LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Rising fuel prices are putting financial pressure on Glean Kentucky, a food rescue organization that delivers excess produce from grocery stores to food banks and other groups across the commonwealth.
Glean Kentucky’s mission is to take food that would otherwise go to waste and get it to people who need it. Volunteers load vans with excess produce from grocery stores and deliver it to organizations such as Feed Louisville.
Merlin Lee with Glean Kentucky said the organization’s goal is “eliminating food waste and ending hunger in the commonwealth.” Lee said the vans make stops at stores, including Whole Foods, to pick up fresh food that still has life left in it, but fuel costs have become a growing expense.
“We went from a tank being roughly $40 to it now being $80,” Lee said.
Lee said the higher cost means the organization must find additional funding to keep its deliveries going.
“It does mean that we have to then go and figure out where to find that money and who we can ask for it to be able to continue doing this work,” Lee said.
AAA reports diesel prices are now above $6 a gallon, while regular fuel is averaging more than $4 a gallon.
Josiah Noble, a driver with Glean Kentucky, said the higher prices are concerning.
“I’ve lived in Kentucky all my life, and I’ve seen prices this high in other states, but to see them here is really alarming,” Noble said.
Noble filled up a tank that was already half full and said the total would have previously filled the tank from empty.
Despite the increased cost of one of its major expenses, Glean Kentucky is continuing deliveries and hoping donations can help keep fuel prices from becoming a barrier to getting food to people who need it.
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