Motivated by seeing leftover food trucked from dining halls to a hog farm, University of St. Thomas graduate Will Pittner — at the time a sophomore at the school in St. Paul — began brainstorming how to get that food into hungry people’s hands.
From that 2021 inspiration, Pittner developed Food to People based in St. Paul, which is his attempt to alleviate food insecurity in the Twin Cities area and expand the process as far geographically as it will go.
“I ended up developing a program with St. Thomas where we can take all food that’s been fully prepared, never tampered with, never hit a serving line, make sure it’s within the proper health code standards, and then find places to redistribute that to, like, shelters and churches,” Pittner told host Patrick Conley on the “Practicing Catholic” radio show that debuts at 9 p.m. Jan. 12.
Pittner reached out to the kitchen staff and the sustainability director at St. Thomas even as he attended school there. There were some obstacles to overcome, he learned. In his senior year, Pittner took a course on entrepreneurship that included a start-up business competition with leaders of Fortune 500 companies helping to judge the ideas.
“Many of them approached me afterward and said, ‘Hey, we actually like this idea. Here’s my card. Call me next week,’” Pittner said. “All of a sudden, the idea became very real.”
To hear how Pittner developed the idea into Food to People with several outlets and hopes of expansion, tune into the “Practicing Catholic,” which also repeats at 1 p.m. Jan. 13 and 2 p.m. Jan. 14.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes a discussion with Auxiliary Bishop Michael Izen about his visits to schools and other aspects of his ministry in the months since he was ordained last April and Cathy Blaeser of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life on the Jan. 22 March for Life in St. Paul.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
