Month of a Million Meals: Retired firefighter joins Feeding San Diego as volunteer

SAN DIEGO — Every Tuesday before the sun comes up, Dan Lachenbruch is already busy at work. But this is not what he is getting paid for.

“There is so much need,” said Lachenbruch.

For decades, Lachenbruch was a local firefighter. Now that he has retired, every week he volunteers for Feeding San Diego.

His shift consists of picking up a van and filling it with hundreds of pounds of food.

“I can’t stand wasting food,” said Lachenbruch.

The fruits, vegetables, meats, and more come from several grocery stores that give Feeding San Diego their “surplus food.”

According to ReFed, a nonprofit focused on cutting food waste, “surplus food” typically comes as a result of “high customer standards for freshness” and “date label concerns”.

Although he has been volunteering for nearly one year now, Lachenbruch said he has not gotten used to “the volume of perfectly good food that otherwise would go in the dumpster”.

Feeding San Diego said during last fiscal year, it collected food from more than 770 locations in San Diego County, diverting more than 31 million pounds of food from the landfill.

To become an volunteer or get involved with Feeding San Diego, click here for more information.