Project Background

 

Trained by our partners at the White Pony Express (WPE) on their "circle of giving" model, WFI's student teams in Mexico are implementing a food rescue program, beginning in Veracruz, one of the most underserved regions in the country. The program is called "Wings of Love," and is being replicated over the next three years throughout Mexico and in five Latin American countries.  

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Women and girls are the most vulnerable demographic worldwide to food insecurity. Statistics show that at least twenty to thirty million or more people experience food insecurity in Mexico. Meanwhile, 40% of food in Mexico is wasted. Currently, a diverse group of civil society organizations work to address this problem. Despite these efforts, the efficiency, collaboration, and impact of Mexico’s food rescue programs can be significantly improved through a robust, volunteer-based community program that incorporates and coordinates public and private partnerships.

 

Led by our team at the Autonomous Metropolitan University of Mexico, with the pilot program directed by the University of Veracruz, the program is supported by leading Mexican food companies and a conglomeration of Mexican businesses, including COPARMEX, the Consejo Coordinador de Mujeres Empresarias, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, the Rotary Club, and other community based volunteer organizations through in kind, financial, and volunteer contributions. 

 

Through the founding partnership of TC Energia and WPE, WFI successfully curated vital research from leading universities in Mexico to launch a far-reaching food security program in Mexico called "Wings of Love." WFI's student team at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) published a feasibility study and implementation plan designed for Veracruz and states across Mexico. The University of Veracruz Wings of Love Student Coordinator is building a sustainable program with the community of Veracruz and establishing the foundation to replicate the program widely.

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Objective 

 

To bring together beneficial organizations in Latin America, the United States, and Canada to address a gap area in food security by enhancing existing channels, including food banks, and providing a volunteer-powered organizational model that is sustainable to directly and efficiently serve the needs of those most vulnerable, especially women and girls, throughout the region. Wings of Love is serving as a extra arm for Food Banks that cannot reach all vulnerable communities, and provides the extra step towards enabling women and their communities to actually move from the margins to the mainstream. Wings of Love does this by not only providing food but a holistic program that is tailored to their needs including workshops on employment and entrepreneurial skills, health, safety, addressing domestic violence, and community gardens.

 

Deliverables

 

In Phase I of our program, we partnered with the White Pony Express to undertake a feasibility and needs assessment, identifythe priority region and city, and created an action plan to bring an efficient and effective new food rescue model to Mexico based on the notion that we are “one human family.”

 

In Phases II and III, WFI and the university teams are continuing to develop the program through direct implementation and strategy for making the program sustainable in Veracruz and other states in Mexico and Latin America. The team’s deliverables include the  identification and outreach to the most appropriate partners in terms of restaurants, supermarkets, other types of businesses, transportation and storage resources, and volunteer networks required to address the needs of those who experience food insecurity, especially women and girls. 

 

Impact

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By partnering action oriented university student research teams alongside organizations that bring about economic and social transformation for the common good, Wings of Love can have dramatic impact both on the next generation of leaders and the beneficiaries with whom they are working to bring about a new world based on the principle of shared abundance.

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Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

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This programs contributes to ten out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and have the capacity to uplift tens of thousands of impoverished women and men and their families in the country. 

·    2: Zero Hunger

·    3: Good Health and Well-Being

·    5: Gender Equality

·    6: Clean Water & Sanitation

·    8: Decent Work & Economic Growth

·    9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure

·    12: Responsible Consumption & Production

·    13: Climate Action

·    14: Life Below Water

·    15: Life on Land

 

Background on White Pony Express

 

Based in the California Bay Area, WPE serves 120,000 people each year by partnering with more than 80 non-profit agencies who have strong ties to the community. The rescue program at WPE has expanded this model by subjecting all collected food to a meticulous culling process and promising that it is obtained, sorted, and redistributed within a twenty-four-hour time period—seven days a week. They have won numerous awards in California for their unique template and volunteer-based model, are currently spreading the model in three other U.S. cities, and have participated with a white paper in President Biden’s White House Summit on Food Security in September 2022.