of Sharing Excess, a fast-growing food recovery nonprofit that has already rescued more than 131 million pounds of food since its launch in 2018. Their video conversation—available below—dives into the future of food recovery, the role of public investment, and what local and global solutions have in common.

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Food Recovery: A Growing Force in U.S. Hunger Solutions

Sharing Excess is part of a movement that’s shifting food recovery from a patchwork of well-meaning efforts to a scalable, data-driven system. Their innovative model bridges the gap between surplus food—from farms, wholesalers, and retailers—and the communities that need it most. Their logistics and tech innovations have made it easier than ever to keep food out of landfills and get it onto tables.

And the impact is significant:

  • 131M+ pounds of food recovered
  • 10M+ people served across the country
  • 350M pounds of greenhouse gas emissions avoided
  • $3.5M in state tax credits generated for food donors

But Evan and his team aren’t just tracking poundage—they’re building infrastructure to transform the food system to be more efficient and equitable. As Evan puts it, “we’re not just capturing waste—we’re redesigning the conveyor belt.”

What School Meals Can Teach Us About Systems Thinking

Globally, school meals are often the backbone of public food systems. According to the UN World Food Program (WFP), school feeding programs increase enrollment by 9% and attendance by 8%, and often represent the largest social safety net for children in low- and middle-income countries.

The Global Child Nutrition Foundation’s 2024 Global Survey of School Meal Programs—which gathered data from 142 countries—found that in 87% of programs are intentionally working to increase local procurement. That means most governments are taking active steps to shorten food supply chains by sourcing ingredients closer to where children eat—often from local farmers, women-led kitchens, and small-scale producers.

These efforts don’t just improve freshness and reliability—they help build resilient food systems that nourish both children and communities.

Jenny’s experience working with WFP throughout Asia illustrates this ripple effect: when children are fed, families thrive, schools flourish, and entire communities become more resilient.

A Shared Vision: Food as Infrastructure, Not Charity

Both Sharing Excess and school feeding programs share a core belief: Food is not just about addressing hunger. It’s about health, opportunity, dignity, and the necessary infrastructure to support that.

What’s needed now is bold investment—from both public institutions and philanthropic funders—to scale what works.

Whether it's redistributing surplus food in Philadelphia or feeding schoolchildren in Phnom Penh, the path forward is the same:

  • Invest in systems, not stopgaps
  • Prioritize equity and sustainability
  • Treat food as a fundamental building block of thriving societies

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Call to Action

This World Hunger Day, we invite you to reimagine what ending hunger really means. It’s not just about growing more food—it’s about ensuring that the food we already have reaches those who need it, through systems that are equitable, efficient, and built to last.

‍Support Sharing Excess: https://www.sharingexcess.com

Learn more about Panorama Strategy: https://www.panoramastrategy.com

And don’t miss the video conversation above—it’s packed with insight, inspiration, and a vision for the future of food.