According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Center, an estimated 30-40% of food is wasted in the U.S. annually. Students and faculty at Poly Prep have the privilege of indulging in nutritious and fresh meals that the school provides every day. Now, leftovers from these meals are being donated to those in need as part of the Student Service Board’s new initiative to face food insecurity across New York City and reduce food waste.

Miles Frank ’27 was inspired to take on this initiative because of his involvement in the Riley’s Way Foundation, an organization that invests in the ideas of young adults who want to make a change. Frank volunteered in this foundation and served as a judge for which initiatives were worthwhile to fund.

Through his work, Frank came across the organization Fresh Opportunities, which is used by many New York City schools—Packer, Ramaz, Dalton, etc.—to donate school-provided food. Fresh Opportunities is “a student-led non-profit organization that partners with students & schools to reduce food waste by packaging surplus lunch and delivering it to local food pantries + community fridges,” according to its website. After discovering the non-profit, Frank was inspired to introduce the organization to Poly. “In New York City, I see so many homeless people in need of food. We have all this food going to waste, so it seemed like a pretty easy fix,” he said.

To take on this initiative, Frank reached out to Director of Service Learning and History Faculty Elijah Sivin, Dean of Students Jared Winston, and Executive Chef Louis Rossini to ask for their support near the end of the 2025 school year. In the past, Rossini worked with City Harvest, an organization that delivers nutritious food that would otherwise be wasted free of charge to hungry New Yorkers, according to its website. But, because of the pandemic, City Harvest’s work with Poly became limited in response to a change in the non-profit’s policy: no food exposed to open air could be donated, as a precaution against potential contamination. Since Poly does not serve packaged food, this was a major complication in Poly’s food donation process, leaving Rossini initially hesitant about Frank’s initiative.

Frank found examples of the initiative’s success in other schools and presented plans to Rossini and Sivin. “He was so persistent and so professional. I was honestly blown away,” said Rossini. “You have to be nuts not to want to go through with something as incredible as that, it gives me goosebumps.”

Now, on “Food Rescue Fridays,” food is packed at Poly and delivered to Friendly Fridges and One Love Community Fridges by Frank’s parents and other volunteers. These fridges are both New York City-based public fridges, part of a mission to aid food-insecure New Yorkers. Elyse Bogaty ’28 takes part in these Food Rescue Fridays through her work with the Food Insecurity Service Learning Team (SLT). “I wanted to help out, one, because I was part of SLT, and also because it just seems like a nice thing to do.” Bogaty describes the process of packing up the food, making note that food from Commons is categorized into salads, boxes of hot food and bagged yogurt, which are all taken to different fridges. Frank emphasizes that Fresh Opportunities provides schools with containers free of charge. All of this work is done in one hour on Friday afternoons, from 1:20 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. “They come in, pack the food, clean up, and get it out of here. If I didn’t hear the noise or see the food disappear I never would have known they were here,” notes Rossini.

Eliza Rorech ’26, a Student Service Board Leader, says that “Poly values a collaborative approach to service and the relationship between student leadership, but also faculty support.” While Sivin enjoys seeing adults help out, he would appreciate more students coming to food rescues, as there have recently been just three or four. “I would love to have a situation where I have ten or twelve students and have to turn some down,” he says. “I want kids to stay involved because of the learning and the experiences they’re going to get from it.”

Chloe Guedes Smith ’26, another Student Service Board Leader, notes that Poly’s Student Service Board grants students the opportunity “to take on initiatives and actually start to do something about them, do something about something that they care about, which I think is a really amazing opportunity.” Sivin believes Frank’s involvement has “been very impressive in his consistency, maturity, and understanding” and adds that through taking initiative, Frank gained insight on how to apply his aspirations to the real world, which is “really educating to see.” Frank remarks that his experience in this “opened my eyes to how little things can make a big difference, and how important it is to take action.”