GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A student at Calvin College is bringing a national charity organization right here to West Michigan by collecting food that the school typically throws away and instead donating it to area ministries.
TheFood Recovery Network started on the east coast three years ago and to date has collected more than half a million pounds of food.
Chicago native and Calvin College sophomore Cameron Kritikos is spearheading the school's chapter of the Food Recovery Network.
Since starting the group, Kritikos has helped collect more than 4,000 pounds of food. The group donates it to five area ministries around Grand Rapids.
"I saw that our dining hall was throwing away hundreds of pounds of food every single evening. That just really upset me," said Kritikos.
Five times a week, Kritikos collects the food.
"They will set out all the food for us on the big tables, and then we will take the temperature of the food, we'll weigh it, and then we will kind of just scoop the food on in there," said Kritikos.
Kritikos said that the group has more than 30 members, and hopes it continues to grow, even after he graduates.
"I was raised that way," said Kritikos. "I know that my mother always pushed me to be a go-getter and to always not so much achieve but to strive to be something greater than myself."
The group is free of any liability donating food in "good faith" to non profit organizations thanks to the Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act that was signed into law by President Clinton back in 1996.
