Potluck

Potluck Inc. is a “food rescue” organization. Unlike food banks, which store and distribute nonperishable foods, Potluck receives prepared but unserved meals and other fresh and frozen foods from restaurants, hotels, caterers, grocery stores and other donors. It distributes the food to homeless shelters, women’s shelters, halfway houses and other organizations that reach the hungry.

Established in 1989 by the Junior League of Little Rock and the Interfaith Task Council, Potluck provided more than a million meals to more thousands of hungry Arkansans last year. And it did it with four full-time positions and about 20 active volunteers.

There are many more donors than workers – about 150, including mouthwatering names like Tyson, ConAgra, Tennessee Pride, Ben E. Keith, Sysco, Popeye’s Fried Chicken and Your Mama’s Good Food.

Potluck was a finalist in the Nonprofit of the Year category two years ago, but Herzog said it is a “whole different organization now.” Since then, the amount of food it has collected and distributed has grown from about a million pounds in 2002 to 2.5 million pounds in 2.5 million, and it has added a program called Kid’s Pantry to provide summertime meals to impoverished children.

Potluck pays nothing for the food it rescues and charges nothing for distributing it.

“We neither buy nor do we sell. There’s no handling fee or anything. We believe that donated food should be given away,” Herzog said.

That philosophy allows the receiving organization to reduce food expenses “so that that money can be redirect to other parts of their missions,” she said.

It also means Potluck’s salaries and administrative expenses are rock bottom. The organization spent only about $154,000 in 2003 to achieve its mission of bridging the gap between excess food and the hungry.

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