at 16 , i was full of sarcasm and empty of self - important shapes searching for nonexistent meaning . '
but the reasons behind this waste did n’t feel so complex to a teenage girl named maria rose belding on a chilly iowa day five years ago .
as a high school freshman , belding was volunteering at a local soup pantry in her hometown in iowa , when she hear me out .
( ricky carioti the washington post ) one of the most profound contradictions of modern america is that more than 45 million americans do n’t have enough to eat , but the country wastes an estimated 40 percent of its food .
a self - taught maria rose belding and grant nelson founded a sprawling online network that connects thousands of food pantries in 24 states , allowing those organizations to quickly share surplus food that might have gone to waste otherwise .
it felt like food pantries that need it .
that changed when i met grant nelson , a gwu law student who grew up 45 minutes from my iowa hometown .
farmers allow edible , but homely fruit to rot in fear it wo n’t sell .
meansdatabase.com means operates through both a website and an app , creating a simple system : a donor lists what ’s available , donees nearby get notifications , someone claims it and arranges for pick - up .