By Anne Levin
Since its founding in 2020, Share My Meals (SMM), the Princeton-based nonprofit dedicated to fighting food insecurity and reducing food waste, has made record strides in those efforts by partnering and collaborating with various agencies and organizations.
The latest accomplishment, announced this week, credits the partnership between SMM, Sodexo, SodexoMagic, and SodexoStop Hunger Foundation in recovering and delivering more than 100,000 nutritious, prepared meals to individuals and families facing food insecurity.
SMM and Sodexo have been partners since SMM’s beginnings, working together to recover surplus prepared meals from Sodexo-managed sites, and redirecting them to local organizations supporting members of the community in need.
Sodexo North America is a division of Sodexo Group, a global Fortune 500 company operating in 45 countries and a provider of sustainable food and integrated facilities management in all 50 states. Sodexo Magic is a joint venture between Sodexo and Magic Johnson Enterprises; Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation is an independent charitable organization that fights hunger and food insecurity.
“Sodexo was one of our first partners, and from the beginning, their commitment extended beyond simple food donations,” said SMM CEO Helene Lanctuit. “Their food safety experts even helped us develop our food handling protocol, laying the foundation for the safe and reliable meal recovery model we use today. This milestone represents far more than a number, it reflects thousands of families who didn’t have to worry about their next meal and dozens of nonprofit partners who were able to better support their communities. We are proud to work alongside partners who understand that meal recovery is not only about sustainability, it’s about dignity, care, and community.”
Just months after SMM’s founding, the pandemic hit. The nonprofit switched from its original premise of recovering meals from corporations to buying meals at cost from local restaurants, and delivering them to families and seniors who needed them. Assisting the effort was the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), which in 2024 awarded SMM $125,000 to establish a statewide Meal Recovery Coalition.
Early this year, SMM announced a partnership with Princeton Public Schools. The collaboration allowed for surplus prepared meals from the district’s schools to be safely recovered and redistributed to families and residents in Princeton on a weekly basis.
According to a press release, the Sodexo/SMM partnership “not only addresses food insecurity but also aligns with sustainability goals by minimizing food waste. To date, this effort has prevented 138,000 pounds of surplus food from ending up in landfills, equivalent to avoiding more than 304 metric tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.”
Roxanne Moore, executive director of Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation, called the collaboration with SMM “a powerful example of what can happen when organizations come together with purpose and alignment.”