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Bellevue Food Rescue Ride is Absolutely Bananas
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- The first Bellevue Pedaling Relief Project ride rescued 372 pounds of food.
- We are celebrating Pedaling Relief Project during Bike Everywhere Month as a model for how to use bikes to advance sustainability and build community.
- Check out our photos from the Bellevue ride and learn how to volunteer.
Paul Tolmé
The expansion of Cascade's award-winning Pedaling Relief Project to Bellevue is off to a bananas start, and we are recruiting more volunteer riders for the weekly Thursday morning food rescues.
"If you live on the Eastside, have a bike or e-bike and want to donate a few hours on Thursday mornings we are eager to welcome and train new volunteers," says Landon Coates Welsh, Cascade's Pedaling Relief Project Manager.
Last Thursday, Landon and four volunteers gathered in Bellevue at Hopelink Bellevue Market and pedaled to an Amazon distribution center to collect and transport perishable food to Hopelink's food bank.
"Wow, that's a lot of bananas," Landon remarked as we arrived at Amazon to load the fruit and packaged items onto bike trailers.
Food is the largest component of municipal waste in the United States. It's a national shame that the Pedaling Relief Project is trying to address using bicycles.
Founded in 2020, the Pedaling Relief Project supports multiple Seattle food banks and rescues food from multiple grocery stores and farmers markets.
Volunteer for a Pedaling Relief Ride
Cascade provides volunteers with Burley trailers that attach to most bicycles.
After loading up at Amazon, Landon and the volunteers headed back to Hopelink with their trailers and bikes laden with food.
Volunteers ride all kinds of bikes: from road bikes to recumbents to e-cargo bikes. Landon (above pulling bananas) rides a Specialized Globe Haul e-bike.
Arriving back at Hopelink, riders unloaded and weighed their haul: 372 pounds! Since it's founding during the pandemic, Pedaling Relief Project has transported 1.7 million pounds of food and goods. Incredibly impressive and absolutely bananas.
The Bellevue ride took about 90 minutes, after which the volunteers headed to a coffee shop to socialize. Landon encourages these coffee socials following PRP rides to create a sense of community and volunteer spirit.
"A huge thank you to Adam Ellner at Full Circle Environmental," Landon says. "His work with the City of Bellevue and enthusiasm for Pedaling Relief Project led to our new partnership with Hopelink and made this ride possible."
Learn more in our previous post: "Cascade’s Food Rescue Rides Expand to Bellevue."
Cascade is celebrating the Pedaling Relief Project all month long in May during Bike Everywhere Month. PRP will be the focal point of Cascade's Bike Everywhere Lunch on May 21 at the Seattle Convention Center, where the theme is "When neighbors bike together..."
Interested in volunteering for PRP? See a calendar of weekly opportunities on our Pedaling Relief Project landing page, where you can sign up for rides in support of Byrd Barr Place Food Bank, University District Food Bank and White Center Food Bank from Wednesday through Sunday. Note that Hopelink requires new volunteers to undergo and background check before participating in their first Bellevue PRP ride.
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