WE CREATE COMMUNITY THROUGH CHOCOLATE IN ALLIANCE WITH THE FOOD BANK

Food Banks emerged as a solution to food waste, which at a global level can reach quantities of 1300 tons of wasted food annually, even though they are in a perfect state and still useful for human consumption. The principal objective of food banks is to develop alliances with food producing companies, in order to recover this food and take it to the people who need it the most, avoiding in this way its waste. Food Banks can be found through different cities around the world like: Quito, Guayaquil, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Lima, Miami, New York, Santiago de Chile, California, Mexico City, Dominican Republic, among others.

Only in the city of Quito, approximately 100 tons of food are wasted daily, even when there are neighborhoods where 85% of the population lives in poverty and they need this food. As a response, on 2003 the Quito Food Bank (QFB) is founded, with whom we have maintained a prosperous alliance since the year 2019 through donations and knowledge exchange workshops. Until this date, the project has donated a total of 2600 kg of chocolate, benefiting 12.189 people from 120 allied foundations of the QFB. We have also given three chocolate workshops by República del Cacao’s allied chefs through the project: “Gastronomic Social Entrepreneurship through Chocolate”.

In response to the COVID19 crisis we are currently living, we decided to extend our alliances with the Food Bank, connecting with another important city from Ecuador: Guayaquil. Moreover, we also donated other products to Los Ríos Province, where we worked together with our farmer cacao allies. On this new cooperation relationship, during the last month we donated more than 1200 kg of chocolate among beneficiary organizations, vulnerability groups and hospitals in Quito and Guayaquil.

As Alicia Guevara, the Quito Food Bank Director mentions, “chocolate is something that besides bringing food, it also brings happiness.” These moments are when we must connect the most with our human sense, thinking about the community we are part of. We believe that every contribution counts and that hope can de found in food, like chocolate, that generates emotions making us feel close even though we are far away.