We’re laser-focused on hunger relief and sustainability.
What we do
As a hunger relief organization and an environmental sustainability agency, we’re all about reducing waste and eliminating hunger. Find out how we do what we do.
Meet the team
Meet our staff and fantastic board and learn more about the small but mighty team that manages to get fresh, delicious food to over 8,500 families a week.
Gleaning like us
Want to start your own gleaning operation? Collecting and redistributing food is one of the simplest and most effective ways to combat both hunger and climate change. Start a gleaning operation in your community!
Our Story
In 2006, our founder Tracy Oseran discovered that hunger is not necessarily an issue of access, it’s an issue of distribution. She and her two teenagers started talking to people in local restaurants, grocery stores, and bakeries and found that many didn’t have a destination for their perfectly good, unused food items. So, they drove around town to pick up just a few donations here and there and distributed that food to local nonprofits.
Word got around and Urban Gleaners came to life, so much so, that we acquired a warehouse and a few vans to keep up with the volume of food we were receiving. Tracy began a local movement that has grown into a vibrant volunteer-powered organization feeding thousands of families every week by rescuing fresh, unsold food—made up of the region’s best ingredients, from hand-roasted coffee and organic produce to fried chicken, gourmet deli sandwiches, and gluten-free cookies. Because of her curiosity and dedication, we are now rescuing nearly 1.5 million pounds of food every year and feeding more than 8,000 food-insecure families every single week.
Our history in a nutshell
