Συνέντευξη του Αλέξανδρου Θεοδωρίδη στο"The Next 100"

Alexander Theodoridis - Proud Greek&Food Waste Phenomenon I am a meal keeper. I never like throwing food away. Do you? Remember when you were little. Your granny would tell you “not eating your food and throwing it away is a sin”. I save 3000 meals a day and offer them to people hungry and in need. Saving food. Saving lives - What I do With massive unemployment and deteriorating public services, dumping food is not a sin anymore. It is a crime. We have friends not wanting to throw food away but not having an easy way to donate it. And so we have come up with a simple way that brings together those who have and wish to give with all welfare agencies and organizations that need to receive to help hundreds of people who go hungry every day. And that is how it came to pass that every day at Boroume – we receive calls for donations, from people with leftovers from their party, from bakeries, pastry shops, restaurants, catering companies, even large multinational companies operating with food. So, we seek and find the most suitable recipient organization – based on geographical proximity and matching of actual needs with the specific donation – and set up a “bridge” between them, making sure that the recipient goes and picks up the food donation under the circumstances given to us by the donor. Now, we operate in a super efficient way, skipping logistics altogether and creating a direct human bridge between a donor and a recipient. In 3 years, the equivalent of almost 2 million meals have been donated through our network. Food that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill somewhere. Building a human bridge for food - This Year This year we are trying to promote the concept of gleaning all over Greece in order to save as much fresh produce as possible and offer it to welfare organizations close by. Greece has a large agricultural production. Like in any country a large percentage – up to 30% – of this ends up in a landfill instead of a plate. We are going to supervise the gleaning event by finding farmers who wish to donate what they cannot sell. By organizing volunteers to glean the offered field. Ensuring that the gleaned produce will be picked up by a nearby welfare organization. Being Irreverent I have worked in the private and public sector for some years. I am now dedicated to Boroume which is disrupting the idea of food donations in Greece, providing an efficient way of reducing food waste and the same time helping thousands of people every day get a meal. Feed just one - Changing the world I wish to leave behind a changed mindset. Make sure that people in Greece do not take food waste for granted. Help them contribute with their every day behavior about food waste to create a more responsible society where no food goes to waste. I see my country reach a point when if leftovers happen in a party or anywhere else, it is a given that food will be donated to somebody who needs it. More generally, I wish to contribute towards a more sensible society, where volunteering is part of everyday life, with less ego and where giving is the norm and not the exception. The Next 100