412 Food Rescue

What 412 Food Rescue does

412 Food Rescue is a Pittsburgh nonprofit, started in 2015, that picks up surplus food from food retailers and other donors and quickly delivers it to nonprofit partners serving people who need it in Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania. It tackles two problems at once: hunger and food waste.

Volunteer drivers, called Food Rescue Heroes, do the deliveries. They claim pickups through the organization's own app, and a typical run takes about 30 minutes. Most of the food rescued (87%, the group says) is fresh produce, meat, dairy and bread. 412 Food Rescue built this software as the Food Rescue Hero platform. Today 20 partner organizations in two countries use it, in cities such as Philadelphia, Cleveland, Denver, Chicago and Los Angeles, and the network passed one million food rescues in 2026.

The group points out that up to 40% of food produced is wasted while one in five Pittsburghers faces food insecurity. Charity Navigator rates it three out of four stars. Besides giving money, local donors can sign up in the app and do rescue runs themselves.

Key facts

• Built the Food Rescue Hero app, now used by 20 partner organizations in 2 countries, in cities including Philadelphia, Cleveland, Denver, Chicago and Los Angeles (Food Rescue Hero site)
• The Food Rescue Hero network passed 1 million food rescues in 2026 (Food Rescue Hero site)
• 87% of the food it rescues is fresh: produce, meat, dairy and bread (412 Food Rescue)
• FY2024: about $16.9M in revenue and $18.6M in expenses (ProPublica)

Before you give

• Accepts monthly gifts, donor-advised fund grants, workplace giving, planned gifts (IRA distributions, bequests), mailed checks and peer-to-peer fundraisers.
• You can also volunteer: rescue runs are claimed in the Food Rescue Hero app and take about 30 minutes.