December 23, 2025 • 36 mins
In this episode of The Ripple Effect, Jenna Kim Jones explores how one woman connected the dots between overflowing dumpsters and empty dinner tables. Jasmine shares her journey from making meals out of her own kitchen to founding Goodr—a company that recognizes that hunger and food scarcity isn’t really about not having enough food. It’s about waste, and it’s fixable RIGHT NOW. Along the way, they dig into dignity, choice, climate impact, and why solving big problems sometimes starts with a very small sandwich.
Find out more and make your own ripple at Goodr.co.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, I'm Jenna Kim Jones and welcome back to the
Ripple Effect. This is the show that proves that a small,
thoughtful act can make a big difference. You know, sometimes
that act looks like checking on your neighbor, holding the
door for someone, or if you're in my house, eating
the leftovers so they don't die a slow, sad death
(00:25):
in the back of the fridge. With kids, food waste
is a constant battle. Okay, let me just tell you
about my kids. This is a perfect example. Last year,
we go to Costco. It's sample time. There's samples everywhere.
My kids are in heaven. They love samples. They think
it's the coolest thing that exists, and it is pretty fun. Okay,
but my kids got this sample of a zucchini muffin
(00:49):
and they swore it was the most delicious food item
that had ever touched their lips. They were telling me, Mom,
this is what we've been missing in our lives. We
must have these muffins. And they said, we will absolutely
eat them, Mom, we love them so much. Well, guess what.
We came home and those muffins were suddenly poisoned to them.
(01:11):
They hated them. They wouldn't touch them, and I hate
food waste and I really hate wasting money. So did
I muscle down twenty seven chocolate zucchini muffins? You bet
I did, and it was not easy. I'm basically a hero,
you guys. But the truth is I hate waste, and
then I'm also spoiled and have mixed feelings about leftovers.
Some days, I'm great, They're a gift, so glad I
(01:32):
have them. Other days I open that tupperware and immediately
regret my life choices and how blessed I am to
have this problem. Okay, I absolutely take it for granted.
But here's the reality. Food waste. It's not just about
what's molding in my refrigerator. Okay, it's a massive problem everywhere.
And meanwhile, hunger is a huge problem too, and we
(01:55):
talk about them like their separate issues. Our guests today,
Jasmine Crow Houston saw them for what they really are,
two halves of the same story. Now, Jasmine, she's one
of those people who makes you rethink what's possible because
she grew up all over the world as part of
a military family. She saw how people live and all
kinds of conditions. Got an MBA and instead of heading
(02:17):
to Wall Street, she was like, you know what I'm
gonna do. I'm going to solve hunger, you know, just
a casual, change the world kind of thing. And she
didn't start with a big grant or a board of advisors.
She started with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hundreds of them.
Every weekend. She was feeding people, and she was funding
it all from her own pocket, couponing, price matching, and
(02:37):
then one day a man told her he was allergic
to nuts, and that moment cracked something open for her.
People experiencing hunger still deserved dignity. They deserve food that
fits their needs, not whatever scraps happened to be available,
and that insight grew into Gooder, the company that she
found it that now partners with businesses, schools, church shelters
(03:01):
to get perfectly good food out of landfills and into
the hands of people who need it. Thirty million meals
served four million pounds of food diverted, real change, powered
by logistics, compassion, and the belief that we can do
better or gooder today. Jasmine joins us to talk about
(03:21):
the light bulb moments, the lessons, and the ripple effects
that started with a simple Peb and Jay and turned
into a movement. So let's dig in leftovers metaphorically optional.
Let's meet Jasmine Crow Houston. Oh my goodness, Jasmine, thank
(03:43):
you so much for chatting with us today.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Oh. I'm just so excited. I'm not gonna lie. I
watched your interviews and your ted talk and I'm like,
I was nervous. I'm like, oh, my goodness, yes, because
you're so impressive and you're doing such cool things. I'm
trying to I've been very excited, so I just think
we should dive right in.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I'm loving it.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
That's awesome. So tell me about yourself, Jasmine. I don't
know a lot about your backstory, So tell me about
how you grew up. Where are you from? Tell us
a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, you know, I am a military brat, if you will, so,
I often say that my home is North Carolina, and
that's just because I went to high.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
School in college.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
So high school was the first time I ever was
in the same school from start to finish. So my
dad starved in the military, and we moved very often.
But I do think it gave me just a deep
respect for people and a strong sense of adaptability. I
always remember starting over, starting over because it became normal
being at a different school every single semester and sometimes
(04:46):
starting you know, in October. But I learned how to
build community really wherever I landed, and I ultimately think
that that did shape my ability to connect with people
the way that I do and be on a surface
level of circumstance answers, if you get what I'm saying there.
So I've always been able to kind of meet people
where they were, and I just I saw how communities
(05:07):
meant so much even when I was a younger person.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
So I grew up overseas as well, So I totally
know what you're saying. You know, you see another side
of the world, another group of people.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
So I grew up in Korea wow. And hunger yes.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And so I have great recycling programs there.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Oh do they? Oh that's good.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
We probably wanted the top.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
That's amazing. I didn't know that. So I grew up
there pre all of that, I imagine. So we couldn't
get access to certain kinds of foods. I grew up
on powdered milk. They didn't have a lot when we
were kids, and so I remember like traveling to the
States taking buckets of food. Literally we would take food
in our suitcases so we could have like a food
(05:50):
supply because we couldn't get the things that we normally
would have had if we'd lived in the States. Things
have massively changed in Korea. It's like the most amazing country.
But and it was back then too. It was just
very different, and so I have these memories of that
and coming to the States. One of our favorite things
to do was go to the grocery store, so like
(06:12):
just to see, like, wow, there's so many kinds of
ho keys here.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yeah, I mean the richest nation in the world. You know,
we have so much. I think that's different. The thing
that you said right there is just how much we have.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Mm hmmm. Well, and that's why I love listening to
and learning about you and what you're doing, because I'm thinking, boy,
I really take a lot for granted, Like I have
so much right now, and we all do.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
So you moved to North Carolina, you did high school,
you said, all there in college? Yeah, and then you
got an MBA as.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Well, right, yes, yes, so I.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Mean you have an MBA, why not go to Wall Street.
Why not go to do something else than what you
ended up choosing, because really it seems like you've always
wanted to do good, you.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Know, So that's such a great question. I think Wall
Street was probably never for me, and I get asked
that question a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I always knew that I wanted to build something that mattered,
and I often laughed. My mom had brought me a
journal when I was a teenage girl and I still
have it, and it was by Elanya van Zandt, and
one of the things that I said is that I
want to be known for doing something good and just
thinking that that was probably when I was thirteen fourteen,
because I also said, like, you know, people don't like
(07:27):
me and my friends and their haters, you know. So
it was a very young age journal that I was writing.
But I wanted to do something that mattered, and I
didn't just want to chase returns, you know. I really
wanted to chase results, if that makes sense. I wanted
to change things, and so I thought, what if I
just used the education and the skills that I had
a mass that really applied them to fixing a broken system.
(07:49):
And that felt like a calling that I really just
couldn't ignore. And I originally wanted to be like a
sports broadcaster, and so that was really kind of my
early I had interned at the radio stations, and it
really wasn't until I started working in higher education when
I first graduated that I thought, well, let me get
an NBA and then started really becoming like a micro entrepreneur.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
So I had so many businesses.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I had a cupcake food truck, I had a PR agency,
I did like modeling and event. I mean, I have
done so much that would lead me to where I
am now. It's a really crazy journey that I've been on.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
But it sounds like it. So how did it go
from all of those businesses to where you're at now?
I mean, what were some of those steps you took?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, I think you know.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
One of the jobs that I had, I used to
work and sales with the Phoenix Suns when I first
moved to Arizona and really loved that sports and entertainment
aspect of it. Started working with a lot of athletes
and entertainers on their foundations, so I would help them
set up their nonprofits, do their football camps, you know,
do kind of like the PR and event side of it.
(08:53):
And what I realized is that it was very seasonal.
And I used to think to myself, the people that
are standing in line for a turkey and in November
are hungry and April as well, Like this is just
never a one time thing. And that's where I think
I started really figuring out, like I wanted to do more,
and I did so much. I mean, I would create
really big change campaigns. I had an initiative called the
(09:15):
Giving Boutique, which was kind of a upscale thrift shop
for homeless children and they would get all this stuff
they needed for back to school and I would get
new clothing donations, new shoe donations. But I would take
these boutiques all around the country and like allow kids
to go shopping for back to school for free. So
I was always doing things like that even before I
(09:36):
ever started Gooder. It was really just about trying to
create these systems of change.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Before you started Gooder, though, you were helping making food,
making sandwiches. Tell us about there's an experience that you
shared about making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for people
and you met a man who had allergies. Can you
tell us a little bit about that experience and how
that sort of shifted things for you.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, I'll never forget that.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I was volunteering with a great organization called hashtag Lunchbag,
and I feel like we hadn't made something like fifteen
hundred a thousand peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
It was like a really big deal.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Like everyone brought bread and peanut butter and jelly and
you know, chips, and I think like a piece of fruit.
And I remember going out after we had made all
of these sandwiches and passing them out and this guy said, well,
what is that And I said.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Oh, it's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
And I just said it all happily and he just,
you know, he was like, oh, you know, you're trying
to kill me.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I'm allergic to nuts.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
And I was just like wow, you know, and it
just it hit me that feeding people isn't enough. You know,
you have to really see them. And that question really
shifted my entire perspective from charity to dignity because it
wasn't just about food. It was about how we serve
it to people and how we offer it to people.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
The assumption that just because.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I was giving you something and you were experiencing homelessness
and you should just take it and you should be grateful.
Was completely wrong because I literally was giving something to
this man that could have landed him up in the
hospital if he didn't have an eppiepan. I mean, this
is and you think about how big of an allergy
nuts are. I mean I was flying recently and the
flight attendant said, we have a nut allergy on the plane.
(11:12):
If you have any nuts, please refrain from opening them
for the duration of this flight. This is a big deal.
And so that really was an eye opening moment for me,
and it really changed how I started doing all of
my Sunday Soul dinners. That I was feeding people on
the streets. That's really the impetus that got it all started.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Okay, so the Sunday Soul dinners you were doing just
on your own, was that with that was just that
was just jasmine, Jasmine, you came up with that.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yes, I through downtown Atlanta one day, saw people on
the streets and just thought I wanted to do something.
I remember posting it on Facebook, like, Hey, I'm starting
this initiative called Sunday Soul atl And we're gonna have
food and music, and we're gonna have fellowship, and we're
gonna feed people on the streets. And I did that
for like four years and it was such a and yeah,
(12:00):
years and years.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
It was a big big deal.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
We would feed three to four hundred people every single
week we were out there. Some feedings would be bigger Thanksgiving, Easter.
A lot of times we'd have just a ton of
families we were serving. It was probably one of the
biggest joys of my lifetime. I would say doing that,
it was a lot of work. I would start couponning
and price matching, going to the stores and picking everything up.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
So you think about that.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
It was you know, days and days of preparation, cooking
in my kitchen, going out feeding and serving on the streets.
So it changed my life and ultimately is what led
me to start Gooder.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
And four years. Yeah, and on your own, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I mean that's no catering kitchen. I mean none of that.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Like this is literally like in an apartment. My friend
would come over and help me cook. So yeah, just
a lot of work, A lot of work for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Honestly, your coup hunting skills must be great. No.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I always say that I'm the reason Walmart doesn't price
match anymore, because there was a time I would just
go to Walmart and just like have all the circulars
and just do it that way.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
They used to hate to see me coming.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
And then like one month, a couple months later, it
was no more price matching.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
They're like, ma'am, we cannot do this anymore.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
You're putting us out of business. So it indeed pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
This is so cool because we interviewed another Have you
heard of Clean the World?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Ah? Yes? Is that the soap company? Yes?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah, they're an organization. We've talked to them on our
show and it was like, sort of this started from
just this guy asking a question from you know, and
it reminds me of you because you're like, Hey, I'm
just out here making sandwiches on my own or making
these beautiful meals on my own. We can do more,
we can and there's a lot. It's really cool that
(13:44):
you kind of just started from one moment, one idea.
How can we continue to grow? And that's kind of
what this podcast is, right. We're focused on this one idea,
this one small thing you can do that can turn
into something amazing, which is kind of what leads us
now to Gooder, Right, what is your mission?
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Well, our mission is to feed more and wasteless. And
I started Gooder after years of feeding on the streets
through my Sunday Soul and it was a viral video
that ultimately gave me the idea, and it really led
me down a rabbit hole where I discovered that Americans,
you know, waste billions of pounds of perfectly good food
every year while so many people are going hungry, often
(14:25):
in the same zip codes where food is going to waste.
And so I realized that it wasn't that we just
didn't have enough food, right, It's that we don't move
it well. And I was feeding hundreds of people every
weekend from my kitchen at the same time companies are
throwing away palettes to untouched food, and I thought, this
is really a logistics problem, it's not a charity problem.
It's why I created Gooder as a business versus a
(14:47):
nonprofit because I realized, like, this is going to take
a lot of manpower. We're going to have to get
this food picked up and delivered, and then we really
need to be able to track it like how much
are we diverting?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
What does this mean?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
And how do we connect the dots between surplus and needs.
So the name came from kind of a wordplay on
good and then being like a do gooder is kind
of the whole idea. And so we're trying to do
food good. You know, we're trying to rescue food but
in a way that is tech forward and scalable. And
so I'm really excited about what we've built over the
(15:20):
last nine years. In January, I've been working on Good.
I started working on it in twenty sixteen and actually
started it as a company in twenty and seventeen.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Wow, oh my goodness. Okay, So you're waste less, feed more,
waste less. I think what you said. I love that.
I love that. So you're working with companies and getting
their excess food instead of putting it in a throwing
it away essentially.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Right, correct, So I see us as a waste company.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Okay, okay, but you also do schools too, right, You're
helping in schools as well.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Yeah, we have a two sided business model, if you will,
that really supports and is rooted in the mission. So
the mission is feed more wayteless and on the feed
more side. In twenty twenty one, really at the helm
of the pandemic, we created a whole hunger solution side
of our model. There was a point where all the
businesses that we were once recovering food from were closed.
(16:17):
You know, no one was going to work, So there
was it was a pivotal moment like we were either
going to close because our business didn't work anymore, or
we were going to pivot. And so the pivot was
we started with the Atlanta Public School District delivering the
meals to students.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
That were learning virtually.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
So that's how we officially first started kind of pivoting
on our model, and we went from picking up excess
food with the purpose of feeding people to picking up
prepared food, picking up groceries picking up food with the
purpose of feeding people. So it was a little bit
of a pivot, but definitely a two sided model for sure,
and it's changed a lot of life. So we work
with both businesses and that's how we started. We started
(16:55):
by helping businesses divert their edible food from landfills and
so giving them real time data on what they're wasting
and how much and how much CO two emissions they're
helping to prevent. These are kind of the ways that
we were trying to enact our mission, but it just
really panned.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
The pandemic skyrocket US.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
We saw kids losing access to meals, family is not working,
and so we expanded and we started building free grocery
stores and schools and senior centers and low income communities
and just giving people access to food with dignity and choice.
And I ultimately will tell you, Jenn, I think it's
a model that is one model, if you will, but
two outcomes. One is to reduce waste and to reduce hunger.
(17:35):
And I think these are sustainable solutions. I've often said.
I recently wrote a book that will come out next year,
and one of the things I realized really early when
building this company is that in this country, I think
we tend to pacify solutions and we don't really solve them.
Because if we were working to solve them, then a
lot of the things that exists when it exists.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
We want to need.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Food banks, we want and need food pantries because we
want to have people that are hungry.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Tell me more about this food waste. Because I will admit,
like I mean I have four kids, and we do
we do waste.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I have two, so for as I'm very like, very
well impressed by you.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yes, two is great.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Four is insane, but it's good times. But I will say, like,
I notice that we do waste, and I just hate that.
So I like, we as a family try really hard
to not do that. But tell me more about like
just the problem of food waste in our country.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Yeah, we all waste, and I think that's one of
the things. I mean, even myself, like whether we compost
out in our garden, like we cook per meal, like
every time. When I open my refrigerator this morning to
pack my daughter's lunch, I was like, oh, I need food.
But I traditionally am not. Now I'm not somebody who
goes out and just grocery shops for like the whole
two weeks, because I realized I was wasting a lot.
(19:00):
If I'm still going to go out to dinner a
couple of times, and you know, I'm buying groceries, I'm
not going to cook. So I tend to mill shop,
if you will, Like I'm gonna make spaghetti tonight, and
I go to the grocery store and I buy just
what I need for spaghetti that night. That's kind of
how I've tried to reduce my waste. But I will say,
everybody waste. You know we are, and probably one of
the most wasteful seasons right now, because Thanksgiving is probably
(19:21):
the number one most wasted day. Pumpkins are hugely wasted.
So around the holidays, tons of pumpkins go to waste,
Lots of stuff goes to waste around Christmas dinners, and
then the set the day that a lot of people
don't think about is actually like Super Bowl parties. Tons
of food goes to waste at the end of Super
Bowl parties and that comes up in February. So ultimately
food waste if it was its own country, it would
(19:43):
be the third largest country of the in the world.
It's literally that big of a greenhouse gass emitter, so
right behind China and the US.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
You would then have food waste.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
And so that's how bad the problem is, honestly, And
I think what people don't know and I didn't know this,
And this is one of the things I love to
tell people when I think about Jasmine solving this problem,
is Jasmine the naive person to food wet even though,
I think we all see it. You've been to a
wedding of our mitzvah, you've been to something. You see
all this excess food and people aren't there, and you're
thinking to myself, what's going to happen with all this
(20:14):
excess food, And the reality is it ends up going
to waste. And sometimes the more we have, the better
it looks.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Right.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
So, no party planner is ordering for thirty five people.
She's going to have thirty five people. You bet she's
ordering a little bit more because she's thinking somebody's not
he or she's thinking someone's not going to show up.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
So this is the issue of it.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
It is two percent of all us GDP we spend
on food we never eat, and so that's from the production,
the transportation, and obviously the disposal. We just are throwing
food away, and so solving food waste really isn't just
about hunger. It's also about climate too, because as this
food sits in it rots and landfills, it releases harmful
(20:55):
methane gas and it is a leading contributor to global
climate change.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Well you start to that and you're like, oh my goodness,
this is so much, This is so overwhelming everybody's wasting,
including me, And I think, okay, so you have these
companies that you have working with you on good or
were they excited about jumping on board? Is this a
problem people wanted to solve because it seems like it
(21:19):
might be difficult. I know, like I said, when we
talked to Clean the World, they had a hard time
getting companies involved in getting the soap. So have you
run into anything like that, You have struggles to get
people into it?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Yes, I mean I still think like if one out
of ten businesses we pitched you said yes, we would
be feeding so many more people and have reduced so
much more waste. It is still an amazing struggle. And
then it waivers. Right, there was a time when everyone
was talking about climate and food waste and so ESG
and sustainability. It was kind of like the hot thing
(21:54):
to do.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Well.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Now we enter into a year where the US isn't
even into Paris Climbate accord. Businesses aren't incentivized anymore to
do the right things, so it's not as sexy anymore.
So it's really hard to get companies to say yes
and really trying to get them to do things differently
than the way they've always done it. So it's for
us we have to really show them the cost of
(22:15):
the status quo, you know, like we didn't just say
we didn't wait, we don't waste food. We really did,
and here's how much you're wasting, and here's what is
costing you, and here's how we can fix it. And
I think once they see the data and of course
the positive pr that I think can come with it,
the tax benefits, the operational savings, they will be able
to buy all in. But we still have to meet
(22:36):
them where they are, and a lot of them have
told us like, you know, we are really afraid to
do this, or we just we're not comfortable.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
With doing this. I always think of one of the
largest grossers, Kroger.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
They have a huge initiative, I think it's called zero Waste,
Zero Hunger, zero Waste. But I was on a piano
with them at south By south West a couple of
years ago and I was like, well, you know, what
about your hot food and they're like, oh, we're just
not comfortable with donating that yet.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
So that's like, that's how we're not moving.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Forward, right Because the Red History Chickens my chickens, the
stuff that's cooked, the stuff that is like literally, if
that gets to someone's table right now and they get
a chance to eat it, you know, you're reducing waste.
So it's it's kind of like what I talked about
earlier is the pacifying of hunger and food waste. It's
not enough to create a campaign that says zero hunger,
(23:23):
zero waste, or it's not enough to say your company
is committed to reducing your food waste. You have to
do it. You literally have to do it. That's the
only way that it will work.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
It sounds like fear, you know, oh, is too hard.
It's you know, because when I learned about good Or,
it's like you guys have made it very easy. Once companies,
I feel like, get on board to solve this problem
for them.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I think.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
So from what I was like, this is such a
good idea because the way I mean tell us a
little bit like how good or works, just like the
actual function of it. So in case people aren't quite sure.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Yeah, So we were chechno and logistics company. At the core,
we've built a platform that connects businesses that have excess
food to nonprofits and actually handles the delivery for them,
So we inventory everything it is that a business sells.
They click on the items, they tell us how much
they request to pick up. We send out a driver.
The driver then delivers it to a nonprofit. The nonprofit
(24:21):
signs for it like they would a UPS package, and
then that signature becomes a donation letter into our customers
portals and they're able to see how much they've donated,
which nonprofits has gone to, how many pounds they've kept
out of landfill, and we give them a lot of
tangible data from that. On our hunger solution side, we
work largely with schools, school districts and different sponsors. So
(24:42):
we've had sponsors that have been like hip hop celebrities
like the rapper Gunna to Amazon to Etna that have
sponsored us building grocery stores inside of schools, and our
model is that good Or will procure all the food,
We'll get the store stocked. We have a storage champion
that we were within this school, and then we handle
all the registration of families registering to go and shop
(25:05):
at the store, so we get a lot of data
around how many families we're serving, how much food we're
providing at those schools on a monthly basis. So technology logistics,
that is really what we do.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, how does the grocery store in the schools work too,
so kids can sign up to just actually go grocery
shopping at school.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yeah, a lot of times in our middle school and
high school, you see a lot of kids shopping in
our elementary schools. We've opened thirty stores since twenty twenty one.
So in the younger the kids, a lot of times
the parents will sign up, and sometimes the parents will
sign their kid up. They will say, like Jenna, today,
go and get some stuff from the store.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
And then they bring it back.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
And when I talk about logistics of hunger, so many
kids live in food deserts. They don't even live by
grocery stores. Their parents don't have cars, so they are
relying a lot to shop at like the gas stations,
the corner stores, the dollar trees, the dollar generals. And
so now by putting kind of real resources in a
place that they're riding the school bus to every single day,
(26:05):
they can now bring that food home right back on
the bus.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
And so it eliminates the need for anybody to go to.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
A grocery store to actually have access to money at
the time when they need food and just there's a
real wrap around resource right.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
At the school that they attend.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
You talked about the dignity you know, people needing food,
but not just anything, you know, I mean, tell me
a little bit more about what that means to you
and how you've seen that in what you guys are doing.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
I will say to people, like, when you get take
away someone's choice, you take away their dignity, right, And
so every time we show up for someone else, we're
reminded of our own humanity and how I feel like
I would want to be treated. And that's that's always
what I think about, Like how would I want to
be treated? And so dignity isn't just something we give.
It something that we recognize in others and in doing so,
reflect something back on us. So when we serve with respect,
(26:57):
we grow and we help people feel better again. Like
you know, a lot of times when you're serving somebody
who's hungry, these are the darkest of times. Like imagine
a mother who is having to be reliant on one
of your services because she's struggling, Like how can we
help her feel her best at that moment?
Speaker 2 (27:13):
And so for us.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
It's about hey, optionality, letting you see the things that
you're getting as opposed to putting them in a box,
letting you pick out what you're going to be able
to go home and cook for your family. Like, that's
really what dignity is all about.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
I totally relate. I think sometimes we can be a
little callous. You know. It's like, well, I gave food
to the I gave food to the food drive. I
did my thing. But it's like I had an experience
where I was at like a food bank and I
saw that there were like birthday cake mixes, and I
thought to myself, Oh my gosh, of course a birthday cake,
(27:48):
Like yeah, you know you're struggling and something as simple
as a birthday cake. Everyone deserves a birthday cake.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
It really like hit me hard and that like, oh,
we can do more, we can see people for Like,
like you said, think about yourself. Don't you want a
birthday cake?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:07):
So I mean you or why don't you want your
kid to have a birthday cake? Yes, it's the simplest
things exactly.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
So you've been doing this for a long time, You've
been serving people for a long time. Do you have
any experiences that you could share with us, maybe moments
along the way that showed you like, yes, this is
why we're doing this, this is why I'm here, this
is why I've worked so hard.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Yeah, I mean there are so many. I honestly, there
are so many.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
I mean we receive emails, thank you cards, letters. I
mean when we were delivering to senior citizens during the pandemic,
when they were sheltering in place, I think those stories
were so amazing. And I think what always reminds me
of those moments is for some of the seniors that
we service, we were delivering upwards to four or five
thousand seniors every week. Many of them aren't here now,
(28:57):
you know, five years there are seniors that I served
during a pandemic who died, you know, during the pandemic
or later those days. But I just know, I know
that like in their final days and their final months,
like I was feeding them, Like that is just like
the thing that will always give me the most joy,
as I can honestly say, like mister Moseley and Miss
Bailey and people that depended on Gooder to bring food
(29:19):
to their doors, and I remember attending their funerals, and
you know, talking to their families and they would say like, oh,
they used to love they talked about Gooder, so oh
they loved you guys. They loved you guys, and that stuff.
Those are the moments that we're here for. I remember
receiving an email from a senior one time and she said,
you know, I just want to thank you guys for
giving me meat that wasn't brown and giving me food
(29:41):
that was fresh and from a real grocery store. And
just the fact that this senior would even write that
that would be her experience of going and receiving food
is that it's always bad, and she was just thanking
us for giving her food that was good. And so
I think those are the moments that will always stick
with me.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Yeah, those moments where you went like, yes, okay, this
is why we do this. Yes, So what is the
future of Gooder? I mean, if you could have everything
you wanted tomorrow, what would that be for Gooder?
Speaker 3 (30:15):
I think if I could have everything I wanted, you know,
I would definitely want to raise more capital or just
receive more funding to keep it going because it's so hard.
You know, we are solving a problem that costs billions.
I mean billions if you just take all the people,
the forty two million, fifty million.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
You know, the numbers vary.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
We don't know what they are right now because the
latest Food and Nutrition Impact Report was canceled. But let's
say there's forty two million people that are hungry, and
you think about what it would cost you to feed
your your four children, writing your household, and you multiply it,
you know. I feel like we have built a system
that really and truly is scalable, that is solution oriented
(30:54):
and statistically backed. But it's just about getting people to
believe in it. And so I think, like, you know,
good or may not be here next year, it may
not be here next month, you know, like it's always
so touch and go. What I will say is I'm
still really proud of the work that we've done till
this point. In given an opportunity to still remain and
still get more customers on board and still be able
(31:16):
to grow, I would love that because I think that
there is still so much more work to do.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Well. I agree, I want everybody to get on board
because this is amazing work you're doing, and I think
you you have solved it in a way that is
so doable. I just yes, that's what I kept thinking
about when I was reading about you. I'm like, this
is so doable. We got I mean, what do you need?
We need everybody out there campaigning for you, guys. I
(31:43):
need to get out there and start calling other businesses
because I'm like, this is great, this solves the problem. Guys,
we can do this.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yeah, there's businesses, there are cities. I mean, everybody's thinking
about this, and you know rightfully so. So to the
extent that we can get everybody on board to to
join us, I'd love to see more people involved.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Let's say someone hears this, what can they do? Let's
answer this two ways. What can someone like me, just
an individual do, and what can a company who hears
you do? What can we do?
Speaker 3 (32:14):
I think individuals, you know, think about just where you
go every day, your grocery stores, your kids' schools, like,
ask what they're doing about their food waste. If they haven't,
you know, make sure that they just know about good
or art or any other organization, any nonprofit in their
community that will take excess foods. You know. I have
been campaigning to even get cities to mandate that any
(32:34):
business that has a food service license, has to have
a business that they would donate excess food too, even
if they never do it. Just like that should be
part of the application. In the event you have excess food,
who will you donate to? If people have to answer
that question and think about it, I think it starts
to change our perspectives and so you all as individuals
and you know, consumers can drive that like letting people
(32:58):
know that you care about it. I think companies is
if you have excess food waste, you know, we would
love to work with you at Gooder and you can
reach out to us at info at gooder dot co
or just visit our website learn more about us, follow
us on social media. We're always looking for people that
want to join us to do more good or grocery stores,
more of our pop ups. People are hungry and we
(33:18):
can feed them together and so you know the number
is still the same and would just love for people
to reach out to us.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Amazing. I am so excited about this. I'm so grateful
you took your time from your busy day. You're a mom,
you're a businesswoman, you got a lot going on, So
thank you so much for talking with us.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
I know, and Christmas, like the holidays are just like
a crazier time for moms. I feel like we have
so much more to do.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
So much mon Fair, it's insane. Well, thank you so
much for chatting with us today.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Thank you, Wow you.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Guys, Jasmine Crow, Houston, everybody. I feel like I need
a moment to just sort of sit with this and
think about what I could be doing. I love food.
You guys know I love food. I'm passionate about it,
which makes me feel passionate about this because I want
people to have what they need and I don't want
to waste. H Jasmine is one of those people who
(34:12):
just really makes you think about the whole equation. Hunger
isn't about scarcity, food waste isn't inevitable, and dignity. Dignity
is not optional. She saw all of that long before
the rest of us did, and instead of just shrugging
and moving on, she was like, no, I'm going to
build something that's literally feeding millions of people. Talk about
(34:34):
a ripple effect. I hope this conversation gave you something
to think about, because it definitely gave me something to
think about, Like how I'm going to grocery shop. Maybe
I could shop a little smaller. I don't need to
plan three weeks in advance because I know I'm going
to change my mind. I don't like planning ahead the
day before. What am I thinking? Maybe I could freeze
some of my leftover chili before it becomes some kind
(34:57):
of science experiment in my fridge. Maybe I could treat
the food in my house and the people around me
with a little more care. So if you want to
get involved, learn more, or see how your pantry habits
stack up, head to Gooder's website. Their numbers are wild
and their impact is even wilder. We're gonna put all
the links in the show notes so you can find
them easily. And of course I want to hear from you.
(35:19):
What's your relationship to food waste? Are you a Leftover's
champion or a leftover's a void? Have you ever had
one of those light bulb moments, the kind that makes
you say, okay, okay, I can do something small and
maybe it don't matter. Tell us we got to know.
Use the hashtag ripple effect, or tag me at Jenikin
Jones on Instagram or TikTok. I really do want to
know what ripples you're making out there, and what changes
(35:42):
you are starting. You got to get yourself back here
for the next episode, cuz we're ready for some football.
All right, football guys. I am still asking my husband
the rules to football, but I'm learning okay. And we're
going to be meeting a college football team that makes
major waves when they roll into town for an away game,
(36:03):
and it might not be what you're thinking. I feel
like you should not miss this. We'll be back next time.
Hey, I'm Jenna Kim Jones and welcome back to the
Ripple Effect. This is the show that proves that a small,
thoughtful act can make a big difference. You know, sometimes
that act looks like checking on your neighbor, holding the
door for someone, or if you're in my house, eating
the leftovers so they don't die a slow, sad death
(00:25):
in the back of the fridge. With kids, food waste
is a constant battle. Okay, let me just tell you
about my kids. This is a perfect example. Last year,
we go to Costco. It's sample time. There's samples everywhere.
My kids are in heaven. They love samples. They think
it's the coolest thing that exists, and it is pretty fun. Okay,
but my kids got this sample of a zucchini muffin
(00:49):
and they swore it was the most delicious food item
that had ever touched their lips. They were telling me, Mom,
this is what we've been missing in our lives. We
must have these muffins. And they said, we will absolutely
eat them, Mom, we love them so much. Well, guess what.
We came home and those muffins were suddenly poisoned to them.
(01:11):
They hated them. They wouldn't touch them, and I hate
food waste and I really hate wasting money. So did
I muscle down twenty seven chocolate zucchini muffins? You bet
I did, and it was not easy. I'm basically a hero,
you guys. But the truth is I hate waste, and
then I'm also spoiled and have mixed feelings about leftovers.
Some days, I'm great, They're a gift, so glad I
(01:32):
have them. Other days I open that tupperware and immediately
regret my life choices and how blessed I am to
have this problem. Okay, I absolutely take it for granted.
But here's the reality. Food waste. It's not just about
what's molding in my refrigerator. Okay, it's a massive problem everywhere.
And meanwhile, hunger is a huge problem too, and we
(01:55):
talk about them like their separate issues. Our guests today,
Jasmine Crow Houston saw them for what they really are,
two halves of the same story. Now, Jasmine, she's one
of those people who makes you rethink what's possible because
she grew up all over the world as part of
a military family. She saw how people live and all
kinds of conditions. Got an MBA and instead of heading
(02:17):
to Wall Street, she was like, you know what I'm
gonna do. I'm going to solve hunger, you know, just
a casual, change the world kind of thing. And she
didn't start with a big grant or a board of advisors.
She started with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hundreds of them.
Every weekend. She was feeding people, and she was funding
it all from her own pocket, couponing, price matching, and
(02:37):
then one day a man told her he was allergic
to nuts, and that moment cracked something open for her.
People experiencing hunger still deserved dignity. They deserve food that
fits their needs, not whatever scraps happened to be available,
and that insight grew into Gooder, the company that she
found it that now partners with businesses, schools, church shelters
(03:01):
to get perfectly good food out of landfills and into
the hands of people who need it. Thirty million meals
served four million pounds of food diverted, real change, powered
by logistics, compassion, and the belief that we can do
better or gooder today. Jasmine joins us to talk about
(03:21):
the light bulb moments, the lessons, and the ripple effects
that started with a simple Peb and Jay and turned
into a movement. So let's dig in leftovers metaphorically optional.
Let's meet Jasmine Crow Houston. Oh my goodness, Jasmine, thank
(03:43):
you so much for chatting with us today.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Oh. I'm just so excited. I'm not gonna lie. I
watched your interviews and your ted talk and I'm like,
I was nervous. I'm like, oh, my goodness, yes, because
you're so impressive and you're doing such cool things. I'm
trying to I've been very excited, so I just think
we should dive right in.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I'm loving it.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
That's awesome. So tell me about yourself, Jasmine. I don't
know a lot about your backstory, So tell me about
how you grew up. Where are you from? Tell us
a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, you know, I am a military brat, if you will, so,
I often say that my home is North Carolina, and
that's just because I went to high.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
School in college.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
So high school was the first time I ever was
in the same school from start to finish. So my
dad starved in the military, and we moved very often.
But I do think it gave me just a deep
respect for people and a strong sense of adaptability. I
always remember starting over, starting over because it became normal
being at a different school every single semester and sometimes
(04:46):
starting you know, in October. But I learned how to
build community really wherever I landed, and I ultimately think
that that did shape my ability to connect with people
the way that I do and be on a surface
level of circumstance answers, if you get what I'm saying there.
So I've always been able to kind of meet people
where they were, and I just I saw how communities
(05:07):
meant so much even when I was a younger person.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
So I grew up overseas as well, So I totally
know what you're saying. You know, you see another side
of the world, another group of people.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
So I grew up in Korea wow. And hunger yes.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
And so I have great recycling programs there.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Oh do they? Oh that's good.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
We probably wanted the top.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
That's amazing. I didn't know that. So I grew up
there pre all of that, I imagine. So we couldn't
get access to certain kinds of foods. I grew up
on powdered milk. They didn't have a lot when we
were kids, and so I remember like traveling to the
States taking buckets of food. Literally we would take food
in our suitcases so we could have like a food
(05:50):
supply because we couldn't get the things that we normally
would have had if we'd lived in the States. Things
have massively changed in Korea. It's like the most amazing country.
But and it was back then too. It was just
very different, and so I have these memories of that
and coming to the States. One of our favorite things
to do was go to the grocery store, so like
(06:12):
just to see, like, wow, there's so many kinds of
ho keys here.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yeah, I mean the richest nation in the world. You know,
we have so much. I think that's different. The thing
that you said right there is just how much we have.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Mm hmmm. Well, and that's why I love listening to
and learning about you and what you're doing, because I'm thinking, boy,
I really take a lot for granted, Like I have
so much right now, and we all do.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
So you moved to North Carolina, you did high school,
you said, all there in college? Yeah, and then you
got an MBA as.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Well, right, yes, yes, so I.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Mean you have an MBA, why not go to Wall Street.
Why not go to do something else than what you
ended up choosing, because really it seems like you've always
wanted to do good, you.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Know, So that's such a great question. I think Wall
Street was probably never for me, and I get asked
that question a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
You know.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I always knew that I wanted to build something that mattered,
and I often laughed. My mom had brought me a
journal when I was a teenage girl and I still
have it, and it was by Elanya van Zandt, and
one of the things that I said is that I
want to be known for doing something good and just
thinking that that was probably when I was thirteen fourteen,
because I also said, like, you know, people don't like
(07:27):
me and my friends and their haters, you know. So
it was a very young age journal that I was writing.
But I wanted to do something that mattered, and I
didn't just want to chase returns, you know. I really
wanted to chase results, if that makes sense. I wanted
to change things, and so I thought, what if I
just used the education and the skills that I had
a mass that really applied them to fixing a broken system.
(07:49):
And that felt like a calling that I really just
couldn't ignore. And I originally wanted to be like a
sports broadcaster, and so that was really kind of my
early I had interned at the radio stations, and it
really wasn't until I started working in higher education when
I first graduated that I thought, well, let me get
an NBA and then started really becoming like a micro entrepreneur.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
So I had so many businesses.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I had a cupcake food truck, I had a PR agency,
I did like modeling and event. I mean, I have
done so much that would lead me to where I
am now. It's a really crazy journey that I've been on.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
But it sounds like it. So how did it go
from all of those businesses to where you're at now?
I mean, what were some of those steps you took?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, I think you know.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
One of the jobs that I had, I used to
work and sales with the Phoenix Suns when I first
moved to Arizona and really loved that sports and entertainment
aspect of it. Started working with a lot of athletes
and entertainers on their foundations, so I would help them
set up their nonprofits, do their football camps, you know,
do kind of like the PR and event side of it.
(08:53):
And what I realized is that it was very seasonal.
And I used to think to myself, the people that
are standing in line for a turkey and in November
are hungry and April as well, Like this is just
never a one time thing. And that's where I think
I started really figuring out, like I wanted to do more,
and I did so much. I mean, I would create
really big change campaigns. I had an initiative called the
(09:15):
Giving Boutique, which was kind of a upscale thrift shop
for homeless children and they would get all this stuff
they needed for back to school and I would get
new clothing donations, new shoe donations. But I would take
these boutiques all around the country and like allow kids
to go shopping for back to school for free. So
I was always doing things like that even before I
(09:36):
ever started Gooder. It was really just about trying to
create these systems of change.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Before you started Gooder, though, you were helping making food,
making sandwiches. Tell us about there's an experience that you
shared about making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for people
and you met a man who had allergies. Can you
tell us a little bit about that experience and how
that sort of shifted things for you.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, I'll never forget that.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I was volunteering with a great organization called hashtag Lunchbag,
and I feel like we hadn't made something like fifteen
hundred a thousand peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
It was like a really big deal.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Like everyone brought bread and peanut butter and jelly and
you know, chips, and I think like a piece of fruit.
And I remember going out after we had made all
of these sandwiches and passing them out and this guy said, well,
what is that And I said.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Oh, it's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
And I just said it all happily and he just,
you know, he was like, oh, you know, you're trying
to kill me.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I'm allergic to nuts.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
And I was just like wow, you know, and it
just it hit me that feeding people isn't enough. You know,
you have to really see them. And that question really
shifted my entire perspective from charity to dignity because it
wasn't just about food. It was about how we serve
it to people and how we offer it to people.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
The assumption that just because.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
I was giving you something and you were experiencing homelessness
and you should just take it and you should be grateful.
Was completely wrong because I literally was giving something to
this man that could have landed him up in the
hospital if he didn't have an eppiepan. I mean, this
is and you think about how big of an allergy
nuts are. I mean I was flying recently and the
flight attendant said, we have a nut allergy on the plane.
(11:12):
If you have any nuts, please refrain from opening them
for the duration of this flight. This is a big deal.
And so that really was an eye opening moment for me,
and it really changed how I started doing all of
my Sunday Soul dinners. That I was feeding people on
the streets. That's really the impetus that got it all started.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Okay, so the Sunday Soul dinners you were doing just
on your own, was that with that was just that
was just jasmine, Jasmine, you came up with that.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yes, I through downtown Atlanta one day, saw people on
the streets and just thought I wanted to do something.
I remember posting it on Facebook, like, Hey, I'm starting
this initiative called Sunday Soul atl And we're gonna have
food and music, and we're gonna have fellowship, and we're
gonna feed people on the streets. And I did that
for like four years and it was such a and yeah,
(12:00):
years and years.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
It was a big big deal.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
We would feed three to four hundred people every single
week we were out there. Some feedings would be bigger Thanksgiving, Easter.
A lot of times we'd have just a ton of
families we were serving. It was probably one of the
biggest joys of my lifetime. I would say doing that,
it was a lot of work. I would start couponning
and price matching, going to the stores and picking everything up.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
So you think about that.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
It was you know, days and days of preparation, cooking
in my kitchen, going out feeding and serving on the streets.
So it changed my life and ultimately is what led
me to start Gooder.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
And four years. Yeah, and on your own, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I mean that's no catering kitchen. I mean none of that.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Like this is literally like in an apartment. My friend
would come over and help me cook. So yeah, just
a lot of work, A lot of work for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Honestly, your coup hunting skills must be great. No.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I always say that I'm the reason Walmart doesn't price
match anymore, because there was a time I would just
go to Walmart and just like have all the circulars
and just do it that way.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
They used to hate to see me coming.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
And then like one month, a couple months later, it
was no more price matching.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
They're like, ma'am, we cannot do this anymore.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
You're putting us out of business. So it indeed pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
This is so cool because we interviewed another Have you
heard of Clean the World?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Ah? Yes? Is that the soap company? Yes?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah, they're an organization. We've talked to them on our
show and it was like, sort of this started from
just this guy asking a question from you know, and
it reminds me of you because you're like, Hey, I'm
just out here making sandwiches on my own or making
these beautiful meals on my own. We can do more,
we can and there's a lot. It's really cool that
(13:44):
you kind of just started from one moment, one idea.
How can we continue to grow? And that's kind of
what this podcast is, right. We're focused on this one idea,
this one small thing you can do that can turn
into something amazing, which is kind of what leads us
now to Gooder, Right, what is your mission?
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Well, our mission is to feed more and wasteless. And
I started Gooder after years of feeding on the streets
through my Sunday Soul and it was a viral video
that ultimately gave me the idea, and it really led
me down a rabbit hole where I discovered that Americans,
you know, waste billions of pounds of perfectly good food
every year while so many people are going hungry, often
(14:25):
in the same zip codes where food is going to waste.
And so I realized that it wasn't that we just
didn't have enough food, right, It's that we don't move
it well. And I was feeding hundreds of people every
weekend from my kitchen at the same time companies are
throwing away palettes to untouched food, and I thought, this
is really a logistics problem, it's not a charity problem.
It's why I created Gooder as a business versus a
(14:47):
nonprofit because I realized, like, this is going to take
a lot of manpower. We're going to have to get
this food picked up and delivered, and then we really
need to be able to track it like how much
are we diverting?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
What does this mean?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
And how do we connect the dots between surplus and needs.
So the name came from kind of a wordplay on
good and then being like a do gooder is kind
of the whole idea. And so we're trying to do
food good. You know, we're trying to rescue food but
in a way that is tech forward and scalable. And
so I'm really excited about what we've built over the
(15:20):
last nine years. In January, I've been working on Good.
I started working on it in twenty sixteen and actually
started it as a company in twenty and seventeen.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Wow, oh my goodness. Okay, So you're waste less, feed more,
waste less. I think what you said. I love that.
I love that. So you're working with companies and getting
their excess food instead of putting it in a throwing
it away essentially.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Right, correct, So I see us as a waste company.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Okay, okay, but you also do schools too, right, You're
helping in schools as well.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Yeah, we have a two sided business model, if you will,
that really supports and is rooted in the mission. So
the mission is feed more wayteless and on the feed
more side. In twenty twenty one, really at the helm
of the pandemic, we created a whole hunger solution side
of our model. There was a point where all the
businesses that we were once recovering food from were closed.
(16:17):
You know, no one was going to work, So there
was it was a pivotal moment like we were either
going to close because our business didn't work anymore, or
we were going to pivot. And so the pivot was
we started with the Atlanta Public School District delivering the
meals to students.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
That were learning virtually.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
So that's how we officially first started kind of pivoting
on our model, and we went from picking up excess
food with the purpose of feeding people to picking up
prepared food, picking up groceries picking up food with the
purpose of feeding people. So it was a little bit
of a pivot, but definitely a two sided model for sure,
and it's changed a lot of life. So we work
with both businesses and that's how we started. We started
(16:55):
by helping businesses divert their edible food from landfills and
so giving them real time data on what they're wasting
and how much and how much CO two emissions they're
helping to prevent. These are kind of the ways that
we were trying to enact our mission, but it just
really panned.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
The pandemic skyrocket US.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
We saw kids losing access to meals, family is not working,
and so we expanded and we started building free grocery
stores and schools and senior centers and low income communities
and just giving people access to food with dignity and choice.
And I ultimately will tell you, Jenn, I think it's
a model that is one model, if you will, but
two outcomes. One is to reduce waste and to reduce hunger.
(17:35):
And I think these are sustainable solutions. I've often said.
I recently wrote a book that will come out next year,
and one of the things I realized really early when
building this company is that in this country, I think
we tend to pacify solutions and we don't really solve them.
Because if we were working to solve them, then a
lot of the things that exists when it exists.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
We want to need.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Food banks, we want and need food pantries because we
want to have people that are hungry.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Tell me more about this food waste. Because I will admit,
like I mean I have four kids, and we do
we do waste.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I have two, so for as I'm very like, very
well impressed by you.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yes, two is great.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Four is insane, but it's good times. But I will say, like,
I notice that we do waste, and I just hate that.
So I like, we as a family try really hard
to not do that. But tell me more about like
just the problem of food waste in our country.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Yeah, we all waste, and I think that's one of
the things. I mean, even myself, like whether we compost
out in our garden, like we cook per meal, like
every time. When I open my refrigerator this morning to
pack my daughter's lunch, I was like, oh, I need food.
But I traditionally am not. Now I'm not somebody who
goes out and just grocery shops for like the whole
two weeks, because I realized I was wasting a lot.
(19:00):
If I'm still going to go out to dinner a
couple of times, and you know, I'm buying groceries, I'm
not going to cook. So I tend to mill shop,
if you will, Like I'm gonna make spaghetti tonight, and
I go to the grocery store and I buy just
what I need for spaghetti that night. That's kind of
how I've tried to reduce my waste. But I will say,
everybody waste. You know we are, and probably one of
the most wasteful seasons right now, because Thanksgiving is probably
(19:21):
the number one most wasted day. Pumpkins are hugely wasted.
So around the holidays, tons of pumpkins go to waste,
Lots of stuff goes to waste around Christmas dinners, and
then the set the day that a lot of people
don't think about is actually like Super Bowl parties. Tons
of food goes to waste at the end of Super
Bowl parties and that comes up in February. So ultimately
food waste if it was its own country, it would
(19:43):
be the third largest country of the in the world.
It's literally that big of a greenhouse gass emitter, so
right behind China and the US.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
You would then have food waste.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
And so that's how bad the problem is, honestly, And
I think what people don't know and I didn't know this,
And this is one of the things I love to
tell people when I think about Jasmine solving this problem,
is Jasmine the naive person to food wet even though,
I think we all see it. You've been to a
wedding of our mitzvah, you've been to something. You see
all this excess food and people aren't there, and you're
thinking to myself, what's going to happen with all this
(20:14):
excess food, And the reality is it ends up going
to waste. And sometimes the more we have, the better
it looks.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Right.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
So, no party planner is ordering for thirty five people.
She's going to have thirty five people. You bet she's
ordering a little bit more because she's thinking somebody's not
he or she's thinking someone's not going to show up.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
So this is the issue of it.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
It is two percent of all us GDP we spend
on food we never eat, and so that's from the production,
the transportation, and obviously the disposal. We just are throwing
food away, and so solving food waste really isn't just
about hunger. It's also about climate too, because as this
food sits in it rots and landfills, it releases harmful
(20:55):
methane gas and it is a leading contributor to global
climate change.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Well you start to that and you're like, oh my goodness,
this is so much, This is so overwhelming everybody's wasting,
including me, And I think, okay, so you have these
companies that you have working with you on good or
were they excited about jumping on board? Is this a
problem people wanted to solve because it seems like it
(21:19):
might be difficult. I know, like I said, when we
talked to Clean the World, they had a hard time
getting companies involved in getting the soap. So have you
run into anything like that, You have struggles to get
people into it?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Yes, I mean I still think like if one out
of ten businesses we pitched you said yes, we would
be feeding so many more people and have reduced so
much more waste. It is still an amazing struggle. And
then it waivers. Right, there was a time when everyone
was talking about climate and food waste and so ESG
and sustainability. It was kind of like the hot thing
(21:54):
to do.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Well.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Now we enter into a year where the US isn't
even into Paris Climbate accord. Businesses aren't incentivized anymore to
do the right things, so it's not as sexy anymore.
So it's really hard to get companies to say yes
and really trying to get them to do things differently
than the way they've always done it. So it's for
us we have to really show them the cost of
(22:15):
the status quo, you know, like we didn't just say
we didn't wait, we don't waste food. We really did,
and here's how much you're wasting, and here's what is
costing you, and here's how we can fix it. And
I think once they see the data and of course
the positive pr that I think can come with it,
the tax benefits, the operational savings, they will be able
to buy all in. But we still have to meet
(22:36):
them where they are, and a lot of them have
told us like, you know, we are really afraid to
do this, or we just we're not comfortable.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
With doing this. I always think of one of the
largest grossers, Kroger.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
They have a huge initiative, I think it's called zero Waste,
Zero Hunger, zero Waste. But I was on a piano
with them at south By south West a couple of
years ago and I was like, well, you know, what
about your hot food and they're like, oh, we're just
not comfortable with donating that yet.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
So that's like, that's how we're not moving.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Forward, right Because the Red History Chickens my chickens, the
stuff that's cooked, the stuff that is like literally, if
that gets to someone's table right now and they get
a chance to eat it, you know, you're reducing waste.
So it's it's kind of like what I talked about
earlier is the pacifying of hunger and food waste. It's
not enough to create a campaign that says zero hunger,
(23:23):
zero waste, or it's not enough to say your company
is committed to reducing your food waste. You have to
do it. You literally have to do it. That's the
only way that it will work.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
It sounds like fear, you know, oh, is too hard.
It's you know, because when I learned about good Or,
it's like you guys have made it very easy. Once companies,
I feel like, get on board to solve this problem
for them.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I think.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
So from what I was like, this is such a
good idea because the way I mean tell us a
little bit like how good or works, just like the
actual function of it. So in case people aren't quite sure.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Yeah, So we were chechno and logistics company. At the core,
we've built a platform that connects businesses that have excess
food to nonprofits and actually handles the delivery for them,
So we inventory everything it is that a business sells.
They click on the items, they tell us how much
they request to pick up. We send out a driver.
The driver then delivers it to a nonprofit. The nonprofit
(24:21):
signs for it like they would a UPS package, and
then that signature becomes a donation letter into our customers
portals and they're able to see how much they've donated,
which nonprofits has gone to, how many pounds they've kept
out of landfill, and we give them a lot of
tangible data from that. On our hunger solution side, we
work largely with schools, school districts and different sponsors. So
(24:42):
we've had sponsors that have been like hip hop celebrities
like the rapper Gunna to Amazon to Etna that have
sponsored us building grocery stores inside of schools, and our
model is that good Or will procure all the food,
We'll get the store stocked. We have a storage champion
that we were within this school, and then we handle
all the registration of families registering to go and shop
(25:05):
at the store, so we get a lot of data
around how many families we're serving, how much food we're
providing at those schools on a monthly basis. So technology logistics,
that is really what we do.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, how does the grocery store in the schools work too,
so kids can sign up to just actually go grocery
shopping at school.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yeah, a lot of times in our middle school and
high school, you see a lot of kids shopping in
our elementary schools. We've opened thirty stores since twenty twenty one.
So in the younger the kids, a lot of times
the parents will sign up, and sometimes the parents will
sign their kid up. They will say, like Jenna, today,
go and get some stuff from the store.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
And then they bring it back.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
And when I talk about logistics of hunger, so many
kids live in food deserts. They don't even live by
grocery stores. Their parents don't have cars, so they are
relying a lot to shop at like the gas stations,
the corner stores, the dollar trees, the dollar generals. And
so now by putting kind of real resources in a
place that they're riding the school bus to every single day,
(26:05):
they can now bring that food home right back on
the bus.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
And so it eliminates the need for anybody to go to.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
A grocery store to actually have access to money at
the time when they need food and just there's a
real wrap around resource right.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
At the school that they attend.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
You talked about the dignity you know, people needing food,
but not just anything, you know, I mean, tell me
a little bit more about what that means to you
and how you've seen that in what you guys are doing.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
I will say to people, like, when you get take
away someone's choice, you take away their dignity, right, And
so every time we show up for someone else, we're
reminded of our own humanity and how I feel like
I would want to be treated. And that's that's always
what I think about, Like how would I want to
be treated? And so dignity isn't just something we give.
It something that we recognize in others and in doing so,
reflect something back on us. So when we serve with respect,
(26:57):
we grow and we help people feel better again. Like
you know, a lot of times when you're serving somebody
who's hungry, these are the darkest of times. Like imagine
a mother who is having to be reliant on one
of your services because she's struggling, Like how can we
help her feel her best at that moment?
Speaker 2 (27:13):
And so for us.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
It's about hey, optionality, letting you see the things that
you're getting as opposed to putting them in a box,
letting you pick out what you're going to be able
to go home and cook for your family. Like, that's
really what dignity is all about.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
I totally relate. I think sometimes we can be a
little callous. You know. It's like, well, I gave food
to the I gave food to the food drive. I
did my thing. But it's like I had an experience
where I was at like a food bank and I
saw that there were like birthday cake mixes, and I
thought to myself, Oh my gosh, of course a birthday cake,
(27:48):
Like yeah, you know you're struggling and something as simple
as a birthday cake. Everyone deserves a birthday cake.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
It really like hit me hard and that like, oh,
we can do more, we can see people for Like,
like you said, think about yourself. Don't you want a
birthday cake?
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:07):
So I mean you or why don't you want your
kid to have a birthday cake? Yes, it's the simplest
things exactly.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
So you've been doing this for a long time, You've
been serving people for a long time. Do you have
any experiences that you could share with us, maybe moments
along the way that showed you like, yes, this is
why we're doing this, this is why I'm here, this
is why I've worked so hard.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Yeah, I mean there are so many. I honestly, there
are so many.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
I mean we receive emails, thank you cards, letters. I
mean when we were delivering to senior citizens during the pandemic,
when they were sheltering in place, I think those stories
were so amazing. And I think what always reminds me
of those moments is for some of the seniors that
we service, we were delivering upwards to four or five
thousand seniors every week. Many of them aren't here now,
(28:57):
you know, five years there are seniors that I served
during a pandemic who died, you know, during the pandemic
or later those days. But I just know, I know
that like in their final days and their final months,
like I was feeding them, Like that is just like
the thing that will always give me the most joy,
as I can honestly say, like mister Moseley and Miss
Bailey and people that depended on Gooder to bring food
(29:19):
to their doors, and I remember attending their funerals, and
you know, talking to their families and they would say like, oh,
they used to love they talked about Gooder, so oh
they loved you guys. They loved you guys, and that stuff.
Those are the moments that we're here for. I remember
receiving an email from a senior one time and she said,
you know, I just want to thank you guys for
giving me meat that wasn't brown and giving me food
(29:41):
that was fresh and from a real grocery store. And
just the fact that this senior would even write that
that would be her experience of going and receiving food
is that it's always bad, and she was just thanking
us for giving her food that was good. And so
I think those are the moments that will always stick
with me.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Yeah, those moments where you went like, yes, okay, this
is why we do this. Yes, So what is the
future of Gooder? I mean, if you could have everything
you wanted tomorrow, what would that be for Gooder?
Speaker 3 (30:15):
I think if I could have everything I wanted, you know,
I would definitely want to raise more capital or just
receive more funding to keep it going because it's so hard.
You know, we are solving a problem that costs billions.
I mean billions if you just take all the people,
the forty two million, fifty million.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
You know, the numbers vary.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
We don't know what they are right now because the
latest Food and Nutrition Impact Report was canceled. But let's
say there's forty two million people that are hungry, and
you think about what it would cost you to feed
your your four children, writing your household, and you multiply it,
you know. I feel like we have built a system
that really and truly is scalable, that is solution oriented
(30:54):
and statistically backed. But it's just about getting people to
believe in it. And so I think, like, you know,
good or may not be here next year, it may
not be here next month, you know, like it's always
so touch and go. What I will say is I'm
still really proud of the work that we've done till
this point. In given an opportunity to still remain and
still get more customers on board and still be able
(31:16):
to grow, I would love that because I think that
there is still so much more work to do.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Well. I agree, I want everybody to get on board
because this is amazing work you're doing, and I think
you you have solved it in a way that is
so doable. I just yes, that's what I kept thinking
about when I was reading about you. I'm like, this
is so doable. We got I mean, what do you need?
We need everybody out there campaigning for you, guys. I
(31:43):
need to get out there and start calling other businesses
because I'm like, this is great, this solves the problem. Guys,
we can do this.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yeah, there's businesses, there are cities. I mean, everybody's thinking
about this, and you know rightfully so. So to the
extent that we can get everybody on board to to
join us, I'd love to see more people involved.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Let's say someone hears this, what can they do? Let's
answer this two ways. What can someone like me, just
an individual do, and what can a company who hears
you do? What can we do?
Speaker 3 (32:14):
I think individuals, you know, think about just where you
go every day, your grocery stores, your kids' schools, like,
ask what they're doing about their food waste. If they haven't,
you know, make sure that they just know about good
or art or any other organization, any nonprofit in their
community that will take excess foods. You know. I have
been campaigning to even get cities to mandate that any
(32:34):
business that has a food service license, has to have
a business that they would donate excess food too, even
if they never do it. Just like that should be
part of the application. In the event you have excess food,
who will you donate to? If people have to answer
that question and think about it, I think it starts
to change our perspectives and so you all as individuals
and you know, consumers can drive that like letting people
(32:58):
know that you care about it. I think companies is
if you have excess food waste, you know, we would
love to work with you at Gooder and you can
reach out to us at info at gooder dot co
or just visit our website learn more about us, follow
us on social media. We're always looking for people that
want to join us to do more good or grocery stores,
more of our pop ups. People are hungry and we
(33:18):
can feed them together and so you know the number
is still the same and would just love for people
to reach out to us.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Amazing. I am so excited about this. I'm so grateful
you took your time from your busy day. You're a mom,
you're a businesswoman, you got a lot going on, So
thank you so much for talking with us.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
I know, and Christmas, like the holidays are just like
a crazier time for moms. I feel like we have
so much more to do.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
So much mon Fair, it's insane. Well, thank you so
much for chatting with us today.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Thank you, Wow you.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Guys, Jasmine Crow, Houston, everybody. I feel like I need
a moment to just sort of sit with this and
think about what I could be doing. I love food.
You guys know I love food. I'm passionate about it,
which makes me feel passionate about this because I want
people to have what they need and I don't want
to waste. H Jasmine is one of those people who
(34:12):
just really makes you think about the whole equation. Hunger
isn't about scarcity, food waste isn't inevitable, and dignity. Dignity
is not optional. She saw all of that long before
the rest of us did, and instead of just shrugging
and moving on, she was like, no, I'm going to
build something that's literally feeding millions of people. Talk about
(34:34):
a ripple effect. I hope this conversation gave you something
to think about, because it definitely gave me something to
think about, Like how I'm going to grocery shop. Maybe
I could shop a little smaller. I don't need to
plan three weeks in advance because I know I'm going
to change my mind. I don't like planning ahead the
day before. What am I thinking? Maybe I could freeze
some of my leftover chili before it becomes some kind
(34:57):
of science experiment in my fridge. Maybe I could treat
the food in my house and the people around me
with a little more care. So if you want to
get involved, learn more, or see how your pantry habits
stack up, head to Gooder's website. Their numbers are wild
and their impact is even wilder. We're gonna put all
the links in the show notes so you can find
them easily. And of course I want to hear from you.
(35:19):
What's your relationship to food waste? Are you a Leftover's
champion or a leftover's a void? Have you ever had
one of those light bulb moments, the kind that makes
you say, okay, okay, I can do something small and
maybe it don't matter. Tell us we got to know.
Use the hashtag ripple effect, or tag me at Jenikin
Jones on Instagram or TikTok. I really do want to
know what ripples you're making out there, and what changes
(35:42):
you are starting. You got to get yourself back here
for the next episode, cuz we're ready for some football.
All right, football guys. I am still asking my husband
the rules to football, but I'm learning okay. And we're
going to be meeting a college football team that makes
major waves when they roll into town for an away game,
(36:03):
and it might not be what you're thinking. I feel
like you should not miss this. We'll be back next time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.