Chicago Food Rescue Honored with Climate Action Hero Award

19-Month-Old Non-Profit Picks Up and Delivers Surplus Food to Help Those in Need

I was pleased to accept an invitation to cover the 3rd annual Climate Action Hero Awards, presented on Thursday (April 16) by Chicago's Climate Action Museum (located at 300 S. Riverside Plaza in the city's West Loop). I support the museum's mission to "activate a tipping point on climate mitigation in the Chicago region through education, stimulating critical thought, and inspiring and facilitating action," and helped promote the awards event in Local Food Forum.

The evening turned out even better than expected, as the first award went to a new friend whose work to reduce food waste and food insecurity I strongly support.

Jake Tepperman of Chicago Food Rescue receives his Climate Action Hero Award in the Food and Agriculture category from Erika Allen, a leading advocate for urban agriculture and food justice through her work with Urban Growers Collection, Chicago Food Policy Action Council and the Green Era food waste upcycling project. Photo by Bob Benenson

The inaugural Hero Award for Food and Agriculture was given to Chicago Food Rescue and was accepted by Jake Tepperman, who started the organization in September 2024. Our article about Chicago Food Rescue, published March 9, noted that it had collected more than 250,000 pounds of food in 2025 that otherwise might have gone to waste, and distributed it to social service organizations that provide nutrition to those in need.

Chicago Food Rescue has carried this out with a minimum of overhead by relying on a network of volunteers who pick up food from grocers, restaurants, farmers markets and other sources and deliver it directly to recipient organizations. Jake and Hannah Roucher, hired in January as director of food recovery, are Chicago Food Rescue's only employees.

READ OUR EARLIER CHICAGO FOOD RESCUE ARTICLE

Photo by Bob Benenson

Jake's acceptance remarks were brief and to the point, so I'm sharing them in full hear:

Thank you, Erika, and thank you to the Climate Action Museum. Wow. This is the first award I've ever accepted my life.

It means a lot to be able to talk about what I am very passionate about, which is food access and food justice, which does intersect with the climate. As many of you know, 40 percent of the food that we produce is wasted. One in seven [people] nationally goes hungry. In Chicago, that number is closer to one in five.

Hunger is not a supply and demand issue. It is an issue that can be solved with logistics and smart policy. It's something that we can all take part in. 

At Chicago Food Rescue, we operate by having volunteers pick up food from food donors, food businesses, and deliver it directly to non-profit community organizations that in turn serve people in need.

Our belief is that you can get involved by doing one small action. All of us in this room do one good thing every day that's exponentially more effective than than me doing everything I can for 24 hours.

So get involved. Be compassionate. Let's care about each other. Let's try and make the world a better place. One action, one small action at a time. 

Thank you very much.

Photo by Bob Benenson

While the Climate Action Museum does very serious work, the folks there also have a sense of humor. Instead of receiving a trophy, award winners receive a Skilling — a bobblehead of Tom Skilling, the legendary TV meteorologist and climate action advocate — who was the recipient of the first Climate Action Hero Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024.

Local Food Forum will publish an article about the rest of this year's Award recipients early next week.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CLIMATE ACTION MUSEUM

---

SUBSCRIBE TO LOCAL FOOD FORUM