Food-harvesting mission keeps food out of landfills while distributing to those in need

When Bread Break volunteers walk through an agency’s door laden with coolers, you never know what foods might emerge.

But whatever comes out, it’s welcomed by the 38 recipient agencies, which know the donated foodstuffs — from bread to beets and cupcakes to casseroles — will help them feed their clients and guests while stretching their operating budgets.

Bread Break, a food-harvesting mission started by Messiah New Hope Lutheran Church more than a dozen years ago, keeps edible food from the landfill and puts it in front of hungry residents. It visits bakeries, hospitals, coffee shops, convenience stores, grocery stores and more, collecting the prepared food or produce that’s still good and distributing it to ministry centers that help those in need.

Volunteers go out in one of Bread Break’s three vans every day to pick up the donated items and take them to that day’s destination.

When Doug Dreke picks up sweet treats from one of Flyboy Donuts’ four locations, he tries to deliver them by 10 a.m. so there’s a snack to be served along with coffee.

“Typically, our routes will start around 8 and be done by noon, for several reasons,” said Dreke, who has been with the nonprofit from the start. “That’s a good way to get volunteers because they only commit for part of the day. And we don’t have to bring it back here (Messiah New Hope Lutheran) and store it. We can take it right to the places that can use it.”

Since Bread Break started in 2011, an average of 275,000 pounds of food has been redistributed annually, according to the nonprofit’s figures. That’s more than 2.5 million pounds, valued at $1.67 per pound, according to Feeding America’s statistics.

“Many agencies that say Bread Break is 25 percent of their food budget, so if they didn’t have Bread Break, they would have to find another 25 percent in their food budget,” said Renae Eidenshink, Bread Break’s treasurer.

That also means more than 2.5 million pounds of edible food kept out of the local landfill, and extending the landfill’s lifespan financially benefits all Sioux Falls residents, Bread Break volunteers said.

Bread Break was founded by Mike and Jean Bauman, now Chicago residents. They were returning to Sioux Falls and were looking for a church to join. But there was a caveat — they wanted a church that would help them establish a food-harvesting ministry.

Dreke, then president of Messiah New Hope Lutheran’s board, took it to the other members.

“They said unanimously, let’s do it,” he said. “I just think everybody pretty much said two things: We want to help feed hungry people, and we want to keep good usable food out of the landfill. We first operated out of one of the corners of the (church) office and then out of the Baumans’ house.”

Dreke and his wife, Carol, and a third couple, Kim and Katie Willers, were the first volunteers. The Willerses now live in the Black Hills, but the Drekes continue to volunteer. Dreke, in fact, serves as an independent contractor operating Bread Break. The nonprofit is looking for a part-time director to take over.

The Baumans had read about a similar organization in New York City, and they modeled the local program after it.

Startup costs came through a $60,000 grant from the South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Other financial support in the early years came from the Jerstad Foundation. The funds were used to purchase a van, coolers and equipment, and paid for gas and maintenance, although some volunteers used their own vehicles for pickups and deliveries.

Volunteers have expanded to a little more than 50, and some of them come from outside Messiah New Hope Lutheran. Vans for pickups and deliveries now total three, and volunteers stop at about 60 locations. Frequency depends on the donor, but some ask for daily pickups.

The Veterans Service Center welcomes the deliveries at least twice a week, director Ben Klusmann said.

“We will get vegetables and fruit, pans of breads, loaves and loaves of bread, not just frozen meals,” he said. “We’ll get yogurt containers and milk, not just frozen deliciousness, and some healthier items too.”

St. Francis House was the first agency that Mike Bauman connected with, and he contacted almost every recipient that still takes part in the program. KFC, Sanford Health, Panera Bread and Breadsmith were some of the early donors.

“A ton of food waste” happens in the United States, said Matthew McFarland, general manager of Pomegranate Market. Those involved in the grocery industry look for a way to make an impact in reducing that waste.

Pomegranate Market focuses its efforts on its partnership with Bread Break, but in the past it has donated to other organizations. It also has worked with farmers who use the produce to feed their livestock. Steps the health food market has taken to reduce waste mean that it needs fewer outlets, McFarland said.

The market usually donates produce on a regular basis because those items are the most perishable. It also occasionally donates proteins such as chicken and hamburger. The items donated change with the season, McFarland said, with tomatoes and greens like romaine and arugula more plentiful in the summer. In the fall, there are more root vegetables.

The Pomegranate Market-Bread Break partnership has continued for more than 12 years, McFarland said. He can’t list all the recipients of the store’s largesse, but he doesn’t need to. It’s enough to be “a spoke in the wheel” of a much larger effort.

“The satisfaction we’ve always gotten back is hearing from those folks over at Bread Break how much it is appreciated,” McFarland said. “The relationship always has been easygoing.”

At the Veterans Service Center on East 14th Street, which is a Volunteers of America, Dakotas agency, fried chicken is a favorite, Klusmann said.

“It’s a requested item,” he said. “They bring bags of fried chicken in, and it flies out. We get breakfast sandwiches from Starbucks and meals from Sanford. Kwik Star donates a lot of sandwiches, and there are bags of delicious frozen goodies that we can put in our freezers.”

The outreach center provides food, showers, laundry facilities and donated clothing to veterans and helps homeless veterans get the emergency services they need and to reintegrate into the community. With the help of Bread Break and other donors, it stretches its budget to offer food that can be eaten on-site or taken home, often to family members.

“The percentage of what we have from Bread Break is 5 to 10 percent,” Klusmann said. “A lot of food gets donated from other places, but Bread Break is the most consistent one. They’re here a couple of times a week, and they do an amazing job of getting us food. We don’t have to spend money on food that we can spend somewhere else.”

If food does have to be stored, it comes to Messiah New Hope Lutheran, said John Moeller, Bread Break board president.

“Some places can’t take frozen, so we store it and give it out later,” he said. “(Recently) I took 30 pounds of sandwiches from Kwik Star to the VOA Vet Center. They were all frozen — and they were excited to get them.”

For Donny Kuper, superintendent at the Sioux Falls Regional Landfill, it’s simple math: “As much organics as we can divert from the landfill, the better.”

Waste-characterization studies in 2022 and 2023 reveal that 24 percent of all materials that go into the landfill are organics. Not all of that is actual food that can be diverted elsewhere, but it shows that opportunities to divert a lot of those organics exist, Kuper said.

“The less we can put in the landfill, the longer the life of the landfill,” he said. “That’s the biggest incentive for us. There’s also an environmental incentive from gas migration like methane.”

Because Bread Break is “green,” it also has been able to secure a grant from the city to help defray costs, Eidenshink said.

“The city recognizes that it’s a good thing for the community,” she said.

Residents may not realize how many people Bread Break touches, from business owners to every taxpayer who funds the landfill, said board member John Nordlie.

“We save them so much money, and we’re touching people outside of those the food is actually going to,” he said.

Plus, there’s a ripple effect. Carol Dreke knows of a church where its young people’s group collects items from Starbucks the first Sunday of every month, using it as a service project.

The Veterans Service Center is not the only VOA Dakotas agency that benefits from Bread Break distributions. Other drop-off sites, said marketing director Becky Deelstra, are Axis 180, which works with young people experiencing homelessness; Choices, which provides residential and day services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities; and New Start, which aids pregnant or parenting women.

“They definitely have a very significant impact on the people we’re serving here at VOA, kind of across the board,” she said.

The Pomegranate Market staff will always welcome the sight of Bread Break volunteers showing up at the store’s door with coolers to be filled.

“If we are able to play a small role being a helping hand, I think that’s the biggest satisfaction we get,” McFarland said. “I recognize it’s a small role, but we’re happy to be a part of that process.”