If You Won’t Eat It, Don’t Take It [PHIL-OSOPHY]

No one condones throwing away good, edible food, most especially when over 10 percent of U.S. households don't know where their next meal is coming from.

A school in Indiana has started a pilot program in which it takes leftover cafeteria food and sends it home with the students who may not have much to eat on the weekends. Around New Bedford, the YMCA puts together bags of food for food insecure kids to take home for the weekend.

As a former restaurant owner, I've seen so much good food go into the swill bucket to feed the pigs, while homeless people go hungry.

I'm told that schools around the country collectively waste about $5 million worth of good food every school day. That's $1.2 billion a year. I'd like to see the collection of food from local schools go to homeless centers. Throwing it away makes no sense. The same goes for surplus school milk and fruit.

If the kids don't like the cheese ravioli or the chicken nuggets, the homeless may love it. Across this country, school trash cans are full of good, edible food. I am for any program that teaches children not to throw away any unused portions of food and either bring it home or donate it to a local center.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.