Celebrating Hunger Action Month
September 2025- Keep Austin Fed celebrates Hunger Action Month.
September is Hunger Action Month, and Keep Austin Fed joins a national campaign to raise awareness about the issues of food insecurity and food waste. Despite their national significance, food insecurity and food waste are best understood as local issues, grounded in the unique challenges and opportunities of each individual community. Austin is recognized nationally for its live music, technology, and delicious food, yet high housing prices and systemic inequality prevent many of our neighbors from meeting even their basic needs.
The state of Texas has the second highest rate of food insecurity in the country with 16% of Travis County residents and 1 in 7 Austinites experiencing hunger. Community members face a high cost of living and can be forced to prioritize housing, healthcare, or childcare over nutrition. Children, low-income families, and communities of color are most heavily affected. As federal cuts to SNAP benefits take effect, food insecurity in Austin will continue to rise.
At the same time our community members go hungry, Austin sends around 1.24 million pounds of food to the landfill every day. Once in the landfill, food decomposes and releases methane gas, polluting the air and harming wildlife, the environment, and Austinites.
Keep Austin Fed’s dual mission of reducing hunger and helping the environment allows us to address both the human and environmental consequences of wasting surplus food through a local lens. Our food rescues provide a conduit for grocers, restaurants, caterers, and businesses to reroute their wholesome, surplus food away from the landfill and toward hungry Austinities. Our community giveaways bring fresh, nutritious, and culturally relevant food directly to individuals’ neighborhoods, providing another avenue for families unable to reach a food bank or access the services of a nonprofit. Altogether, Keep Austin Fed supplies an average of 17,800 meals to our community each week with the help of more than 250 dedicated volunteers.
Keep Austin Fed has continued to make changes to enhance our impact on the community. With the help of our food donors, we have been able to ensure that 45-50% of donated food is fresh produce and 20-25% is prepared meals, providing community members with a variety of healthy options. We have also expanded the food sorting shifts available at our east Austin hub, guaranteeing that all donated food is fresh and high quality and giving volunteers the opportunity to learn more about food safety standards.
As national and state changes in law and policy create an uncertain future for many of our neighbors, taking action locally is increasingly important. Keep Austin Fed is committed to upholding the dignity of all our neighbors and advocating for food as a human right. By reducing food waste and insecurity, we look toward a more equitable and more sustainable future for everyone. Help us make a difference!
If you’ve made it this far, visit our blog to read more about our work! Meet some of our super volunteers who fight food insecurity with every food rescue, our food donors who work hard to make sure their surplus goes to neighbors, and our recipient organizations who make sure our food deliveries get into the hands of those who need it.