LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A year after Kentucky Harvest launched a mobile app designed to rescue food from local businesses that would have been thrown out, the nonprofit is celebrating its success. 

Last November, the Louisville-based organization launched the "Food Rescue Hero" app.

The app connects restaurants, stores and bakeries with volunteers who "rescue" food that likely won't get sold before reaching its expiration date.

Since Kentucky Harvest launched the app in November 2023, the organization has overseen the rescue of 2,108,636 pounds of food from 191 business locations like Papa John’s, Cysco and Thorntons, feeding 250,000 people, according to a news release. 

During the past year, 763 people downloaded the app and volunteered their time to perform 4,884 rescues in the Louisville area. 

"We’re proud to call these new volunteers Food Rescue Heros, and they’re saving more than food," Kentucky Harvest Executive Director Heather Stewart said in a written statement. "Food rescue allows us to offset costs for our more than 80 nonprofit partners, saving more than $4 million each year they can use to make their programs stronger."

Stewart said last year that "about 30% of the food that is grown and produced every year ends up in a landfill in our area." 

Kentucky Harvest is hopeful the Food Rescue Hero app will help fill up more dinner plates and fewer landfills in the state. To get involved, click here.

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