Award honors Cultivate Food Rescue chief
April 18, 2025
Cultivate Food Rescue executive director Jim Conklin has been recognized as a 2025 Hoosier Resilience Hero by Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute.
The organization this week also won a Partners for Clean Air Award from the Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG).
Headquartered in South Bend, Cultivate has garnered recognition for its innovative and environmentally sustainable approach to food rescue and hunger. Through strategic partnerships with local grocery stores, restaurants and other food retailers, the organization since 2016 has diverted over 10 million pounds of food from landfills, equivalent to 8 million nutritious meals for food-insecure neighbors in St. Joseph, Elkhart and Marshall counties, while maintaining less than 2 percent food waste. Additionally, these efforts have helped to prevent approximately 10 metric tons of carbon dioxide and 2 metric tons of methane from being released into the atmosphere.
Also earning special praise is the nonprofit’s construction of a solar carport supported by the City of South Bend’s Energy & Solar Savings Initiative (EASSI). The carport will include electric vehicle (EV) ready infrastructure and is projected to offset 67 percent of Cultivate’s energy consumption.
“These recognitions truly belong to our entire Cultivate community,” Conklin said. “Our volunteers, donors, and partner organizations have embraced our dual mission of feeding neighbors in need while reducing environmental impact. Together, we’re creating a more sustainable food system, working toward a solution to eliminate food waste and end hunger.”
These accolades come as Cultivate continues to broaden its impact. In 2024, the organization opened a new cold storage facility in South Bend, a second volunteer meal packaging facility in Elkhart, and expanded its weekend Backpack Program for school children.
More information is available at CultivateFoodRescue.com.
Read this article on the Elkhart Truth website here.