When you grab a fruit because the lunch lady told you to but leave it in the plastic bin on your way out, that food usually goes to waste. To prevent it from going to the trash, Food4All steps in.

Food4All was founded in 2022 by seniors Julian Chung, Abhinav Kasturi, and Raj Virginkar. They were volunteering at a food drive called Stand4Global — which now partners with the club — and noticed how a majority of distributed foods were staple foods such as rice, pasta, and bread, while fresh produce was being neglected.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, signed by Former President Obama in 2010, mandates schools to serve food in every food group; this means school lunch must contain fruits, vegetables, and whole grain servings.  

“A lot of the fruits in our lunch line just get thrown around,” Julian said. “So we decided to kill two birds with one stone — take the fresh fruits, and donate them to these food drives.”

Every day at Los Altos High School, Food4All collects boxes of uneaten fresh fruit and stores them in Room 713 — AP Biology teacher Tory Johnson’s classroom. They have also been collecting fresh produce at the farmers’ market every week since the first market this year on Thursday, May 2. All the food collected throughout the week is taken to Stand4Global to be distributed.

“Not only did it allow me to help out my community more, the distributions really made me empathize with the people that aren’t as lucky and fortunate as some of the people at our school,” President junior Grady Balkite said.

Recognizing food waste beyond Los Altos, Food4All grew into a non profit organization with the goal of reducing food waste across the Bay Area. Their last Los Altos downtown farmers’ market stand was on Thursday, October 10.

“Walking through the farmers’ market towards the end of the week, recognizing the vendors as they call us over — to catch up or share a new idea, hearing relief that their products aren’t going to waste, I feel responsible for this process and for those people,” Abhinav said.

So far, they have distributed over 100,000 pounds of healthy food from farmers’ markets to members of the community.

“Our goal is to make a difference in our community, especially because we come from a very privileged school,” Vice President junior Arathi Naga said. “There’s a lot of people in our community who don’t get as much as we do, so we want to help them, especially through food that’s otherwise wasted.”

Now that the Los Altos farmers’ market has ended, the nonprofit plans to continue reducing fruit waste at our school, while continuing their partnerships with farmers’ markets in Campbell, Sunnyvale, Blossom Hill, and beyond.

“The first time we did our collection, someone said that they hadn’t had fresh fruit in over three years,” Julian said. “We are actually making a material difference in our community, and that’s what I’m most proud of.”

For more on the Food4All club, visit their meetings on Wednesdays during lunch in Room 713 and check out their Instagram @food4all_lahs.