It’s here! Today marks the start of Food Waste Prevention Week (FWPW) 2025, a movement powered by community, collaboration, and collective energy that inspires cultural change on food waste. ReFED is excited to be a partner for FWPW and help elevate the collective efforts of all of the organizations who are taking action, whether that’s hosting events and webinars, engaging in the contests, or participating on social media.

To help recognize and celebrate Food Waste Prevention Week at ReFED, we asked staff to share brief testimonials on their “why” for dedicating their professional (and very often personal) lives to solving food loss and waste in the United States. We hope you enjoy reading them below!

And it’s not too late to get involved with FWPW 2025—visit the website to learn more!

Dana Gunders, President: Food touches so many things I care about—community, health, water, land, climate, and more. It has such power to connect people. When we throw it out, to me, it feels like we throw all that out with it. And not wasting it is such an obvious win-win-win for everyone. So, working on it, I get to work on something I love while also solving so many important problems at once.

Sara Burnett, Executive Director: When I began in food systems work, I was focused on the practical—making food safe—from setting microbiological standards to removing harmful additives to stabilizing supply chains. On one of my first projects, I was looking to expand the supply chain of responsibly raised, raised without antibiotics chicken, and was doing so simply based on a taste test. I quickly discovered that this practical, straightforward project had implications beyond taste—it impacted worker health, animal welfare and care practices, and public health. That experience was an early lesson on how food decisions affect not only the nutrition or taste of what goes on our plates but also the lives of farmers and ranchers and the health of our communities and planet. Fast forward twenty years, and I’m drawn to food waste work because it is similarly a complex, systemwide problem. By taking action, we can make a difference in the health of our neighbors, the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers, and the sustainability and profitability of businesses, as well as protect our planet.

Nicole Chandler, Director, People & Culture: My 'why' for dedicating my professional life to solving food waste is deeply personal. As a Black woman and a mother, I see firsthand how Black communities are disproportionately impacted by climate change and environmental injustice. Food waste isn’t just a sustainability issue, it is a social equity issue. I want to be a part of building a future where resources are used wisely, communities are cared for, and solutions are driven by justice. Most of all, I want to leave the world better for my son. A world where he can breathe cleaner air, eat nourishing food, and thrive in a more equitable world.

Shawn Shepherd, Vice President, Operations & Finance: Having spent my childhood on a family farm in Indiana, and having married into a strong livestock ranching family in the west, I have been close to what it takes to produce our food for decades. That's why what happened in the pandemic had me spinning—how in the world were we watching farmers plow their crops under, while there were miles-long lines at food pantries?! Food is precious. It gives us life and health across all generations. It takes sweat, tears and laughter, long hours, and family to bring it to our plates. We need to start treating our food with the dignity it deserves. That's why I am a proud food waste warrior.

Katy Hart, Director, Finance & Administration: I've had the amazing pleasure of working in food waste for over a decade now and couldn't be more satisfied with this aspect of my career. I knew I wanted to have a positive impact on the world and admittedly knew nothing about food waste when I first "fell" into it at Sustainable America (my first food waste employer). I was instantly hooked when I started to learn, see, and feel the impacts of food waste on people, society, the climate, the economy, and more. Over the years, my motivations have grown from understanding the power of food as a weapon in areas of conflict (I studied global conflict resolution in school) to the incredible impacts of food waste on our climate and seeing those changes happen in real time as I get older. I've had some of the most impactful moments of my life working in food waste—rescuing, redistributing, educating, composting, and learning to better love and care for our food. I'm so fortunate and grateful to continue working on this topic. Happy Food Waste Prevention Week!

Sam Buck, Director, Development & Strategic Impact: Food waste reduction feels like an impact cheat code. When you add up the benefits—addressing food insecurity, saving fresh water, conserving natural ecosystems, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and so much more—it blows everything else out of the water. There's nothing I'd rather spend my time on.

Jackie Suggitt, Vice President, Business Initiatives & Community Engagement: I was a bit indecisive as a child—I wanted to be a doctor because I wanted to help people, I wanted to be a marine biologist because I wanted to help the planet, and I wanted to be a businesswoman because I wanted to be like my mom. I dedicate my professional career to fighting food waste because I’ve found the perfect middle to that triple venn diagram: helping people and the planet by making the most of the food we grow, and doing so by partnering with leading businesses and brands to shape their food waste reduction strategies.

Ann Dang, Development and Finance Coordinator: I came to ReFED knowing little about the food systems and how food waste can occur at every level—but gardening taught me that every scrap has value and composting makes a difference. Now I get to help grow a future where food is hardly wasted and the planet thrives—for my son, and his kids someday, too.

Nia D’Emilio, Communications Coordinator: What keeps me motivated to work on food waste is just how much has changed for me and the people in my life once we started learning about the facts and statistics. Where food waste is going and how I’m contributing to it on an individual level really opened my eyes to how much was in my control to help solve the problem! I also get a front row seat to business action around food waste, and they’re making so much progress that it makes me hopeful for real systems change as well.

Selena Mao, Manager, Research & Insights: My grandmother and my mother lived through the Great Famine in China. They never said much about it, but their traumas were evident in how they scraped every bowl clean, in how they saved scraps in the fridge until they weren’t edible anymore, and in how they looked at me when I left food behind. Waste wasn’t just waste but a kind of amnesia, like a sign you didn’t understand where you came from. That’s what drives me in this work—not just the problem of food waste but the weight of it and what it signifies. The sweat, the resources, the opportunity cost—what it costs to grow something and what it means to throw it away.

Minnie Ringland, Manager, Climate & Insights: We’re living in a time of polycrisis, where climate change and environmental shocks intersect with disease outbreaks, destabilized economies, and political upheaval. The food system is similarly interconnected, and interwoven with these other systems, so while it can feel overwhelming to try and solve all the world’s problems, there’s something really grounding about working on issues that every single human can relate to and understand on a personal level. You can ask my friends and family—I live, breathe, probably even dream about food waste—and I’m so grateful to spend my days thinking about solutions that can have a massive global impact at the same time as feeding a hungry mouth or cleaning air for one pair of lungs.

Erik Mudrak, Senior Frontend Software Engineer: At ReFED, I have the honor of doing tech work for good. I mean, look—there are plenty of opportunities to write code for causes that aren't making the world a better place, or yet even making it worse! But here, I get to use my software development skills to help people reduce their food waste. Here, I can build apps that lead food businesses to curb their carbon emissions. Here, I'm supported by many of the most passionate and talented people in the industry.

Kristen Lee, Director of Business Initiatives: Food waste is a solvable problem with many actionable solutions. The fact that we waste a third of the food we grow, yet over 13% of our neighbors don't have reliable access to enough nutritious food really bothers me on a moral level. I dream of a world where food is valued and people are fed.

Nate Clark, Communications & Content Manager: I like to say I was born in a pile of compost. My grandfather started BioCycle magazine in 1960, which is dedicated to the organics recycling industry, and my mom has worked there since she got out of college. My own career started at BioCycle, where I was hooked by the power of reducing food waste as a way to decrease your environmental footprint and make an impact on climate change. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the devastating effects of climate change—but here’s this opportunity to make a difference sitting on your plate.

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