Thomas McQuillan and Greenwich Community Host First Ever Zero-Waste Fundraising Dinner
Industry: Food & Drink
April 26th Charity Dinner to Raise Awareness for Effective Food Waste Management and Raise Funds For Area’s Food Challenged
Bronx, NY (PRUnderground) April 9th, 2018
Thomas McQuillan, Director of Food Service Sales and Sustainability at Baldor Specialty Foods, the premier ingredient source for NYC’s top chefs, announced today he is working with Greenwich, CT community members and businesses to organize America’s first-ever zero-waste fundraising dinner. The dinner, prepared by local area celebrity chefs, will be 100% waste-free, with every component, from cookware to table centerpieces, being either digestible or otherwise capable of being repurposed. The April 26th dinner will be hosted at St. Catherine of Siena Church’s Lucy Hall and will raise awareness about food waste with the community, while collecting donations for important nutrition programs that assist the area’s food insecure at two local non-profits, Cos Cob’s Kids in Crisis and Bridgeport’s Wholesome Wave. The event expects to serve over 300 guests.
“Sustainability is a journey that involves the entire community,” said event producer Thomas McQuillan. “That’s why we have high school students volunteering as servers, local celebrity chefs and businesses contributing their talents, artists showcasing their work, and a unique tickets-and-table structure that lets everyone from the community, regardless of socio-economic background, attend, learn and participate.”
While there have been sustainable food events in the past, this is thought to be the first ever where the entire event is waste-free. There are no paper invites, all communication is done via Internet. Dinner guests will be served in traditional Indian Tiffins, reusable food vessels guests will take home with them. There will be no garbage receptacles available, just a compost bin for any leftover food that will be donated to the Greenwich Community Gardens.
“It would have been easy enough for Baldor to contribute our ready-to-prepare SparCs items – food made from our facility’s produce extras,” comments McQuillan. “But this is about the chefs and the participants, and even our sponsors, all learning how to come up with their own sustainable solutions. We’ve charged our chefs with cooking delicious, 100% waste-free culinary dishes, and serving them with no waste whatsoever. It’s an important challenge and a thought-provoking exercise.”
The dinner will be held April 26th from 6 to 9 P.M. at St. Catherine of Siena Church. Accompanying the dinner will be an educational program featuring guest speakers talking about all aspects of sustainability and food waste management. Proceeds from the ticket sales will benefit special nutrition programs at Cos Cob’s Kids in Crisis and Bridgeport’s Wholesome Wave.
Event contributors include:
- Gotham Seafood
- Fleischer’s Butcher
- Mike’s Organics
- Victoria Amory
- Happiness Is
- Aux Delices
- Greenwich Country Day School
- La Fermiere Yogurt
- Asarasi
- Back 40 Farm
About Thomas McQuillan:
Thomas McQuillan is a transformational executive, food sustainability leader, chef, and innovator in systems and operations. As Sustainability Director at Baldor Specialty Foods, McQuillan created a company-wide sustainability initiative called “SparCs” (scraps spelled backwards), to re-invent the way people feel about unused food byproduct. He completely eliminated food waste from Baldor’s facility within a year’s time, and the revolutionary program has served as a template for other corporations across the country.
About Baldor Specialty Foods
Baldor Specialty Foods is one of the largest distributors of premium fresh produce, specialty foods, dairy, meat and fish in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Beginning as Balducci’s fruit stand in Greenwich Village in 1946, Baldor maintains its original commitment to freshness, flavor, quality and service. Baldor Specialty Foods now services more than 13,000 food service, retail and corporate accounts from Portland, ME to Richmond, VA, and offers over 6,000 food items. The company’s mission is to deliver quality ingredients, innovative solutions and seamless experiences that ensure the success of its partners.
To learn more, go to www.baldorfood.com.
